CHAPTER - IV

Citizens’ Grievances
and
Redressal Mechanism in India
 CHAPTER – IV

CITIZENS’ GRIEVANCES AND

REDRESSAL MECHANISM IN INDIA

The government, both at the centre and the state, share the concern for ensuring
responsive, accountable, transparent, decentralized and people friendly administration at
all levels. There is, however, considerable frustration and dissatisfaction amongst the
people, especially the weaker section of society, about the apathy, irresponsiveness and
lack of accountability of public servants, even as the expenditure on staff continues to
increase. There is increasing anxiety about growing instances of corruption and
criminalization in public life and administration. The people, particularly the vulnerable
groups, are also greatly concerned about the deterioration in the performance of agencies
concerned with law and order and the investigation of offences. Their faith in the
registration of offences, their timely investigation and the delivery of prompt justice has
been eroded.

Time has come for a strong message to be conveyed that administration is for the
people and not for the public servants themselves. There has to be a change of attitudes,
and public servants should realize that efficiency will be measured not in terms of what
the services purport to offer, but in terms of public satisfaction. Simultaneously, there has
also to be a cleansing of the services and codification of the ethics, value systems and the
interface with the politicians.

The citizen’s perception of the State and its functionaries is primarily based on its
role as a service provider, law enforcer and regulator. Improving the quality of
administration and providing a responsive interface between the citizen and the public
services require initiatives in following areas:

1. making administration accountable and citizen-friendly,

2. ensuring transparency and the right to information, and
3. taking measures to cleanse and motivate civil services.
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Accountable and Citizen-Friendly Government

Nowadays, the empowered and enlightened citizenry is far more demanding

services in convenient and comfortable channels. The government, therefore, has to
develop, evolve and enable itself to meet the evolving demands of the society. A citizen-
friendly government should give high priority to redressal of public grievances since the
government being a service provider, it is bound to meet people’s needs and aspirations.
Effective and timely redressal of public grievances is a hallmark of responsive and
responsible governance. This has become more important after enactment of Right to
Information Law. The society today is impatient with the old system of governance that
is not coming up to its expectations. To them, a government employee is perceived as
insensitive, aloof, corrupt and overall the administrative system as autocratic, opaque and
with no work culture. This requires a paradigm shift in governance to a system where the
citizen is in the centre and he is consulted at various stages of formulation and
implementation of public policy. To achieve this objective, our country needs a public
service, which is capable, innovative and forward looking. The traditional role of civil
service which was of administrator, service provider and controller of development
activities has to make way for the new roles of facilitator and regulator so as to create
best environment and conditions in the country for building a nation of excellence.1

With the increase in government’s role in improving the quality of life of its
people, need for having an efficient system for redressal of public grievances also grows
in each public administration system. The ultimate goal of government in a civilized
society, and more particularly in a democracy, has ever been the happiness, contentment
and welfare of the people over whom it governs. Verily, the strength of a government
depends upon the prosperity of the people and it is in their contentment that lay the
security and stability of democracy. However, there has always remained, in all forms of
polity, the crucial problem of the average citizen at the cutting edge of administration,
being deprived of the service and treatment to which he is entitled. One of the hard
problems in public administration that has defined solution so far has been how to make
the official at the bottom rung of the administrative hierarchy and it is with such officials
that the citizen mostly comes into contact responsive, sympathetic and courteous in his
dealings with the citizen and how to enforce this responsibility. 2
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Defining a Grievance

‘Grievance’ has been defined as indignation or resentment arising out of a feeling

of being wronged. A ‘grievance’ is defined as an expression of dissatisfaction made to an
organization related to its products, services and process(es), where a response or
resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected. A grievance is thus any sort of
dissatisfaction, which needs to be redressed. It can be real or imaginary, legitimate or
ridiculous, rated or unvoiced, written or oral, it must however find expression in some
form or the other. 3

According to the Chambers Dictionary grievance means a ground of complaint a

condition felt to be oppressive or wrongful. A grievance may arise as a complaint against
some action or decision taken by the government or any other agency. Sometimes, it may
refer to a situation felt to be oppressive. It takes the character of discontent arising out of
non-fulfillment of certain demands and expectations. These demands may be related to
policies of the government or to the performance of the administration in the
implementation of policies framed by the government. The general syndrome of
grievance properly called discontent has become a normal feature where there is a
disparity between government performance and popular expectations.

Nature and Scope of Public Grievances.

Corruption has always loomed large within the ambit of citizens grievances
against the executive organs of government . In its widest connotation, corruption
includes improper or selfish exercise of power and influence attached to a public office or
the special position one occupies in public lie. But besides corruption, indifference,
incompetence and insensitiveness on the part of public servants can and do frequently of
citizens can be of two types, general grievances and individual grievances. General
grievances are against the government, its acts and policies and may common to all or
any section of the community. Shortage of food, rise in prices, over-crowding in transport
services, late running of trains are instances of such grievances which do exist and find
expression in widespread disturbances that occur from time to time.
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Individuals may have against the executive organs of government, which includes
both power wielding political leadership and the permanent services on account of any
act or omission on their part affecting the citizens individually. It is with the latter type of
grievances that we are concerned here, due to the development of the rule of law and the
evolution of a large career service, there has come about a change in the public
conception of integrity of public servants in the sense that they should not use their
official position to obtain any kind of financial or other advantages for themselves, their
families or friends. The citizen today expects the public servants to be honest, diligent,
responsive, fair and competent in the discharge of their duties and qualities which the
Madhya Pradesh Administrative Reforms Commission in its report has described as
integrity and capacity in administration.

