Citizens’ Charter & The Right of Citizens’ For Time Bound Delivery of Goods & Services & Redressal of Their Grievances Bill 2011
But President /Governor will make appointments as per the recommendations of select Committee. The select Committee will consist of
The Commissioners may be removed by an order of the President /Governor under certain conditions.
Similar appeal structure is provided in Citizens’ Charter bill
In relation to an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, a third appeal against the decision of the Commissions shall lie with the Lokpal or the Lokayukta.
What is a Citizens’ charter?
- You may have seen the Dominos Pizza Ad: delivery in 30 minutes otherwise free.
- Citizen charter is a similar concept- applied to public organizations.
- Basically a public organization will write on a paper “we provide this this and this services with this this and this time limit. If you don’t get the service within that time, contact xyz officer.”
- Such written document is called citizens’ charter. You can see citizen charters in the websites of almost all union ministries, PSUs, and Public sector banks.
- Prime Minister John Major introduced the first citizens’ charter in early 1990s in UK.
Components of a Citizens’ Charter:
- Vision –mission statement
- The list of services delivered. Names and contanct numbers of officials responsible. Grievances redressal mechanism, in case service is not delivered.
- List of responsibilities of the citizens in the context of the charter. (that you’re supposed to bring this this and this documents if you want to get xyz service in time.)
Advantages of Citizen charter?
- He can avail services in a time bound manner.
- Will not have to depend on the mercy of the bureaucracy.
- He will not have to face long delays due to red tape.
- For a passport, a birth or death certificate, a driving licence or a ration card, Aam Aadmi need not have to sweat it out. There will not be any need to grease palms of corrupt officials.
- He can seek compensation for undue delay in delivery of service.
- For ex: In Europe people are compensated if the train gets delayed.
- Basic thrust of Citizens Charter is to make public services citizen centric by ensuring that these services are demand driven rather than supply driven.
Citizens’ Charter Bill 2011: Salient Features
Full name
The Right of Citizens’ For Time Bound Delivery of Goods & Services & Redressal of Their Grievances Bill 2011 (Oh full name seems like 3 bills in one. hahaha)Where it Applies to?
- The Bill deals with government departments that deal directly with citizens: they include
- Constitutional bodies,
- Statutory authorities,
- Public-private partnerships,
- NGOs substantially funded by the government and companies that provide services under a statutory obligation.
What are main Provisions ?
- The Bill makes it mandatory for every public authority to publish a Citizen’s Charter within six months of the commencement of the Act.
- Every citizen is given right to get time bound delivery of goods and services.
- If not delivered, there is redressal mechanism.
- List the details of the goods and services provided by a public authority;
- The name of the person or agency responsible for providing the goods or services;
- The time frame within which such goods or services have to be provided;
- The category of people entitled to the goods and services; and
- Details of the complaint redressal mechanism.
| Name of service | designated officer | time limit for service | first appeal officer | time limit for disposal | second appellant authority |
| Domicile certificate, land records. | Tehsildar | 7 days | SDO (Revenue) | 15 days | Collector |
| New Electricity Connection | Zolan distribution in charge | 10 days | Executive Engineer | 30 days | Superintendent Engineer |
Public Grievance Redressal Commissions
Bill aims to establish Public Grievance Redressal Commissions @Centre and State level.| Strength | 1 Chief Commissioner + a maximum number of 10 Commissioners. |
| Qualification |
|
| Appointed by |
|
Union level | State level |
| PM | CM |
| Leader of opposition in Lok Sabha | In Legislative assembly (Vidhan Sabha) |
| Sitting just of SC | Of HC |
Grievance Redressal Mechanism:
In right to information Act, the mechanism/ structure / hierarchy is:R.T.I structure | What? |
| Public information officer (PIO) (Central or State) | You send R.T.I application to him. He must give information within 30 days. |
| First Appellant authority (FAA) | He is an officer above the rank of PIO.You approach him if your R.T.I is not replied within 30 days (or if PIO did not give you the necessary information). |
| Central/State Information Commissioner (CIC or SIC) | Finally you can appeal to him in case FAA doesn’t help. |
R.T.I act 2005 | Citizen charter bill 2011 |
| Public information officer (PIO) | Grievance Redress Officers (GRO). You send your complaint to him. He must address the issue within 30 days. |
| First Appellant authority (FAA) | Designated Authority (DA), if GRO doesn’t help. |
| Central/State Information Commissioner (CIC or SIC) | State or Central Public Grievances Redressal Commission. If DA doesn’t help. |
Penalty
- DA and Commission can impose fine of Max.Rs.50000 to concerned officials/GRO.
- The penalty shall be recovered from the salary of the official. Such penalty may be awarded as compensation to the appellant.
Criticism
#1: Against federal Spirit
- (BJP says) Yet Citizens’ charter bill provides for GRO and Grievances Commission @state and central level. But Parliament doesn’t not have jurisdiction to enact such law. Because 7th schedule of constitution->State list ->State Public services (Entry 41).
- It means, only State legislature has jurisdiction to make laws regarding state public services.
- More than ten states have already enacted a Citizen Charter Act or Public Services Guarantee Act in their respective states.
- The states of Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh have their own laws in place.
- Many of ^these state laws have provisions that are much better than the proposed Bill.
- The Central government can and should enact Citizen Charter for central services but should not encroach upon the states’ domain. At best, the Centre can suggest a model law.
- However, the Ministry of personnel affairs, defends this bill saying “Provisions of the Bill relate to ‘actionable wrongs’ which comes under the concurrent list.”
#2: Duplication of work
- Several states such as Delhi, Punjab and Bihar have also enacted their own grievance redressal laws. The mechanism provided under these laws is different from that provided under the Bill.
- So this will lead to duplication of work and organizations.
- Similarly, MNREGA Act, RTE Act, National Food Security Bill, 2011, and the Public Procurement Bill, 2012 also have their own grievances redressal forums. = duplication.
- Similar to R.T.I act, this bill also applies to organizations funded by Government. (e.g. Air India, Public Sector Banks, LIC.) However, if those organizations donot provide services on time, the matter also falls under jurisdiction of consumer courts, Banking ombudsman, IRDA respectively= lot of duplication.
- So it seems Government hasn’t done the homework, they just want to pass a bill to divert peoples’ attention from more important issue, that is Lokpal.
