Kailesh Jugutpal maintains “ Je ne suis pas responsable …Un ministre ne signe pas de contrat”
Such a statement is not surprising coming from a Minister who acknowledges that " he cannot change prepared answers given to him by his civil servants"
The doctrine of ministerial responsibility is at the core the Westminster system of government in parliamentary democracies like ours.
It holds that ministers are accountable for all the actions of officials working in the departments or ministries for which they have responsibility- “a Minister may be required to account for the actions of a department when errors are made, even when the Minister has no knowledge of, or involvement in, the actions concerned.”
A minister is ultimately responsible for all actions by a ministry because, even without knowledge of an infraction by subordinates, the minister approved the hiring/placement and continued employment of those civil servants. If misdeeds are found to have occurred in a ministry, the minister is expected to resign.
It is the Minister who is responsible to the public for his department’s performance, including its failings. Given the massive implications of his top officials , there is no question that the Minister’s resignation should have been immediately forthcoming.
Is such a doctrine sensible, fair or useful?
The doctrine of individual ministerial responsibility is meant to control the unruly horse of arbitrary powers of the government. It creates checks and balances for the ministers of the government.
A minister must defend his decisions without sheltering behind his civil servants; if he cannot, political pressure may force his resignation. The post of a government minister is no doubt an important public position. Anyone who is appointed into it is expected to be properly equipped to perform well hence he should be ready to accept responsibility for the outcome of his mandate.
From Wikipedia : “For example, as far back as 1954, in the United Kingdom, Sir Thomas Dugdale saw it as his duty to resign as minister for agriculture after an inquiry criticised civil servants in his ministry over a compulsory purchase of some farmland even though there was no evidence of his personal involvement. The doctrine has efficacy. It facilitates the greater principle of democratic accountability because to make a political officeholder answerable for every single government decision under his areas of supervision can propel him to ensure that the right things are done under his watch.”
The doctrine solves problems of administration and sets in place processes to prevent future errors.
Many countries have abided to this principle.
**Recently, the Indian Health Minister, Harsh Vardhan, tendered his resignation as an acknowledgment of his Ministry's disastrous response to the coronavirus crisis.
**The Dutch Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag resigned after being criticised for her handling of the Afghanistan evacuation crisis-for failing to evacuate some Afghans, and for missing signs of an imminent Taliban takeover.
**In Romania, the minister of interior, Vasile Blaga, resigned a week after 5,000 police officers went on a one-day strike in protest over a 25% pay cut. Although Blaga described the strike as illegal, he nevertheless resigned as a gesture of honour.
**In India, the Infrastructure Minister resigned after nearly two weeks of strike action by coal miners and health workers.
**The Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab and his cabinet resigned, responding to outrage over a catastrophic explosion in Beirut.
**The Mongolian Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa and his cabinet resigned, amid protests over the government’s handling of COVID-19 and the country’s lockdown.
**Some years back, Egypt’s transport minister resigned following a deadly train crash in Cairo that killed at least 25.
**In 1956, Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Railway Minister, resigned after taking moral responsibility for a train accident at Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu, which caused 150 deaths.
**In 1999 India's Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, resigned following one of the country's worst train disasters.
**Few months back, Taipei's Transport Minister Lin Chia-lung stepped down following a train tragedy -49 people were killed when a high-speed train hit a maintenance truck that had slid onto the track
Thus in democratic and non-authoritarian civilized societies, when a public event suffers a loss, or there are failings/misdeeds within Depts/Ministries, those in charge of it accept responsibility for it and bow out in honour. As a result, the culture of accepting responsibility is firmly rooted in such societies whose leaders bear vicarious liability for whatever transpires within their functional jurisdiction even where they are not personally at fault.
Would you expect Jugutpal to bow out in honour for failing to ensure the proper functioning of his Ministry in the interest of the public?
No, this happens only in genuinely democratic and non-authoritarian civilized societies !!!!