The problem of citizen’s grievances stem undoubtedly from the great gap existing
between government and people in all developing societies. There is also the social
distance between the administrator and the people with whom he has to deal, a social
distance set by certain norms which the administrative elite acquired in the colonial
period under a very different set of circumstances.4

Public Grievance

The increase in public grievance is a cause of worry. Accessible and effective

grievance redressal mechanisms are a necessary component of accountability; the errors
of decision makers can be corrected, oversight highlighted, abuses and misuses rectified
and shortcomings avoided. Public grievances primarily arise out of the inaccessibility of
public servants failure to even acknowledge applications, non-enforcement of any kind of
time limit, insensitivity and unsympathetic attitude of public servants at various levels. A
number of grievance redressal cells have been created at various levels but they tend to
become perfunctory. In extreme cases, these cells have further added to the citizen’s
grievances, as most of them remain unresponsive and ineffective. It is a common sight on
the railway stations and bus stands that “May I help you” counters are generally deserted
or occupied by vendors and beggars. If we are not able to ensure the effectiveness of such
counters it is better to do away with them, as they do more harm than good and this
further erodes the faith of the common man in the administrative machinery.
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A major theme associated with improving performance is the development of a

customer or a client focus or service quality initiative in the public sector. Citizen’s
charter is probably the best known example. These initiative aims is to improve the
quality of service delivery as well as to provide service which meets people’s needs.
Commitments are to provide a certain type, volume and quality of services their
commitments. A number of central government departments and undertakings have
formed citizens’ charters. Some of the state governments have also taken initiative in this
regard, yet the results are not very encouraging. Perhaps the current prevailing work
culture does not translate these initiatives into reality. The real issue, however, is the need
to bring about a total change in the attitude of public servants towards redressal of public
grievances at all levels and to pin-point responsibility for action on grievances of the
people.

Citizens’ Grievances in India and Channels of Redress

A citizen’s grievance is the public dissatisfaction with the functioning of

governmental process. In the welfare state like India, which is engaged in nation-
building and socio-economic planning, public dissatisfaction is proliferating owing to the
gap between rising expectations of the people and malfunctioning of the administrative
machinery. Public grievances are aroused by administration of rural and urban areas and
are multifarious and multi-dimensional.

Grievances against Policies

Citizens may have grievances against certain government policies, adversely

affecting the interests of some organized groups of people. This provides them with
grounds to complain about the government policies. Grievances against any policy are
aired not only in the press but also in legislatures. To get the policies modified, citizens
pressurize the government with the help of certain pressure and interest groups. For this
purpose, they make use of various techniques. To avoid any confrontation, polices should
be appropriate, serving the general interests of all sections of the society.
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Grievances Related to Maladministration

It is widely felt that the policies ought to be implemented efficiently may cause
resentment among the recipients or beneficiaries. It has been observed that when service
provided to the public has been extraordinarily delayed or has been altogether denied. An
extreme case of grievances arising out of inter-departmental non coordination was noted
during the course of the inquiry. Many grievances also arise because of the inefficiency
or delays caused by the workload of the officials. Moreover, the nature of public
complaint is found to be closely linked with the nature of duties that the officials have
been assigned.

Grievances Relating to Corruption

It has been observed that honesty and integrity in both politics and administration
are deteriorating. Generally, it is felt that nothing can be achieved through
straightforward and honest ways and means, this may result in lack of confidence in the
administration. Every government department has become a den of corruption. It has
increased to such an extent that people have started losing faith in the integrity of the
administration. In this way, the prevalence of corruption also becomes an important
factor responsible for providing grounds for complaint. 5

Grievances in Rural Areas

Over the past two decades rural population has increased by 21% (from 298.5
million in 1951 to 438.8 million in 1981). Along-with this the administration in rural
areas has been intimately connected with the developmental fields of consolidation of
land holding, agriculture, pisciculture, sericulture, animal husbandry, supply of water,
power, sanitation and preventive health facilities, medical care, credits for rural poor, for
agriculture, artisans handicrafts and small scale industry and provisions to provide land to
landless, educational facilities, transport service, post and telegraph services and
provision for supply of essential commodities. Citizens’ grievances in rural areas may be
of following types.
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(a) Non-availability or Intermittent Supply

Rural administration is responsible for supplying essential commodities, such as

kerosene oil, medicine, fertilizers, seeds pesticides, electricity. Further, rural
administration provides credits of long-term or short-term loans for purposes of
agriculture and small scale industries. The complaint of beneficiaries is that either the
supplies are not available to the villagers or available to them on payment of some illegal
gratification. Further, the supplies are sold to black marketers.

(b) Delay in Supplies and Services

In the villages of India, delay in supplies and services is well marked. The
problem is quite acute in the supply of electricity to household and to irrigation points.
Supplies to ameliorate agricultural production are much neglected. Particularly, supply
of seeds, pesticides, agricultural credit is delayed. To add to it agricultural seeds supplied
are sometimes of low quality. For example, Oil Seeds Corporation supplied low quality
of ground seeds named ‘Kissan’. Farmers in Orissa alleged that in earlier years they were
accustomed to use A.K.-1224 seed and got yield of 6 to 8 quintals per acre. But by using
the new hi-yielding varieties kissan they got only 2 to 3 quintals per acre. Moreover their
dissatisfaction with civil supplies and distribution system of rural administration touches
dizzy heights when they are compelled to purchase kerosene, sugar, cement, cycle tyres
and tubes from black market.

