This is the updated article of my previous
post about the need to have a mandatory e-governance legal
framework in India. There are many
reasons why e-governance in India has miserably failed.
According to legal experts, the “hands off model” regarding
e-governance in India has proved to be a big failure. They believe
that a mandatory e-governance legal
framework alone can bring successful e-governance services
in India in the absence of a transparent and accountable government
system.
Legal framework for mandatory e-governance services
in India is long
due. If we make e-governance service optional or
discretionary, the whole purpose would be defeated. This is the
reason why we need time bound and accountable e-governance based
public services in India. Keeping this objective in mind, the central
government formulated the draft electronic delivery of services bill
2011 (EDS
Bill 2011). The EDS Bill 2011 intends to provide delivery
of government services to all citizens by electronic means by phasing
out of manual delivery of services delivered by the government
including matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
The Bill if made a law would require complete
overhaul of the present e-governance infrastructure and services
delivery mechanism of Indian government. However, the real problem
with Indian e-governance initiative is that legal framework for
mandatory electronic delivery of services in India is missing, says
Praveen Dalal, Supreme Court lawyers and Managing Partner of India’s
exclusive techno legal law firm Perry4Law.
Till now there was no provision under which citizens could ask for mandatory electronic delivery of services by the government. After the Bill becomes an enforceable law, the Indian Government may be under an obligation to mandatorily provide electronic services to its citizens, opines Dalal.
It is obvious that Indian e-governance services
cannot be successful till there is a mandatory compliance requirement
attached to them. Alternatively, the administrative system of Indian
government must be streamlined so that they voluntarily adopt and
implement e-governance projects that have been avoided so far.
