Good governance, judiciary and policing

Good governance, judiciary and policing

The rule of law, one of the most significant characteristics of good governance prevails because India has an independent judiciary that has been sustained, amongst others, because of support and assistance from an independent bar which has been fearless in advocating the cause of the underprivileged and the deprived. Indian judiciary has been pro-active and has scrupulously and overzealously guarded the rights fundamental for human existence. Dr. M.Veerappa Moily, Minister of Law and Justice was speaking on the occasion of 5^th National Quality Conclave on “Leveraging Quality for Good Governance”. The Minister said that the scope of right to life has been enlarged so as to read within its compass the right to live with dignity, right to healthy environment, right to humane conditions of work, right to education, right to shelter and social security, right to know, right to adequate nutrition and clothing etc.

            The Minister expressed that the concept of governance is as old as human civilization. It simply means the process of decision making and the process by which decisions are implemented. India in its long history saw governance of all kinds, proportions and dimensions and survived through them. It saw the worst and the best in its 2500 years of recorded history. The governance in India now is based on this long experience. The State in India is a sovereign, secular, socialist, public with commitment first to social justice and then to economic and political justice. In the best traditions of liberal democracies, the individual has a character of enforceable fundamental rights, the Executive is restrained from violating or denying those rights and an independent judiciary to enforce it through writs, reviews and interpretations, Shri Moily said.

            Shri Moily said that Judiciary in India enjoys a very significant position since it has been made the guardian and custodian of the Constitution. It not only is a watchdog against violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution and thus insulates all persons, Indians and aliens alike, against discrimination, abuse of State power, arbitrariness etc.

            Shri Moily informed that in addition to the judiciary, another institution which plays an equally or perhaps an even more important role in implementation of good governance standards is the police. However, it has been seen that when discussing the inputs for good governance in any society, the police is not generally prominent or even important. No serious search has been made as to why the police and their functions are usually relegated when it is widely accepted that no development is possible without order and the fruits of development would not reach the intended beneficiaries in the absence of order, the Minister said.     

            The Minister informed that even in our country, some enterprising police officers have introduced and implemented the ISO 9001-2000 QMS in the functioning of police stations – the primary unit of delivery of police service to the people. Even though this successful experiment has still been limited to very few jurisdictions, it has proved the applicability and practicability of Quality Management Systems in organisation of the justice delivery system. Shri Moily said that it is thus essential that all the institutions of the Government- and the judiciary and police most prominent amongst them- must pool their energies to force a good governance for the country. Only such a collective will can devolve truly good governance for the country.