TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Even as the Goa government plans to introduce the much awaited Police Bill 2014, with an aim to reform the working of the Goa police, professional groups who closely minor police reforms countrywide as well as a powerful church arm, the CSJP, have cried foul over the complete lack of any consultative process carried out by the Goa government, within the government before the bill was introduced.
The government has also gone against decisions taken by the committee of secretaries on January 10, 2014 on the pre-legislative consultation policy to be followed for any such legislation involving public stakeholders .
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has sought to initiate a stakeholder consultation by placing the bill and referring it to a select committee. Civil society groups like the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and the Council for Social Justice and Peace on the other hand are stressing on consultation at the draft stage before the bill is sent to the cabinet and then to parliament. The Goa government had kept the bill on the backburner for at least two years since it came to power, after the Police Bill 2008 lapsed and is perhaps sending the old lapsed bill back to the assembly without any consultation.
In January this year, the Centre had issued a note to all ministries and departments making pre-legislative consultation mandatory. Under this, all departments or ministries wanting to amend or draft a legislation have to consult all stakeholders so that the common man can give their views and opinions on the proposed legislation.
It requires the concerned department to publish or place in public domain the draft legislation, its financial implications and its social impact. Every draft is required to be accompanied by an explanatory note explaining key legal provisions in a simple language. Importantly the summary of feedback documents received from the public and other stake holders should be placed on the website of the department. The committee of secretaries also decided that the department might hold consultations with stakeholders in addition to putting the information in public domain. Importantly the bill should be vetted by the Law Ministry/Department after pre-legislative and inter-ministerial consultations are over. Most importantly when the final note regarding the introduction of the bill is moved to cabinet, there should be a brief summary of all the feedback received, for the perusal of the cabinet. The summary should be placed before a parliamentary standing committee (or select committee in states) when it is brought to parliament/state legislature and referred to a standing/select committee.
Meanwhile, there are guidelines for non-compliance of the consultative process too. The note on decisions taken in the committee of secretaries states that if it is not feasible or desirable to hold pre-legislative consultations, it may record the reasons in a note for the cabinet.
