Government fast-tracks Grievance Redressal Bill

NEW DELHI: In the aftermath of imbroglio over the Lokpal bill, the government has fast-tracked work on the National Grievance Redressal Bill or the Jan Shikayat Nivaran Vidhayak, 2011. The draft bill is currently being reviewed by Law Minister Salman Khurshid and minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office V Narayanswamy, who is in incharge of the ministry for personnel, public grievances and pensions.

“We have been working on a grievance redressal mechanism. A concept paper has been prepared ... it is under consideration,” Khurshid told ET. Though a decision is yet to be taken, it is likely that the ministry for personnel, public grievances and pensions will pilot this Bill.

While conveying the sense of the House, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke of the political support on issues such as citizens’ charter, and a mechanism to bring the lower bureaucracy under an anti-corruption oversight mechanism. The draft bill is seen as part of this effort.

The proposed bill will be based on three basic principles — the citizen’s charter, an effective time-bound redress of grievances relating to entitlements and services assured by the government in the charter, and penalty for failure to deliver.

The citizens’ charter will outline the government or administration’s obligations to the people. It will list out the good and services that people are entitled to, and the eligibility criteria for accessing these. It will also outline the process through which these goods and services can be accessed, and the officials responsible for providing them, as well as the timeframe for delivery.

Sources said that the government has drawn on grievances that people has in accessing entitlements under schemes like the national rural employment guarantee scheme. In terms of the mechanism’s structure, the attempt has been to model it on Right to Information framework.

This would require designated grievance redressal officers from the ward level upwards, all the way to the centre. Like the RTI, the timeframe for addressing a complaint is 30 days, and if not attended to the complainant would move up to the next rung of grievance redressal mechanism. To ensure that complaints do not fall through the crack, it has been suggested that every complainant is provided with an Action Taken Report.

Public officials, who fail to provide the information or service to which citizens are entitled to, could be fined as much as Rs 1 lakh. In the event the official is found guilty, disciplinary action would be initiated and be liable to punishment.

This would become part of the officials’ service record. In the event that the grievance redressal officer is of the view that a public official has willfully neglected to provide citizens’ with their entitlement, then a recommendation can be made to initiate proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 to the district grievance commissioner.

The officer will also suggest the requisite penalty. Once the district/state/central grievance commissioners are convinced that it is indeed a case of corruption, the matter will be referred to the appropriate authority.

A senior government official said that discussions were underway to work out the modality of setting up the grievance redressal mechanism.

The official said that the government would need to keep in mind that some states already have a citizens’ charter while others are in the process of finalising it.