| January 16, 2003 | Thursday | Ziqa'ad 12, 1423 |
Law followed by BD govt only when convenient
Where ignorance is bliss
THE failure of National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) to issue national identity cards has caused great disappointment to the NIC seekers here.
Earlier, the registration authorities had been issuing NICs based on the conventional system. The people’s difficulties increased when the modern system under Nadra was introduced. Maladministration and inefficiency have hampered delivery of cards on time. More than 8,000 applications are still being processed in the Swift Registration Centre here which speaks of the efficiency of Nadra and the performance of the modern computerized system.
Not only this, the Nadra people have made the issuance of NICs a much costly affair than before. The applicants previously who used to fix a stamp of Rs5 on the form for getting a card now have to pay Rs60 for it, to be delivered in normal course. A sum of Rs180 is charged for urgent cards.
Nadra claimed that urgent cards would be issued within 10 days and normal card within one month, but not a single card was issued close to this schedule. Reports of gross negligence and inefficiency are coming in so frequently that the claims of top Nadra officials seem to be ridiculous. The cards issued by Nadra indicate that it is committing mistakes and blunders and displaying lack of moral courage to own up its responsibility. Unfortunately, people who had submitted applications for computerized NICs more than a year ago still hang around the Nadra office.
Without the identity card, it is not possible to open a bank account or get a passport or finalize a property transaction. Even a job cannot be taken up without it. A legal or court process also cannot be initiated without it, but it is an irony of fate that such a serious matter is being dealt with in such an irresponsible manner, putting the card-seekers to inexplicable inconvenience.
A variety of complaints has surfaced with each passing day. A number of people who received the new NICs pointed out that the particulars they had provided to Nadra were entirely different from those that appeared on their cards. Some of them said even their gender or the names of their fathers or husbands were changed.
Scores applied for the cards along with their family members to the local Nadra office. They attached photographs with the application forms and provided particulars of their spouses, children and parents. In some cases, the particulars and signatures were correct. But people complained that the cards issued carried photographs of other persons and names of some of their family members were found missing. They complained that they approached the Nadra office for correction, but the mistakes had not been removed despite months of efforts.
A good number of application forms were being returned via mail to the houses of applicants with a number of objections which had earlier been cleared by the duty officer at the Nadra office. Most objections relate to difference of ages from previous record and as claimed in the new form, spellings of names and residential localities, date of birth and similar other claims. But the fact remains that Nadra officials receive the application forms after detailed scrutiny and in some cases through their hired agents.
Interestingly, NIC-seekers visiting the local Nadra offices with their objections were offered a stereotyped reply that “there was no official mistake and the cards had been prepared strictly in accordance with the information furnished by the applicants in their forms”. However, the NIC-seekers insist that the mistakes are due to wrong entries made by Nadra men feeding data in computers.
Quite a large number of people have been waiting for their cards for more than a year after submitting forms. A majority of the card-seekers had paid urgent fee for issuing of cards within 10 days, but to no avail. When they approach the Nadra office, many were shocked to know that their forms were missing. They are forced to file new forms with fresh fee. On seeking explanation, the Nadra officials argued that earlier they had paid the fee for regular process and later it was the swift centre and, therefore, they would have to pay the fee again.
The data collected and computed at great cost to eliminate corruption, wrong registration, issuance of fake cards and other ills has become doubtful.
After the induction of Nadra, hundreds of booking agents and authorized persons were empowered to fill the forms to avoid delay and wrong information. The procedure adopted by the office is that any person seeking an NIC is first required to submit all relevant documents along with the form at a window where an official checks them and issues a computerized slip after receipt of fee. The applicants are asked to wait for the card at their homes for a week, fortnight or a month. In most cases, applicants who contact the office after expiry of time given by them are told that their forms and documents were not in order, and they were required to correct them. The applicants are thus forced to visit the office again and also pay fresh fee with new forms.
The most disturbed persons are those who had earlier got the NICs for female without affixing photographs and had to replace the same with pictures as a prerequisite for proceeding to Haj and Umra or a foreign trip. The Nadra people referred such applicants to old registration offices who, after processing, referred them to Sargodha for replacement of the old manual cards with new cards bearing their photographs. This process also takes days and involves great anxiety for the card-seekers.
Nadra had no system for issuance of a duplicate card. It claims that it has been clearly notified on the computerized cards that whosoever finds the card should deliver it to the nearby post box and the postal department will deliver it to the card holder on his address.
