Impress upon ministries to undertake review of grievances raised in media: Par panel to DARPG

In its report titled "strengthening of grievance redressal mechanism of government of India", the Parliamentary panel noted that in their eagerness to comply with established instructions, grievances are increasingly being disposed of by some departments or organisations simply with the suggestion to approach another agency.

New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel has asked the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) to impress upon central government ministries to regularly review grievances raised in print and electronic media.

In its report titled "strengthening of grievance redressal mechanism of government of India", the panel noted that in their eagerness to comply with established instructions, grievances are increasingly being disposed of by some departments or organisations simply with the suggestion to approach another agency, sometimes a subordinate office.

"In some cases, the grievance is being re-sent to the agency against which the complaint is made and in some others, the online grievances are being disposed with the advice to take the grievance to the portal of the agency or some complaint committee," it said.

The committee noted that DARPG has instructed the ministries/departments to give valid reasons for closure.

"However, in many cases this is not being done. The Committee impresses upon the ministries/departments to strictly comply with the instructions issued by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances from time to time in respect of grievance redressal, the report said.

The panel recommended that a dedicated portal on public grievance redress run by the DARPG should play the role of facilitator for the public without impinging on the nature of federalism.

The committee has observed that many grievances received on Centralised Public Grievances Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) are related to state governments and in several of these cases, the petitioner was asked to approach the state government and the grievance was disposed rather than forwarded.

"There was no redressal," it said, recommending that the CPGRAMS play the role of facilitator for the public without impinging on the nature of federalism.

The performance of states on the portal can be left to them but the facilitation responsibility of the Centre cannot be shed when a public grievance is registered, and there is a jurisdictional conflict involved, said the report by the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Justice headed by BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi.

"The Committee recommends DARPG to impresss upon ministries/ departments to undertake a regular review of grievances, which are raised in print and electronic media and include the analysis in the quarterly report submitted to the DARPG," it said.

It should also ensure that the review undertaken by them and the action taken on the suggestions are put on its website, the report said.

The committee noted that CPGRAMS has not been uniformly operationalised in all organisations.

"Besides, wide variations are apparent across the ministries/ departments and other organisations in respect of the extent of commitment, framework and processes instituted and the capacity to handle grievances. Some organisations have not taken any initiative in this regard," said the report tabled in the Parliament on December 10.

Efficiency and effectiveness of the administrative processes and polices are directly dependant on the state of public grievances in any organisation, it said.

"Timely ventilation and redressal of grievances are necessary for any citizen friendly administration. Therefore, the Committee recommends that there should be an overall review/evaluation of the procedure of handling grievances of the ministries/ departments/ organisations in the government of India," the report said.

The committee recommended the DARPG to strengthen public interface mechanisms for redress like lok adalats' and jan sunvais', wherever feasible, taking it to the doorstep of the people needing redress, it said.

It also recommended that feedback and suggestions on the performance of grievance redressal system should be taken from the public in order to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and credibility of grievance redress mechanism and grievance prevention possibilities.

"Best suggestions should be rewarded and their implementation and value addition should be highlighted for improving the credibility of the system," the report said.

The panel was pleased to note that DARPG is gradually making way for one nation one grievance redressal portal.

However, the committee recommends the department to ensure that certain features are incorporated while integrating CPGRAMS with state portals, namely, identifying right stakeholders for redressal, facility of auto forwarding delayed or specific kind of grievances to right team/person, among others, it said.

PTI