Why Government Regulations often fail?

-

Tamil Nadu has the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Tenants Act of 2017.  Also, Tamil Nadu passed the Tamil Nadu Apartment Ownership Act 2022.  They provide guidelines for respective domains.  They expect a registration with the government.  A web-site exists for all these and very few residents and apartment associations are even aware of these acts.  Nevertheless, properties are being rented out and associations continue to function.

The act pertaining to tenancy states that the deposit cannot be more than three months of rent.  This is not followed by most owners, but tenants agree to pay a higher security deposit.  The demand overrides the government regulation.  This implies that neither the owners nor the tenants take the act seriously.

A mandate like these from the government has at least one clear goal - to intervene in case of a dispute or a violation.  Why do people ignore such mandates and proceed with their way of dealing and transacting?

  • Citizens estimate a risk of dispute or a violation to be a minor one or they totally ignore it.
  • Even if they encounter an issue, they find it easier to resolve it without the government intervention.
  • The cost of involving the government in resolving such issues is far too high than the cost of settling it between the individuals.
  • People are more comfortable dealing with humans than a faceless system that does not add much value.
  • There are cheaper higher powers that will help in the resolution quickly than any government agency.  Some of them aren't strictly legal.
  • The government has no way of enforcing its own laws.  It lacks the resources like people, and administrative systems for dispute resolution. 
When the reality is different, why does the government pass an unimplementable law?  The current practices as far as renting and associations are based on previous laws - some were from the British period.  The laws are treated as a namesake requirement and are followed as just conventions - like the Leave and License Agreement in which the duration is fixed at 11 months and renewed after 11 months.  I doubt if people followed the laws of those days as soon as they were passed.  The convention may be the result of a few litigation and lawyers' recommendations.

Overall, people are less inclined to let the government as an intermediary between two individuals.  While renting and associations are good for society (optimum use of housing, cooperation etc), the government has no skin in the game to involve itself in the transactions and seen as a useful party in the transaction. That is, the government is not equal to society or the state's formal legal institutions are disconnected from the organic, informal mechanisms society relies on to resolve daily disputes.

Are we good with our current system of ignoring the government for such transactions?  Would a smaller local government be of any use in such cases?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interview Questions

-
Tired of being called to interview fresh graduates who can't think, I gave our HR person three sets of questions as follows. I didn't want to copy paste objective type questions. I wanted to see how they think, present etc. Set 1 1. Write the events that happen between requesting for a web-site address in browser's address bar and the retrieval of the web page. State your assumptions on internet / intranet, static / dynamic web sites. 2. Write a function (secondLargest) to find the second largest number in a given array of integers. (Expectation is just the function in such a way it can be reused in multiple programs with the most optimal solution in any programming language.) 3. Write a data structure in C/C++/C#/Java to store folders and files in a computer. Set 2 1. Give step-by-step instructions to go from your home to college. Be clear that a stranger to these places can simply follow the instructions and still reach the destination with no additional help. 2. Wr...
Read more

Is there a thing that doesn't exist?

-
"Is there a thing that doesn't exist?" was the question my son Krishna asked me last night. It has been his habit to listen to my ramblings before he goes to sleep. His point is - my voice gives him good sleep. And I see the reason on why I didn't become a teacher. Coming back to his question - it made me happy, for he asked a difficult question. It made me happier as I can answer this one to my satisfaction. So, I started. "The answer in a single word is No. But let me explain. We perceive everything through our minds. Thousands of inputs from the sensory organs and a memory help our mind make sense out of what the eyes see, ears hear etc. So, to perceive something, the mind must be present. That is the basic premise. To answer your question, we must first define what that "thing" is (that doesn't exist). You can define that thing as something not in your memory. For example, a creature with three legs, four arms, eight eyes and three ...
Read more

தேங்கிவிட்ட தமிழ் - உவமைகளும் நகரவாசிகளும்

-
Anti-fragile  எனும் ஆயிரங்காலத்துப் பயிர் தமிழ் மொழிபெயர்ப்பில் உள்ள சிரமங்களையும் சிக்கலான சிந்தனைகளை எப்படி தமிழில் விளக்குவது என்ற ஆலோசனைகளிலும் சிந்தனைகளிலும் நேரம் சென்றது.  நண்பருக்கு என்னுடைய பழைய கட்டுரைகளில் ஒன்றை அனுப்பத் தேடியபோது நான் நாஸிம் நிக்கலஸ் தாலேபின் Anti-fragile என்பதை விளக்க முயன்ற கட்டுரை கண்ணில் பட்டது.  குழந்தைத்தனமாக சுற்றி சுற்றி  விளக்கியிருந்தேன்.  எழுதிய எனக்கே அது புரியவில்லை. ஆங்கிலத்திலேயே Anti-fragile என்பதை விளக்க ஒரு புத்தகமே தேவைப்பட்டிருக்கிறது.  ஆனால், சிக்கலான இந்திய சமூகங்களே Anti-fragile.  ஆனால் அவை அதை எப்படிப் புரிந்து கொண்டுள்ளன? நாம் உவமைகளைக் கொண்டு சிக்கலானவற்றைப் புரிந்து கொள்கிறோம்.  அந்த உவமைகளும் பெருமளவு இயற்கையுடன் ஒன்றியவை.  தாவரங்கள், விலங்குகள், இயற்கை அமைப்புகள் கொடுத்த உவமைகளைக் கொண்டு சமூக பொருளாதார கருத்தியல்களைப் புரிந்து கொள்வது நமக்கு எளிது; அதுவே வழக்கம் கூட.  வரம்பின்றி வரிகளின் மூலம் மக்களை வதைக்கும் அரசுக்கு  'யானை புக்க புலத்தை' உவமையாகக் கூறினர். அப்படி இருக...
Read more