Questions
Q1. Explain, with examples, how law and liberty are related to each other. (150 words) 10 marks
Q2. The Code of Conduct for the civil services in India has merely remained a code; it has not helped promote ethical and moral values in governance. In this context, discuss the need for a National Commission on Integrity and Transparency in Governance. (150 words) 10 marks
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Model Solutions
Q1. Explain, with examples, how law and liberty are related to each other. (150 words) 10 marks
Model Structure
Introduction:
- Law is the set of rules and regulations, which enables effective functioning of a society by upholding its collective value system.
- For example, a society which values gender equality will translate this idea into a law that prescribes penalization of gender discrimination.
- In other words, a law can be understood as a codification of collective ethics of society.
- Liberty, on the other hand, broadly refers to the idea or state of being free and being able to act in accordance with one’s wishes.
- For example, an Indian citizen has the liberty to reside in any part of the country, subject to reasonable restrictions.
- Both liberty and law have their core in the prevalent ethical framework of the society.
Main Body:
Influence of liberty on law
- Influence through the Constitutional pathway: Our Constitution upholds liberty as a part of its basic structure and as a consequence, it becomes fundamental to the law-making process.
- For example, laws that are blatantly antithetical to individual liberty are termed as unconstitutional and get repealed.
- Civil society’s vigilance on restriction to liberties: Any law, which seems to unreasonably restrict individual liberty, faces active opposition in the form of protests and/or noncompliance.
- For example, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was diluted to decriminalise homosexuality.
- Democratic nature of the government: The practice of democracy creates an indirect pressure on the political representative to align laws with the collective will of the people.
- This ensures that altering the status of societal liberty entails political costs for the ruling dispensation.
Laws have significant impact on the exercise of liberty
- Acting as a catalyst to liberty: Law, in many cases, provides the requisite framework for the individual to exercise his/her liberty, especially when the societal conditions are not conducive to the exercise of such liberty.
- For example, the law abolishing Sati gave an impetus to the individual liberty of women despite the overall societal sentiment being against it.
- Also, law creates a punitive mechanism for enforcement of legitimate rights and liberties in a society.
- Acting as a hindrance to liberty: While balancing individual liberty and collective needs of the society, institutions tend to interfere and restrict individual freedom, thereby creating hindrance in the exercise of individual liberty.
- For example, restricting freedom of movement in border areas restricts movement but is essential to the protection and promotion of national security.
Conclusion:
- In the contemporary world, liberty is important for individuals but this freedom is subjective, depending on the socio-economic context of the society.
- The subjectivity associated with the idea may restrict the notion of liberty, but this restriction needs to pass the test of reasonableness, keeping in mind that in the long-term, efforts should be made to minimize the occurrence of such contradictions.
Q2. The Code of Conduct for the civil services in India has merely remained a code; it has not helped promote ethical and moral values in governance. In this context, discuss the need for a National Commission on Integrity and Transparency in Governance. (150 words) 10 marks
Model Structure
Introduction:
- The All-India Service (Conduct) Rules, 1968 and the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964 prepared under the All-India Services Act, 1951 lay down the conditions of services for civil servants.
- These enforceable norms prescribe a code of behavior and focus on service content and use of authority for public welfare only and not for personal gains.
Main Body:
- The Code of Conduct has just remained a code and has not been able to promote ethical and moral governance
- Code of ethics is missing: In India, we have conduct rules, which prohibit certain undesirable conduct but no code of ethics, which lay down a moral and ethical framework guiding a person’s behavior and action.
- This leads to morally ambiguous decisions.
- Conflict of interest: The Code of Conduct has not been able to envisage all possible scenarios of abuse of power.
- The principles of impartiality, equality, social justice, and rule of law are violated when decisions are made keeping in mind the post-retirement benefits.
- Lack of compassion: The Code of Conduct may have inculcated procedural affirmations but values of empathy and compassion, the bedrock of public service, have taken a secondary seat.
- Lack of awareness: While the Code of Conduct has been in operation for a long time, very little is known about how this code of conduct is implemented or how it functions.
- Accountability towards decisions: The Code envisages that the public servants would be accessible to the public and be accountable towards them with regards to the quality of service delivered.
- However, poor and ineffective quality service delivery, poor grievance redressal mechanism, and inaccessibility of public services, highlights the ineffectiveness of Codes in this regard hampering public trust.
- Code of ethics is missing: In India, we have conduct rules, which prohibit certain undesirable conduct but no code of ethics, which lay down a moral and ethical framework guiding a person’s behavior and action.
- In this context, there is a need to set up a National Commission on Integrity and Transparency in Governance (NCITG) which would help resolve the above issues in the following ways:
- Set up goals and standards: It would not only establish minimal standards of conduct but also set forth high goals for public servants.
- Especially in higher echelons where the ambit of discretion is higher.
- Code of prescribed behavior: Such a Commission would help make the employees aware of what they must do to demonstrate ethical behavior and how they should do it.
- Regular development and review: The Commission would ensure regular review of policies, procedures, practices and institutions influencing ethical conduct in the public.
- It would also lead to better adherence to ethical governance principles and immediate corrective measures, when needed.
- Ethical dimensions in management frameworks: It would ensure that management practices are consistent with the values and principles of public service.
- Set up goals and standards: It would not only establish minimal standards of conduct but also set forth high goals for public servants.
Conclusion:
- The institutionalization of NCITG would go a long way in restabilising the trusteeship relationship between the public and government to promote an ethical governance through the principles of integrity and transparency.