(c) Harassment

Citizens in rural areas faced harassment of varied intensity when they approached
the authority for securing medical service, administrative service, agricultural service etc.
In this regard issues of controlled permits and quota are noteworthy. It gives ample
scope, for corrupt practices and generates insurmountable difficulties for the citizens.
Moreover, politicization in every sphere of rural administration adds complexity to the
emerging grievance pattern.
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Reasons for the Growth of Grievances

Apart from lack of facilities and friendly reception, the public grievances
primarily arise out of inaccessibility of officials, failure to even acknowledge application,
unwarranted delays and non-enforcement of time limits, lack of information, harassment
and activities of middlemen, demand for speed money, ignorance of procedures and
forms, and the unsympathetic attitudes of officials at all levels. In big cities, citizens are
often required to travel long distances to visit different offices due to lack of
decentralized locations at the ward level for providing information on dealing with
complaints. The methods for payments of various taxes and service charges are often
inconvenient, not suited to the working hours of such members of the public who do not
have access to servants. As regards the villagers in dispersed villages throughout the
district, they face great problems in approaching the tehsil and district offices for getting
copies of records, licenses, payments, applications under various government schemes,
etc.

The area of governmental activity may include diverse functions such as issues of
licenses of permits, supply and distribution of essential commodities welfare services like
education, health, sanitation, transport etc., supply of goods and services, social services
like banking, insurance, employee’s provident fund etc, and acquisition and requisition of
private property. The vertical area means the level at which the orders are issued within
the administrative hierarchy. Orders are not always passed at the highest level by the
officials of the secretariat on their own or under the direction of the ministers. Orders
may be passed by District Magistrates, Sub-Divisional Officers and even by officials of
lower rank in the Mofussil, e.g., by Block Development Officers.

The assumption of new responsibilities by the government has resulted in the

multiplication of the administrative process. As the Law Commission pointed out in its
fourteenth report there is a vast field of administrative action in which administrative
authority may act outside the strict scope of law and propriety without the injured citizen
being in a position to obtain effective redress. Administrative power and discretion are
vested at different levels of the executive, all the members of which are not endowed with
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the same level of understanding and strength of character. Where there is power and
discretion, there is always the possibility of abuse, more so when the power and
discretion have to be exercised in contexts of scarcity and controls and pressure to spend
public money. The absence of a machinery for appeals, other than inside the hierarchy
and of a machinery for redress of grievances contributed to the growth of an impression
of arbitrariness on the part of the executive.

The poor record of most public agencies in the area of prompt and effective
redressal of public grievances is a major cause of public dissatisfaction and a subject of
criticism by the elected representatives. Public grievances primarily arise out of the
inaccessibility of officials, failure to even acknowledge application, non-enforcement of
6
any kind of time-limits, and unsympathetic attitude of officials at various levels.
A central and state government to review their existing system of redressal of public
grievance, and institute measures not only for streamline these, but also to monitor the
steps taken to improve their efficacy.

Executive Machinery for Removal of Citizen Grievances at Union Level

It was felt that the existing legislative, judicial and administrative machinery
could not help the ordinary citizens in getting their grievances removed. Hence, the
committee on prevention of corruption, popularly known as Santhanam Committee,
suggested creation of a special machinery to provide quick and satisfactory redress of
public grievances. A Commissioner for public grievances was appointed in March 1966.
Complaint cells were also set-up in the ministries, each headed by a Joint Secretary. In
1968, the secretary in the department of personnel was asked to perform the duties of
commissioner of public grievances. This system functioned till March 1985, when a
separate department of administrative reforms and public grievances was setup. After
assuming the office of the Prime Ministership in 1985, Rajiv Gandhi stressed the need for
removing public grievances. The Prime Minister, in a meeting of the Consultative
Committee of the Parliament attached to the ministry of personnel, public grievances and
pensions observed.
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The most important aspect of resolving public grievances is not redressing

individual grievances as such, even though a high degree of priority must be accorded to
this work, but reforming the administrative system or those parts of it which throw up
individual grievances in large number. We must get to the roots of these grievances and it
is at point that the cure should begin. Our endeavour, therefore has to be not only to
redress the present grievances of the people but also to modify the entire system in a
manner which till prevent such grievances from arising in the future.

The government identified the problem of areas and provided institutional and
personnel relief, e.g., public grievance booths have been set-up at the main railway
stations, the single window system has been introduced in the department of
telecommunications, etc. The cabinet approved the setting up of a Directorate of public
grievances in the cabinet secretariat headed by an officer of the rank of secretary to the
Government of India. To begin with, it would entertain complaints from four ministries,
department, i.e., posts, railways, telecommunication and banking division of the
department of economic affairs after satisfying that they have exhausted internal
channels. Its jurisdiction was extended to three more ministries, namely, civil aviation,
surface transport and urban development w.e.f 7.10.89. The Directorate can call and
examine concerned files as well as satisfy itself about the bonafides of the complainant.

Structure of Grievance Redressal Machinery at the National Level

Grievances from the public are received at various points in different ministries/
departments in the Government of India. However, there are primarily two designated
nodal agencies in the union government handling these grievances. These agencies are:

a. Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of

Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions.
b. Directorate of Public Grievances, Cabinet Secretariat.
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Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR & PG)
is the nodal agency in respect of policy initiatives on public grievance redressal
mechanisms and citizen-centric initiatives. The role of the department of administrative
reforms and public grievances is primarily to undertake citizen-centric initiatives in the
field of administrative reforms and public grievances to enable the government
machinery to deliver quality public service to citizens in a hassle-free manner and
eliminate the causes of grievance.

