(Sample Material) Study Kit on Current Affairs for UPSC Mains Examination
Polity, Governance and Social Justice: Debate about the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act
Law-making in democracies is seldom a cut and dried process. Public policy is a messy business full of compromises and concessions to prevailing public sentiments and expectations. The laws that emerge out of this churn further undergo a gestation period where they are assimilated into the legal system and social practice. There is often a significant time lag between the enactment of a law and its faithful observance, even in societies that have a higher level of adherence to the rule of law, than India. Given this complex relationship between law and society, it stands to reason that laws must be enacted with great care, and must be amended or repealed with even greater care.
The recent debate about the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act demands that changes must be seen in this context.
The PC Act was passed in 1988 with a lot of expectations. It reflected a strong demand for action against corruption in high places, a demand that has only grown stronger since. In the last few years, India has seen a great deal of debate and public agitation for stronger institutional mechanisms such as the Jan Lokpal bill to counter corruption. Therefore, it is paradoxical to see that demands have been made to amend Section 13 of the PC Act, ostensibly to protect honest civil servants. The immediate context is of the former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta protesting his prosecution in the “Coalgate” scam. This debate is not new and has been engaging legal luminaries, courts and lawmakers for quite a while now. Earlier it was about the single directive and now it is about Section 13 of the PC Act.