The political executive (ie. the Chief Minister, Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries etc) in Nagaland must be one of the most powerful in the whole of India and even the world. Many times, even a mere paper chit signed by these executives can become law unto themselves. Such is the discretionary powers of our ruling political executives. As they say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is the state of affairs in our small State of Nagaland. Despite all the high sounding talk of good governance, the manner in which our ruling politicians are allowed to operate, rules can be bend and the official bureaucracy circumvent to suit the whims and fancies of the powerful. Public issues are kept out of the political discourse and the only thing that fancies our political executives are to subvert the system to suit their interests. As already mentioned in these columns it is unfortunate that Nagaland must be having the least numbers of legislative sittings of the Nagaland State Assembly. Our government has become executive centric, which is not a good thing to happen. In fact all powers must not be vested in the executive. This is detrimental to democracy. The legislature must perform its due role as one of the organ of the government. Along with the judiciary, the three wings of the government must function as checks and balances so that no one organ is able to usurp power absolutely. While the American system of checks and balances may not be applicable in its entirety, nevertheless, the executive (here in this case the Chief Minister and Ministers) should use whatever discretionary power it has with wisdom and foresight. For instance, the American President can make appointments or sign important treaty. However, this is subject to ratification by the Legislature (here the US Congress/Senate).
In our case, there are no checks on the executive power of our CM or Ministers and they wield enormous power. They can make appointments, transfer officials, decide on plan outlay, take important policy decisions etc without much ado. Such powers should not be misused. And wherever possible, policy and appropriation matters must be properly deliberated in the Assembly and put to vote. In fact the executive or the government of the day cannot spend even a penny without due approval of Parliament or Legislature. However there is this tendency to try and push money matters without proper discussion. The Opposition must remain alert and ensure that every penny spent is accounted for. This is the responsibility of our elected representatives. Recently the ruling government took the decision to recruit ten EACs exclusively from the backward tribes of Nagaland. This decision, obviously a discretionary one, has not gone done well with many people with even the Naga Students Federation questioning the rationale of appeasing certain section of people on tribal lines. Another instance of discretionary power misused was absorbing officers on deputation from outside the State cadre serving in the State. This has upset the Nagaland Civil Services Association (NCSA) and the Nagaland Secretariat Services Association (NSSA).
Ruling politicians in Nagaland have almost absolute power at their discretion. This should be used towards positive objectives and addressing important issues facing the people. Lastly more than anything else accountability is needed. And this is precisely why it is so important to bring to the public domain on the question of accountability so that any act of omission is fixed on those responsible. If public is educated on this, then we can slowly expect our governing systems and those who run the affairs of our State, to start being accountable. This is the need of the hour if we want to bring about qualitative change to our system and leadership. Checks and balances must be put into place and for this we need to strengthen the judiciary, legislature and promote a free press so that power is not usurped by anyone. No one is above the law. Accountability must be fixed. It must be institutionalized.
In our case, there are no checks on the executive power of our CM or Ministers and they wield enormous power. They can make appointments, transfer officials, decide on plan outlay, take important policy decisions etc without much ado. Such powers should not be misused. And wherever possible, policy and appropriation matters must be properly deliberated in the Assembly and put to vote. In fact the executive or the government of the day cannot spend even a penny without due approval of Parliament or Legislature. However there is this tendency to try and push money matters without proper discussion. The Opposition must remain alert and ensure that every penny spent is accounted for. This is the responsibility of our elected representatives. Recently the ruling government took the decision to recruit ten EACs exclusively from the backward tribes of Nagaland. This decision, obviously a discretionary one, has not gone done well with many people with even the Naga Students Federation questioning the rationale of appeasing certain section of people on tribal lines. Another instance of discretionary power misused was absorbing officers on deputation from outside the State cadre serving in the State. This has upset the Nagaland Civil Services Association (NCSA) and the Nagaland Secretariat Services Association (NSSA).
Ruling politicians in Nagaland have almost absolute power at their discretion. This should be used towards positive objectives and addressing important issues facing the people. Lastly more than anything else accountability is needed. And this is precisely why it is so important to bring to the public domain on the question of accountability so that any act of omission is fixed on those responsible. If public is educated on this, then we can slowly expect our governing systems and those who run the affairs of our State, to start being accountable. This is the need of the hour if we want to bring about qualitative change to our system and leadership. Checks and balances must be put into place and for this we need to strengthen the judiciary, legislature and promote a free press so that power is not usurped by anyone. No one is above the law. Accountability must be fixed. It must be institutionalized.
