Accountability in Governance

30-second summary

Part A box (each line 15 words or fewer)

1. Meaning: responsibility, accountability, liability

Responsibility: the duty to do the work.

Accountability: explaining the work, giving reasons and accepting the consequences (credit or action).

Liability: punishment or compensation under law.

Without accountability power turns unchecked. The Federalist No. 51 (1788): "If men were angels, no government would be necessary"; government must first be enabled to control the governed and then obliged "to control itself".

2. The four types of accountability

(The syllabus's "control over administration: legislative, executive, judicial" in Paper III Unit II matches this table; the social type is added for ethics answers.)

(a) Right to Information Act, 2005

(Act 22 of 2005; enacted 15 June 2005; the remaining provisions came into force on the 120th day, that is, October 2005)

Section 3: all citizens have the right to information.

Section 4: public authorities publish information on their own (proactive disclosure) so that people need not ask.

Section 7(1): reply within 30 days at most; 48 hours where the information concerns a person's life or liberty.

Section 20: penalty of Rs 250 per day on the Public Information Officer for unreasonable refusal or delay, up to a total of Rs 25,000.

Ethics link: transparency (page 3.5) is the first condition of accountability.

(b) Social audit

Meaning: beneficiaries and society themselves check the records against ground reality in a public meeting. It complements the official financial audit.

National Food Security Act, 2013, section 28: local authorities conduct periodic social audits of fair price shops, the Targeted Public Distribution System and other welfare schemes, publicise the findings and take necessary action; section 29 provides Vigilance Committees at State, District, Block and fair price shop levels.

Rural employment law: the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (VB-G RAM G; Act 36 of 2025; assent 20 December 2025; in force from 1 July 2026, when the MGNREGA 2005 stood repealed, per PIB). Section 20: the Gram Sabha conducts regular social audits of all works; the Act's schedule subjects all works, expenditure and guarantees to social audit at least once every six months (Act text read).

Rajasthan roots: the public hearings of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in the 1990s, where official expenditure records were read out before the public; the April 1996 Beawar sit-in; the Rajasthan Right to Information Act, 2000 (in force 26 January 2001) (see page 8.4).

(c) Lokpal and Lokayuktas

Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013: assent of the President on 1 January 2014; section 63 requires every State to establish a Lokayukta within one year of the Act's commencement.

Rajasthan: the Rajasthan Lokayukta and Up-Lokayuktas Act, 1973 (Act 9 of 1973; Act text read); the State had such a law four decades before the central Act of 2013.

(d) Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)

Article 148: the CAG is appointed by the President by warrant and removable only like a Judge of the Supreme Court.

Article 149: duties and powers are as laid down by law made by Parliament.

Article 151: reports on the Union's accounts go to the President, who has them laid before each House of Parliament; reports on a State's accounts go to the Governor, who has them laid before the State Legislature.

Parliament's Public Accounts Committee examines them (standard fact, not re-opened).

(e) Citizen's Charter

Origin: the United Kingdom, 1991; in India, after the Conference of Chief Ministers on 24 May 1997 in New Delhi, which adopted an "Action Plan for Effective and Responsive Government"; the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) coordinates (a secondary-source summary).

Six principles (per the same summary): published standards, openness and information, choice and consultation, courtesy and helpfulness, grievance redressal, value for money.

Limit (our assessment): a charter is a promise, not a law; hence the need for service-guarantee laws.

(f) Rajasthan Guaranteed Delivery of Public Services Act, 2011

Rajasthan Act 23 of 2011; a statutory guarantee that listed services will be delivered within a time limit. In force from 14 November 2011 according to secondary sources.

Appeals: section 6: a first appeal officer (appeal within 30 days of rejection or lapse of the time limit) and a second appellate authority (within 60 days of the decision); section 7: a penalty of Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 on the officer, or Rs 250 per day of delay up to Rs 5,000, and the second appellate authority may order compensation to the applicant out of that penalty (Act and Rules text on Indian Kanoon; law status changes: check the latest text on India Code).

2013 amendment (Act 36 of 2013): set up a Commission for Guaranteed Delivery of Public Services (a Chief Commissioner and Commissioners) and provided for a revision application to it within 60 days against an order of the second appellate authority.

4. Balancing accountability and autonomy

Too much scrutiny breeds "defensive decision-making": officers avoid risk and push files.

Remedy: distinguish honest (bona fide) decisions from dishonest ones, give clear guidelines and record reasons (our assessment).

5. Recording directions: the practical base of accountability

Rule 3(3)(ii)-(iii) of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968: a superior's direction shall ordinarily be in writing; an unavoidable oral direction must be confirmed in writing at once; an officer who gets an oral direction must seek written confirmation.

In T.S.R. Subramanian v Union of India (31 October 2013) the Supreme Court asked all States and Union Territories to issue similar directions within three months. The Court said recording instructions is necessary "for fixing responsibility and ensure accountability" (judgment text on Indian Kanoon; English line below).

6. The officer's "four R" checklist

(our practical frame)

1. Record: decisions, directions and reasons on file.

2. Reason: the logic of every decision, written and understandable.

3. Report: disclose on your own (RTI section 4), hold public hearings, publish action-taken reports.

4. Respond: dispose of grievances and appeals on time.

7. New settings

when AI helps decide, accountability still rests with a human (pages 7.6 and 7.7). Protection of whistleblowers is also part of accountability (page 7.4).

MKSS public hearings, Rajasthan, 1990s.

(see page 8.4): records read out in public; an early form of social audit that led to the demand for the RTI law.

Rajasthan Guaranteed Delivery of Public Services Act, 2011 (amended 2013)

a State-level model of time limits, appeal and penalty in service delivery.

Thinkers and quotes box

Direct question: none using "accountability" appears in Paper II Unit I in 2018, 2021, 2023 or 2024.

Likely forms (our guess, not RPSC information): Part C questions such as "assess the tools of accountability" or "balance accountability with autonomy".

Common mistakes

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Worked examples (documented, with year)

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Practice Questions

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