That an office which has been operating for the last three years and claiming to have an army of professionals equipped with the latest computerized system could not get around the simple problem of issuing a duplicate card makes a mockery of the system.
One, however, appreciates that once a card is prepared by Nadra, the photographs and particulars of the applicants are saved for all times. It was the claim of the institution when it came into being that simply from the gadgets it could issue a duplicate card. By refusing the issuance of a duplicate card, it is creating a bad impression about the capability of its professionals and the information technology in use.
The Nadra office since its inception could only process 100 applications per day. The remaining applicants were still running from pillar to post for their cards. There are 30 employees, including 16 for data entry, four each in photo section and information desk and six for security. The office is headed by a project manager, Yasir Aziz Qureshi. He claimed that the centre had so far received 40,000 applications out of which 32,000 had been processed and sent to Nadra headquarters for issuance of the cards.
He said printing and delivery of the cards was dealt with by Nadra headquarters, and added that 21,000 cards had already been delivered. There was no record of form-B and other documents pertaining to the old card holders in the Nadra office, and all record was being maintained by the original registration office and “we get verified the record of the new applicants from there”.
He claimed that the local Nadra office was not responsible for delay in preparation and issuance of NICs, and added that they simply processed the cases after making relevant entries for the data-network, for which 22 computers had been installed at their office.
One wonders why in the presence of the most modern Nadra network, the national registration office was also side by side operating round the clock. The Faisalabad Registration Office consists of 16 employees and is housed in a rented building. That office is still operating. However, the machines for the issuance of NICs had been withdrawn and shifted to Sargodha.
Previously, the fixation of photograph for women used to be made within a day on an urgent basis whereas in routine the job used to be completed in seven days. However, such applications are now received by the local registration office which keeps them for six days and every Tuesday sends them through a special messenger to Sargodha office for the job. The district registration officer said the process and issuance of computerized cards was being handled by the local Nadra office. However, the registration office still had a number of tasks which they had been performing, and added that the passport office, armed forces, police and other government departments got verified the documents pertaining to registration of people from their previous record of form-B and the card which had already been issued. Similarly, the verification of the new applications for issuance of computerized cards was also done by the registration office.
The point to ponder is after all who will set right the working of Nadra whose management is not prepared to accept and realize its shortcomings and the hard fact that the people at large are suffering badly due to its inefficiency and incompetence. It is hoped that the higher authorities will take cognizance of the situation and formulate a comprehensive policy to redress people’s grievances.
The administration of Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, it seems, has developed a tendency to go by the statute book only when it suits the political interests of the governing coalition.
It is also quite evident that the government has developed a bad habit of undermining the authority of certain constitutionally recognized independent bodies to secure the coalition’s political interests.
It also appears, especially after the proposed indemnification of some alleged misdeeds of some law enforcers during the just ended 86-day Operation Clean Heart, that the government would abide only by those constitutional provisions that favour it instead of upholding the fundamental rights of the people.
The signs are ominous, indeed, for a people striving to establish the rule of law.
On Jan 9, the government decided to indemnify all actions of the members of the army, paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles and police taken during the controversial cleanup operation between Oct 16 last year and Jan 9.
The government had already got an ordinance promulgated by the president the same day. The proposed law clearly states that no legal action can be taken against anyone who took part in the operation.
Article 46 of the Constitution of Bangladesh provides the government the power, unfortunately though, to indemnify such murders, maiming and wrongful confinement of the citizens.
But indemnification of such misdeeds is directly contradictory to the citizens’ fundamental right to life, property and equal protection of law and justice, which are guaranteed by various provisions of the same constitution.
But the government of Begum Khaleda Zia conveniently preferred the former to the latter, and thus stood against the basic principles of rule of law that refuse to let any kind of offence, let alone criminal offences like murders, custodial torture and confinement without allegation, go untried in a court of law.
It is high time that those committed to democracy mobilize public opinion for the rewriting of the constitution as a genuine document embodying the “general will” of the people.
However, the government is constitutionally obliged, under Article 112 of the constitution, to “act in aid of the supreme court”. This means that the government is bound to implement all verdicts and rulings delivered and observations made by the highest court without any objection.
But it has been seen, over the last few months, that the government has been complying with the SC orders only when they go against the interests of the opposition camp.
As for the orders that go against the ruling coalition, the executive adopts dilly-dallying tactics in implementing them.