The grievances received by the Department of AR&PG are forwarded to the

concerned ministries, departments, state governments, UTs, who deal with the
substantive functions linked with the grievance for redress, under intimation to the
complainant. The department ‘takes up’ about 1000 grievances every year and depending
upon the seriousness of the grievance follows up regularly till its final disposal. This
enables the department to evaluate the effectiveness of the grievance redressal machinery
of the concerned government agency. Guidelines have been issued to all ministries and
departments to set up a prompt and effective grievance redressal system. As per these
guidelines, all ministries, autonomous bodies and Public Sectors Undertakings (PSUs) are
required to designate an officer as Director of public grievances including in autonomous
bodies and public sector undertakings. It has also been stipulated that the grievance
redressal system should form a part of the citizens’ charters. Ministries have also been
advised to fix a time frame for disposal of the petitions received, suo-motu identify
grievances from newspaper columns and regularly monitor the disposal of the petitions. 7

Centralized Public Grievances Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS)

The department of administrative reforms and public grievances launched the

CPGRAMS in 2007 for receiving, redressing and monitoring of grievances from the
public. CPGRAMS provides the facility to lodge a grievance ‘online’ from any
geographical location. It enables the citizen to track online his or her grievance being
followed up with departments concerned and also enables the DAR&PG to monitor the
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grievance. CPGRAMS is a web enabled application and can be accessed by ministries,

departments, organizations through a personnel computer using an internet connection
and an internet browser. The citizen can access the system online through the portal
www.pgportal.nic.in. As the system developed has been recently launched, its efficacy
and response by other ministries and departments is yet to be tested. However, the system
is an excellent use of modern technology. 8 The commission is of the view that a similar
system should be installed at the State and district levels because a decentralized system
would benefit a larger number of citizens on the one hand and would also help in
improving the effectiveness of field offices on the other. Similar concepts have already
been tried in several States, for example, the Lokvani in Uttar Pradesh.

Directorate of Public Grievances (DPG)

Directorate of public grievances was set up in the cabinet secretariat with effect
from 01.04.88, initially to look into individual complaints pertaining to four central
government departments which were more prone to public complaints. Subsequently,
more departments having larger public interface were added to its purview. Directorate
was envisaged as an appellate body investigating grievances selectively and particularly
those where the complainant had failed to get redressal from the internal redressal
machinery and the hierarchical authorities. Unlike the Department of AR&PG, the
Directorate of public grievances has been empowered to call officers and files to see if
the grievance handling has been done in a fair, objective and just manner. Wherever the
Directorate is satisfied that the grievance has not been dealt with in such a manner, it
makes suitable recommendations for consideration and adoption by the concerned
ministry/department which is required to be implemented within a period of one month.9

Working of Public Grievances Redressal

The department of administrative reforms and public grievances has asked the
ministry and departments to designate an officer as Director of grievances and suitable
officers as grievance officers in offices at the lower level. These officers are to scrutinize
newspaper to take note of and attend to relevant grievances. One day in the week is
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observed as grievance removal day when all officers are available to citizens. Besides,
meetings of these officers are held to evaluate the disposal of grievances. It has been
decided to incorporate the names of officers dealing with grievances in the telephone
directories, so that people can directly contact them.

Institutionalizing Redressal of Public Grievances

The Government of India has issued instruction to all the ministries, department
that the following steps should be taken to strengthen internal grievances redressal
machinery in the interest of promoting responsive administration. This is being monitored
by the department of administrative reforms and public grievances.

1. A meeting less day on every Wednesday should be observed strictly. The

designated officer or his/her immediate subordinate should be accessible on
this day and for emergent complaint at stipulated hours on other days.
2. The receptionist’s security personnel and peons should be given suitable
instructions about the meeting less day so as to allow the members of the
public to meet officers without prior appointment. This should be enforced
also in respect of all the attached offices and public agencies under the
supervision of the ministry and department.
3. The name, designation, room number, telephone number, etc. of the Director
of grievances should be displayed prominently at the reception and other
convenient places in the office buildings and ministries.
4. A locked complaint box should be placed at the reception and opened each
day for expeditious action.
5. In the interest of expeditious disposal of grievances the Director of grievances
should exercise more frequently the powers vested in him to call for paper and
documents of cases pending for more than 3 months and take decisions with
the approved of the secretary of the ministry and department or head of the
department and organization.
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6. Each grievance petition must be acknowledged within two weeks of receipt,

along with on indication of the name, designation and telephone number of
the employee who is processing the case
7. Ministries, departments should analyze grievances received by them, with a
view to identifying the major grievance prone areas and take corrective
measures to reduce recurrence of such grievances.
8. Wide publicity should be given about the grievance redressal machinery in the
ministries, departments, public sector undertakings and autonomous
organizations.
9. The grievances column of the newspaper should be regularly examined by
each ministry, department, agency of government for picking up cases which
relate to it and quick action should be taken.
10. Time norms of disposal of applications and requests for services and activities
which bring the public in contact with the ministry and department should be
fixed and advertised so as to ensure improved public interface and greater
accountability. Systemic deficiencies and centralization leading to recurring
grievances should be taken up for urgent corrective action. The citizen’s
charter will also cover the commitments in this regard.
11. A Staff Grievance Officer (SGO) should be designated in every ministry and
department office to deal with grievances of the employees, on the lines done
by departments like railways and the possibility of holding regular stag adalats
can be pursued.
12. The feedback mechanism and high levels monitoring of grievances should be
strengthened, so that there are in built mechanisms for steps to correct
deficiencies. The scope of regular dialogue with user and citizen groups on
grievances and procedures should be pursued.
13. Reports and returns required to be sent to this department should be sent ad
prescribed
14. Lok adalats and staff adalats should be constituted, if not already constituted,
and held ever quarter for quicker disposal of public as well as staff grievances
and pensioner’s grievances.
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15. Social audit panel or such other machinery, if not already constituted, could be
constituted for examining areas of public interface with a view to
recommending essential changes in procedures to make the organization more
people friendly.
16. Grievances should be segregated from those which are requests, suggestions
and matters requiring legal redress ad built into computerized monitoring as
advised by this department.
17. Grievance redressal should be decentralized to the lowest possible field
formations, with built in participate systems of evaluation.
18. A single window system may be established at points of public contact,
wherever possible to facilitate disposal of applications. Areas so identified
may be intimated to this department.
19. Booklets and pamphlets may be made available to the customer at easily
accessible contact points to notify requisite procedures of the organization
computerized enquiry centers for waiting lists, information on procedures etc.,
may be setup wherever necessary
20. Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL) should be notified separately
about directory entries pertaining to public grievance redressal officers.
21. The annual action plan and annual report of the organization should reflect the
public and staff grievance redressal machinery and the statistical details of
receipt and disposal of public and staff grievances.
22. The working of the public grievances redressal machinery should be
monitored. Further a small percentage of complaints (about 3 to 5 Percent)
should be enquired into by senior officers to ensure efficacy of the system.

