Citizens’ Charter Bill tabled in Lok Sabha
Aarti Dhar
NEW DELHI: A Bill laying down
obligations of every public
authorityy towards citizens,,
specifying
p y g deliveryy of goodsg
and services in a time-bound
manner and providing
p g for a
grievance
g redressal mecha-
nism for non-compliance of
citizens charter was
w tabled in
the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The Rightg of Citizens for
Time Bound Deliveryy of
Goods and Services and Re-
dressal of Their Grievances
Bill, 2011 was
w tabled by V. Na-
rayanasamy, Minister of
State for Personnel, Public
Grievances and Pensions.
The Bill makes it mandato-
ry for every public depart-
ment to publish a Citizens’
Charter and address griev-
ances within 30 days, y , failingg redressal mechanism to tack-
which the official concerned le graft in the lower ranks of
would face action,, includingg a administration, a move that
fine of upp to Rs. 50,000
, (to
( be comes against the backdrop
recovered from his salary) of Team Anna’s anti-corrup-
and disciplinary proceedings. tion campaign.
The charter seeks to make
it mandatoryy for government
g
officials to
o acknowledge g com- Bill to cover all schemes;
plaints
p from people
p p within Anna to fast from
two days of receipt. The Bill December 27: Page 12
seeks to set up a grievance