This, however, has not gone unnoticed by the supreme court. A division bench of the High Court, which is an inherent component of the supreme court, observed on Sept 16 last year: “The government should execute all the HC orders in the same manner. Our attention has been drawn to the fact that the administration is not taking effective steps, under article 112 of the Constitution, to execute some of the HC verdicts.”
But the government seemed reluctant in complying with the court observation, especially when it came to the releasing of supporters of the opposition.
To give an example, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, the organizing secretary of the Awami League and political secretary to the party’s president Sheikh Hasina, was arrested on Dec 7 last year on suspicion of his involvement in subversive activities after explosions at four cinemas in Mymensingh.
The High Court, however, found on Jan 6 the detention of Saber Hossain Chowdhury to be illegal and ordered his release within 24 hours.
But the government did not free him. Instead, it implicated Saber specifically in the cinema explosion case and placed him on a fresh seven-day remand.
This is not the only example of defiance of HC orders by the executive.
In recent days, court orders to release a number of political detainees, including journalist Shahriar Kabir and columnist Muntasir Mamun, have either gone unheeded or delayed in their execution.
ELECTION COMMISSION: Then comes the issue of the government’s repeated attempts to undermine the authority of a statutory body like the election commission. The Commission, a four-man body headed by M. A. Syed, believes that deployment of the armed forces is essential to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections to the rural local bodies.
Subsequently, it asked the armed forces division of the ministry of defence on Dec 31 to ensure the services of the military during the polls, to be held between Jan 25 and March 16.
But the administration, especially Local Government Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and the prime minister’s political secretary, Haris Chowdhury, are totally against the EC view regarding army deployment.
Bhuiyan and Chowdhury have been consistently opposing the EC’s view, in clear defiance of their constitutional obligation to assist the commission in whatever way it wants.
Chief Election Commissioner M.A. Syed has already reminded the government of its obligation.
He told the press on Jan 7 that it would be ultra vires the constitution on the part of the government if it did not comply with the EC’s request to ensure the services of the military during polls.
Article 126 says: “It shall be the duty of all executive authorities to assist the election commission in discharge of its functions.”
But the cabinet, at a special meeting on Jan 9, decided not to deploy the army during the polls, and later the PM’s political secretary publicly ruled out the possibility of the deployment 11. He also accused the CEC of “crossing his limit”.
This is not the first time that the government has tried to undermine the EC’s legal and constitutional authority. Section 24 of the Local Government (Union Parishad) Ordinance says, “All elections of chairmen and members of the Union Parishad shall be organized, held and conducted by the election commission in accordance with the rules, and such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely the date, time and place for poll and other matters relating to the conduct of elections.”
The EC announced the election schedule after discussion with the ministry of local government. But the government unilaterally changed the polling dates, without even giving any prior information to the commission.
As the EC reacted sharply to the move, the government was compelled to back down.
The crisis was over, at that time, with both the parties eventually arriving at an understanding through sustained dialogue.
It is very difficult to predict how the parties involved will resolve the stalemate this time, but what one can easily say is that the government has developed a tendency of going by laws and rules only when they suit it.
When they do not, the government prefers either to ignore the laws or undermine legal and constitutional authority of various institutions. This is ominous, and bodes ill for the future of the democratic process, and for the ruling coalition as well.
Ain’t we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain’t that a big enough majority in any town? — S.L. Clemens on Mark Twain
READ this quote in the context of the resolution ‘unanimously’ adopted by the NWFP Assembly that calls on the MMA government to abolish virtually all provincial taxes and then think for a moment whether it is foolish to be wise.
How else can one describe the raft of resolutions adopted by the provincial legislators? Even a tomfool would think a thousand times before agreeing to part with the money that he has. Isn’t it amazing that our ‘graduate’ legislators did not even bother to think for a moment and ask themselves, “hey, wait a minute. Who is going to pay for running this cash-strapped province?” Even the ministers, who drive around in brand new official cars, did not care a fig as to who would pay for petrol if they start abolishing the very source of revenue that is so essential to keep their wheels going.
But then it requires grey matter — a commodity that unfortunately has become too rare in our present-day polity. Our civil bureaucrats are often frowned upon and despised as corrupt and inefficient. But what about the beacons of light that adorn the provincial legislature these days. In less than one minute, without losing a breath, they endorsed a resolution that would cost a cool Rs400 million to the provincial exchequer whose own resource base of Rs3.6 billion is too small to support growing official machinery. Like Sheikh Chili, that famous character of our Urdu and Pushto literature, they too are cutting the very branch of tree they are sitting on.