Let us now discuss the noteworthy initiatives taken by various ministries and
departments over and above the observance of instructions.10 Government of India, state
governments as well as various organizations under them have set up grievance redressal
mechanisms to look into the complaints of citizens. Besides, there are other institutional
mechanisms like the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), and the Lokayukta which
have the mandate to look into the complaints of corruption and abuse of office by public
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servants. Many organizations, for example, the Reserve Bank of India, have set up
Ombudsman to look into grievances. Institutions such as the National and State Human
Rights Commissions, National and State Women’s Commissions, the National
Commission for Scheduled Castes, and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes
also look into the complaints from the public in their prescribed areas. Us the grievance
redressal mechanism is an integral part of any governance system. Today, with increased
awareness levels, the aspirations of citizens have gone up as also the demand for prompt
and effective resolution of their grievances.11

State Level Redress Machinery

State level redress machinery can be further divided into (a) departmental
channels of redress; (b) special public complaints machinery at the district level and
(c) redress machinery at the state headquarters.

(a) Departmental Channels of Redress

It means filing of a complaint with the higher departmental authorities. For

speedy redress of citizens’ complaints following arrangements are made in the States of
India with little variations.

Complaint Cell and Complaint Officer

In several states a special complaint cell is established in major executive and

secretariat departments. The secretary of a department is designated as public grievance
officer. This trend of establishing complaint cell and complaint officer is unusual in field
i.e., at district levels. But, in several states the collector acts as grievance officer at
district level and a cell is established to that effect. This provision had been
recommended by the Study Team of Administrative Reforms Commission on State
Administration. But the suggestion was unacceptable to Administrative Reforms
Commission on the ground of magnitude of citizens’ grievances at district levels.
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Despite advantages, the system suffers from shortage of staff, spiraling of

complaints, lack of consummate skills and involvement in mitigating complaints. At
times reception of complaints and dispatch of the same for inquiry ends the responsibility
of redressal of grievances. In reality, the grievance officer in the department gets over
burdened with his administrative work. All these account for the deterioration of the
departmental channel of redressal of citizens’ grievances. 12

Procedural Simplification and Increasing Efficiency

To avoid delay in mitigating grievances the procedure is being streamlined.
Categorical stipulation is imposed on the manner of receiving and disposing complaints.
Besides grievance day in a week, specific time during office hours every day is allotted
by the higher authority in the departments to meet the public. Generally, the process is of
some help in disposing grievances of lesser degree. Even, the public has to wait for long
time for getting an interview with the administrator, an opportunity which is allowed at
the convenience of the latter not the former. This procedure has, therefore, not proved to
be as effective as it was expected to be.

On-the-spot Redressal

Higher officials from head quarters visit fields to inspect subordinate officials. At
times, during such visit, they hear complaints. In practice, redress of public grievance by
this method is meager. Another manner of redress is by the ministers at the time of
district tours. This practice is very common in States of Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra
and Gujarat. However, the scope of on-the-spot disposal by ministers is limited. This
process cannot entertain cases sub -judice; criminal cases and all formerly decided cases.
This method has proved a success in Gujarat. But jurisdictional ambiguities are prevalent
in the process. In Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra, a minister is allotted certain district
for hearing complaints pertaining to any department. But in Gujarat a minister can hear
complaints of his department only. To add to it, on the spot disposal of cases by verbal
orders does not conform to official and Administrative Rules and involves procedural
flaws. Evidently, the scheme was not favoured by Punjab Administrative Reforms
Commission (1944-65) and Central Administrative Reforms Commission.
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Complaint Box and Reception-cum-Enquiry Counters

Another device of helping citizens in putting forth their grievances to the

appropriate authority is installing complaint box and reception-cum-enquiry counters in
the departments. But the use of the device is ignored by the public because they attach
less credibility to it.

Grievance Committees

Three types of District Grievance Committees function in States to deal with

public complaints. The first category exists in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab and
in consists of officials and peoples’ representatives of the districts. Its function is only to
ensure that grievances of the people are properly attended. The second category relates
to co-ordination committees that look into interdepartmental grievances.

It consists of official and non-official members of M.L.As, M.Ps. of the district

and the president of Zila Parishad etc. This type of committees is in vogue in the States
of Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. The third category pertains to public relations
and grievances committees. It acts as a liaison institution between citizens grievances
and the administrative machinery for redress of grievances.

This channel is quite inadequate for articulation of grievances. The non-official

members, represented in the committees are motivated by personal and party interest
instead of providing justice to the aggrieved citizen. Moreover, entrusting of mitigating
grievances to a committee calls for delayed justice. As such this idea is not supported by
the Administrative Reforms Commission.

Inadequacies of Administrative Channels of Redress

As noted above the grievance machinery at the State level is not up to the mark in
redressing citizens’ grievances. A study by R.K. Dhawan in eight villages of Barabanki
district highlighted the point that generally half of the aggrieved persons lodged
complaints and others are dis-inclined because of inherent lacuna, i.e., prevalent illegal
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gratification and delay. This is also true of citizens who hail from urban areas. At times
attempts have been made to improve the efficiency of grievance machinery. For
example, “at the conference of the Chief Secretaries of various States held in June 1976,
it was decided that State should take concrete steps including simplification of procedures
and direct involvement of officers and ministers to ensure quick redress of citizen’s
grievances”.13

Effective and Speedy Public Grievance Redressal System

It is noticed that many of the government departments and their subordinate

offices, which have substantial public interface and where large numbers of public are
required to go daily, do not display the required orientation to the needs and
circumstances of the public, especially the weaker section of society, women and the
handicapped.

It is also found that adequate facilities are often not available in the public offices
for reception of the public seeking various types of information or with various queries
and demands of services, and arrangements for seating and waiting of the public, water
supply and sanitation, protection from rain, sun, etc., are insufficient or non-existent in
police stations and other public offices which the citizens are required to visit. There are
often no display boards relating to information generally desired by the public boards
relating to information generally desired by the public on the location of offices and
facilities, various procedures involved, feels, submission of forms, time taken in disposal,
etc. The names of grievance redressal officers are not often widely published, and these
officers are also not accessible as stipulated to meet the public.

State governments have instituted systems of time-bound redressal of citizens’

grievances. Which are often monitored through computers and programmes like
administration to the people in Andhra Pradesh. The district officials are required in
many States, like Tripura to visit villages and blocks together periodically in order to
listen to the grievances of the people, and redress them on the spot. Janta Darbars are also
convened by ministers.
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The progress in respect of disposal of public grievances is being monitored in the

central government by the department of administrative reforms and public grievances.
The Directorate of public grievances in the cabinet secretariat deals with cases of
individual grievances for central agencies with a large public interface, and has the power
to call officials and the concerned files to give a binding order. Central ministries like
railways, posts and telecommunications have set up Lok Adalats to deal with complaints
in the presence of the consumers. There are social audit panels of eminent citizens which
look in to the quality of services of the postal and telecommunications department. There
is an Ombudsman for the commercial banks. The central manual of office procedure
provides for the fixation of time limits for dealing with public grievances, while the code
of conduct rules provide for disciplinary action in case of discourteous behaviour or
negligence in grievance redressal.

Similar arrangements can be considered at the state level apart from cells lactated
in the office of Chief Ministers, as in fact is being done in states like Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka and Haryana. This will help in help in high-level attention to systematic causes
of grievances through delegation, decentralization, flexible norms, simplified procedures,
review of forms, etc. The performance review of officials could incorporate attention to
grievance redressal and public perception of the services of the agency.

A number of measures could be considered for immediate improvement in the

situation. The language and tone of various application forms should be user-friendly,
and the forms are widely available in various outlets, including post offices. Every office
should display at a prominent place its organizational structure, indicating names of
officers and their functions, and location of their rooms. Every public servant should
normally be available during working hours to respond to the public in person or on
phone. Every application or petition should be acknowledged through standard
acknowledgement slips. Every application should also carry such a slip for future
response. Time-limits should be fixed for approval or rejection of application for permits,
quotas, certificates and approvals, on the basis of well-publicize and uniformly applied
criteria. This should be accompanied by delegation of financial and administrative
powers at the operational level, and well-enforced standards of accountability. The
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district administration should setup mechanisms to contact the people at the local level
periodically, especially for remote and inaccessible areas. Senior officials, like Collector
and superintendent of police, should not get so overloaded with work or committees that
they are unable to devote enough time to meet people regularly and deal with their
problems.

The number and periodicity of contact for the people with government offices
would be minimized, and the officers should allow for the flexible needs of the working
population. Every department should choose a few priority areas from the citizens’
viewpoint for computerization and also free access of the citizens to this information in
this computer. Finally, every public body should have a well-defined mission statement
spelling out standards of service provided to the public, such as garbage removal, water
supply or power supply. The officials responsible for good work should be given
recognition and reward, and the innovative practices should be widely disseminated.

The real issue, however, is the need to bring about a total change in the attitude of
public servants towards redressal of public grievances at all levels and pin-point
responsibility for action on grievance of the people. This is dependent internally on
measures to improve their level of motivation and morale through rewards for good work
and punishment for deliberate negligence and through awards for suggestions. The senior
officers should constantly supervise the staff at the cutting edge level in police stations,
sub-division, etc. Every official in public offices should wear a name badge.

A demonstrable and effective way of ensuring prompt redressal of public

grievances would be through establishment of independent public grievances committees,
consisting of eminent citizens. Such committees can be authorized to inspect the
adequacy and functioning of grievance redressal systems in various public offices, and
report to the cabinet secretary (for central government) and chief secretary of state
government, on actions to remedy the system, and to take firm steps against negligent
officials. It is also possible to set up independent watchdog committees at district level to
report to state government on the working of grievance redressal systems. The Himachal
Pradesh Specific Corrupt Practices Act makes the omission on the part of an officer to
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discharge his statutory or bona fide duty corrupt practice similar enactments or the
provisions of draft Karnataka Administrative Procedure Bill could be considered to
oblige officials to respond of the public.

The state government could consider an urgent review of the system of redressal
of public grievances at the state, district, city, block and village levels, and devise
arrangements for their sensitive and prompt redressal, and ensure regular independent
review of these systems. Steps could be taken to fix responsibility in each office for
dealing with grievances, for attitudinal orientation of officials at all levels, and for
continuous monitoring of the redressal system. This could be integrated with the overall
package of measures for responsive administration. The state government could consider
setting up independent watchdog committees at the district and city levels to report to
high-powered cells in the state government on the functioning of the local grievance
redressal systems, as well as cases of negligence and delay.14

Access to Information and Facilitation Counters

As integral aspect of administrative reforms, both in the short term and in the
longer perspective, is related to the speedy and easy access of information to the public
on the services and activities of government. There are considerable delays in redressal of
grievances a securing access to information, since government department with a public
service interface do not have a mechanism to provide information to the citizens across
the counter or to deal with queries and complaints at a single point.