Even the ‘double-MA’ minister in charge of the department concerned was found gasping for words when he should have stood and opposed a potentially damaging resolution. His predicament was that the MMA as a matter of policy had decided to support anything recommended by the Council of Islamic Ideology. And why blame him when a senior cabinet colleague did not pay any heed to the advice given by the law department.
Embarrassing as it is for the provincial government which is now working overtime to control the damage and eat its own words, the episode has raised some serious questions. Will the government move a bill, as required under the Rules of Business, to turn the resolution into a law, abolishing property and vehicle token taxes? If it does, then how does it propose to meet the shortfall and at the same time increase the tax base of a province where industrial sector has registered a negative growth?
Leave aside the raucous the World Bank would make about its conditionalities. This does not seem to worry the provincial government anyway. The NWFP does not seem to need any financial assistance. Because why else would Chief Minister Akram Durrani decline any help when US Ambassador Nancy J. Powell offered financial assistance last week.
Besides, why is the MMA government now trying hard to control the damage, even if it has to eat its own words, if the recommendations of the CII were all that it wanted to enforce in the first place? Why make excuses?
The fact of the matter is that the MMA is learning the art of governance the hard way. Inexperienced as they are, only now have they begun to see the practical implications of the CCI’s recommendations.
No wonder then that the government is in a terrible fix. If it does not implement the resolution, and there is no possibility that it will, this definitely will boomerang. The very opposition which had voted for the resolution would use the same as a stick to flog the ruling religious parties with.
And this is not all. Fazl-i-Ali, the minister for education, supported a move that called for scrapping of a rule that requires female students of secondary education to provide photographs with their application forms. Imagine what will happen when proxy candidates start appearing in examinations.
The government could have done better things but the trouble is that it has yet to come up with a strategy. At present, there is none. It looks like a ship that has lost its mooring. Cabinet ministers are often found clueless when it comes to policy matters. Things are moving at a snail’s pace if there is any movement at all.
Chief Minister Durrani will do well if it starts deliberating issues that have brought his and his MMA votes and catapulted him to power instead of indulging in polemics that unfortunately has become the hallmark of this government. The disastrous tax- exemption resolution should teach them a lesson or two regarding the practical implications of the recommendations of CCI — a key point in the MMA’s election manifesto.
It would have been advisable had the MMA government carried out a study to find out why the people voted for them. The people want jobs and an end to crippling price hike. They did not vote for the MMA for the love of the Taliban or Afghanistan. Also, Islamization was way down on the priority list. Has the dismantling of taverns and gambling dens (if these are not already prohibited under the law) solved growing unemployment? Also, has the tearing down of cinema billboards helped in bringing down the prices of essential commodities?
The rot has started to set in sooner than expected. One thing that the provincial government can ill-afford is to initiate a war with the district councils. Not that the provincial government can do anything to undo or amend the local government system that has become part of the Constitution courtesy the controversial Legal Framework Order. It requires a two-thirds majority to scrap it altogether or bring changes to it. But the move in the NWFP Assembly fully backed by the treasury benches and statements by the chief minister has sparked apprehensions and could lead to strong resistance from the district councils. Already, they have shown their resentment. It could well be a case of party politics. The Jamaat-i-Islami which rules in three districts is less averse to the devolution plan than the JUI which had boycotted the local bodies’ elections and thus stand bereft of any representation at the district level. Hence its staunch opposition to the local bodies system.
Time will prove that the JUI and JI, despite being partners in the MMA government, are pulling in opposite directions. Had it not been for Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the sole founder and torch- bearer of the MMA unity who wants the alliance and government to survive no matter what happens, the jittery JI MPAs in the NWFP would have said goodbye to Durrani and sat in the opposition.
The reality is beginning to dawn on the MMA government, more so on the Jamaat-i-Islami ministers, who are now seeing the dark side of power politics from close angle, their inability to deliver and their helplessness to run the administration in an efficient and clean manner. A daunting task indeed given the expectations of people and the ambitions of their partners. Watch out for some fireworks in the next couple of months or so, the new power alignment that may emerge and a dark horse that is so eagerly waiting to play the role he has been assigned. Welcome to the world of power politics.