This would necessarily involve two areas. The first is related to the development
of an appropriate computerized network of information to internally link all offices of
central government, telecom or railways, as well as to integrate central or state offices for
effective information sharing in the cause of services to investors and the public, and
more intelligent government. The second aspect would be linked to the need to ensure
widespread and easy access of citizens to information at various levels in the government,
and its agencies, as well as the issue of revenue records and certificates, simplified and
speedy systems of securing approvals and permits, redressal of grievances, etc., with the
help of computers.
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The expert group set-up by the Government of India is examining these issues.
Meanwhile, the government is studying the legislative amendments or new laws
necessary to ensure the legal and transactional acceptability of computerized data
transfer and print outs.

It is evident that a significant infrastructure to create a computerized public

interface is already available though National Informatics Centre (NIC), which is
working closely with the state governments. The districts NICNETs are fully operational,
and district level NIC coordination committees have been set-up to supplement the
committees at the state level. NIC has already set-up 6000 data bases and the GISTNIC is
providing information on various aspects of the economy and functioning of government,
to which a new section on public services is now proposed to be added. All the district
courts are proposed to be computerized with NIC help over the next few years, to provide
up-to-date information on judgments and the stage of cases, with 150 courts covered
already. Many state governments are taking full advantage of the facilities provided by
NIC, including the central assistance for the computerization of land records, and have
also devised their own systems to computerize procedures, information to the public, etc.
States like Andhra Pradesh are monitoring the movement of files, and implementation of
schemes through computers.15

As part of the programme to disseminate information on public services to the

public, it is proposed to set up citizen information centers on a pilot basis (starting with
all state capitals) through the efforts of the Department of Consumer Affairs and Public
Distribution, and the involvement of state governments. These centres would be run by
voluntary agencies with assistance from the Consume Welfare Fund. However, the real
help needed by the citizens in terms of securing various services of getting their
complaints promptly attended to, besides information on procedures and forms, can be
provided only through counters setup in public offices.

The Government of India has decided that all officers of the government and
agencies under it should have a computerized public interface, aimed at dissemination of
information to the public for a free of charge. The central government ministries and their
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agencies would take steps to ensure provision of all unclassified information on

procedures and decisions to the public through facilitation counters which is set up near
the reception hall of the Ministries of offices, similar to the Lkhina model in Maharashtra.
These counters would be operated continuously during the day by trained officials with
courteous approach, with the capacity to converse in English and the local language, and
capable of using computers. The salient features of the facilitation centre are given at the
end of this annexure. These counters can be provided with computer consoles to provide
instant information on the status of pending cases, waiting lists etc., and also print out
permits and licenses across the counter wherever possible.

The state governments could consider similar steps to identify services most
frequently required by the people, and setup people facilitation counters in all offices
with a public interface in the districts and towns, state departments, directorate and public
utilities. The central government could consider supporting the establishment of these
counters through help from the NIC training of staff, etc., and ensure delegation of
powers and procedural changes for this purpose. The central and state government can
jointly work towards providing the people of India in all tehsils, districts and towns so
that, over the Ninth Plan period, all the public offices have at least one information and
facilitation outlet for the harassed consumers or the applicant. The facility could be
extended to the police stations at the same time.16

The Citizens’ Charter and Administrative Changes.

As a strategy the charter is revolutionary especially when public institutions are

declining. What is remarkable in this effort is the emphasis on dissemination information
to the public and laying down some of the basic principles which should be the concern
of organizations involved in the delivery of public service. Apart from the listed steps
which public administration should take into account to attain ‘good governance’, the
charter is equally important in conceptualizing some of the changes in governance as a
process. First, the governance agenda, as set by the World Bank, subsumes a set of state –
society regulating disciplinary procedures. There is an underlying belief that
accountability of government through the checks and balances available under a liberal
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democratic system will ensure that state activity meets the needs and expectations of
society. So, the right kind of state and the right kind of society are both posited as the
ultimate objectives of the overarching neo-liberal agenda. Second, as suggested earlier,
the World Bank’s good governance has been linked to the problem of sound development
management in third world countries. And very explicitly the Bank dictates terms and
conditionality for being eligible for assistance though’ there is little clear guidance as to
how well or badly a government must perform before it is granted or disqualified from
funding. Governance in this context stands for the establishment and operation of social
institutions complementing the activities, undertaken by public administration.
Concretely, it manifests itself in formal rules and regulation, decision-making procedures,
and programmatic activities that serve to define social practices and guide and regulate
the interactions of participants in such practices. In real life, there are many forms of
community organizations or voluntary, collective self approaches thought which a group
of people organize themselves to achieve common purposes, such as irrigation, water
distribution, resolution of local disputes and community defence governance, as
conceptualized by the World Bank, is also a way of crafting social institutions as a matter
of public concern. So, governance has reintroduced the debate on the relative importance
of formally constituted government or the existing communitarian life, embedded with
mechanisms for collective problem-solving.

Finally, by striving to go beyond the institutionalized administration governance,

as a practice has created conditions under which ‘governance without government’ can
prosper. It is therefore, a theoretical device to relocate the significance of various
community organizations in many parts of the world through which local communities
have sought to solve collective problems in their own way. This had led to two specific
kinds of responses with immense theoretical significance for the discipline of public
administration; (a) it has shifted our attention away from the formal organizations which
have failed due to various socio-political reasons and (b) it has also resurrected interests
in community organizations as forms of collective-problem solving mechanisms in civil
society. So, governance, conceptualized as a device to revitalize collective institutions,
which are ‘non-governmental’ provides a theoretical cue challenging privatization as the
only solution to a whole range of problems affecting the growth of non-western societies.
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So the primary issue is to restore the ‘public ness’ of public administration. The
charter is a significant influence in the latest efforts, undertaken-friendly, open
transparent, sensitive and administration citizen-friendly, open transparent, sensitive and
accountable. By 2003, fifty-one citizen’s charters had been finalized by the various
departments and agencies of the Government of India. The Ministry of Food and
Consumer Affairs, governments of India has prepared model charters for public hospitals
in the Department of Health and for the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)17

Responsible governance is fundamental to the legitimacy, stability, trust, and

credibility of government officials therefore have an obligation to faster responsible
actions and deter irresponsible behavior. This is not an easy task since perceptions and
definitions of responsibility are often clouded, dependent upon time, place, setting and
situation at hand. Given this ambiguity, it is imperative to define the range of acceptable
actions by representatives of the government. Simply stated, government officials should
possess a clear idea of what is responsible and what is irresponsible, promoting the
responsible and deterring the irresponsible. 18

Effective and Responsive Administration in Tamil Nadu

The Government of Tamil Nadu is focused seriously on providing a transparent

and accountable administration. It has taken several new initiatives in this direction. Our
efforts have been directed towards making the government accountable, citizen friendly,
transparent and improving the performance and integrity of public services.

Most of the departments have formulated citizen’s charters, clearly stating their
objectives. These citizens charters are also available on Internet utilizing the services of
National Informatics Centre. Further information cum facilitation counters have been
opened in some important government offices enabling people to approach the centres
and understand procedures and get information regarding the existing stage of their
request for service. In this connection the department known as ‘GUIDANCE’ can be
mentioned. This organisation provides comprehensive services and single window
information as well as clearances for all Industrial projects.
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Tamil Nadu has been pioneer in evolving the system of Redressal of Public
Grievances by District Collectors, by direct contract with the people called the “Manu
Needhi Thittam” which was introduced in the year 1969. This is conducted once in a
month and apart from the District Collector and the District Revenue Officers, the RDOs
and other Gazetted officers also conduct in this programme. All villages in a district are
covered in a cycle of 3 years. The visit of the officers of the respective villages is given
wide publicity prior to the actual date of the programme. The highlight of this programme
is “On the Spot disposal of Petitions”. This programme has been further revamped so as
to pave way for promoting among the people attitude of self help and self reliance under
the scheme known as “Namakku Naame Tittam”.

As part of the initiative towards an accountable and citizen friendly government, a

Revenue Commission was constituted by government to study measures to avoid delays
in revenue administration, delegation of necessary powers to the officials all lower levels
and simplification of existing procedures for issue of various certificates and licences
(mention has been made of this in my covering letter also). Government of Tamil Nadu
have issued order to the effect that completed applications for community, income and
nativity certificates required by students passing out of school for pursuit of higher
education and getting employment will be obtained from them even as they study in
classes Xth or XIIth and sent to the Tahsildars with the attestation of the Headmasters.
Certificates will be prepared and dispatched to the Schools after enquiry by the
Tahsildars. These certificates will be handed over to the students on completion of studies
along with transfer certificates. Thus, it will save the last minute rush and hassle.

In order to streamline the administration in general and to bring in transparency in

all activities of government, to identify the areas prone to corruption and to take steps to
eradicate the same, the Government of Tamil Nadu had set up a High Level Committee
for Administrative Reforms and Prevention of Corruption under the Chairman ship of
Justice G.Ramanujam. This Commission has recommended various measures to
streamline the administration as mentioned in my covering letter. The government has
accepted most of these recommendations and orders have been issued implementing the
same. As an outcome of this, detailed procedures have been laid down regarding the
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acknowledgement of petitions given to government offices, time limits for obtaining ‘No
Objective Certificate’ from other departments for processing a matter and simplification
of procedures in various departments.

Arising out of the deliberations of the committee, the Tamil Nadu Government
has enacted ‘The Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act 1998’ which lays down
elaborate procedures to ensures transparency in tender transaction. Tamil Nadu is one of
a very few states which has constituted Commission for Human Rights. The Commission
is functioning with effect from 17.4.1997 with the object to provide easy and close access
to the needy victims of violation. Apart from that the commission review’s the existing
laws and procedures and the system of administration with a view to bringing about
greater efficiency and transparency.

By opening up government and its working to the citizens Tamil Nadu brings
honesty and accountability into the system. Demystification of government, bringing
information of Laws, Rules, Procedures, forms, how a file moves, who is sanctioning
authority etc. to the citizens doorstep-in short, introducing total transparency in
administration is a fundamental right to be given to the citizen to make the administration
more responsive to the people to create better Government and make life better for the
people.

Citizens should be properly guided to register their grievances and be assured of

satisfactory measures for redressal. A system which offers an easy outlet for their agony
and enables serious consideration of their problems will enhance the citizens’ respect for
the administration. This will also provide an opportunity to the government for
assessment of people’s problems and encourage official accountability.19

Public Information

Citizens should have access to information related to various policies, procedures,

development schemes, government orders and official pronouncements on matters
concerning their life and work. Such information is particularly valuable to people living
far from cities and towns and do not have an easy access to information. Providing such
 134

information in the local language is the government’s duty as it recognizes its citizens
right to information. Access to such information by the citizens will depend upon the
availability of well-connected information centres.

Online Filling and Settlement of Complaints and Grievances

The municipal corporation’s website provides citizens the facility to lodge

complaints and grievances online. The grievances get forwarded to the concerned officer
for necessary action and also go into the database for monitoring grievance settlement.
The key point to note here is that all the complaints and grievances, which the
corporation receives, either through the Internet or through the civic centre or in person,
go into a common database and are therefore available for rigorous monitoring. The
module also provides for forwarding and transfer of complaints from one officer to
another in lesser time than it would have taken normally.

One can also find out the number of grievances pending with various officers at a
given instance. This is proving to be very useful for monitoring the efficiency of various
sections. The status of the complaint and its disposal gets instantly communicated to the
complainant, so that he or she can see the action being taken and give the necessary
feedback. Although disposal of complaints has to be done at the field level, the project
provides a mechanism to monitor such disposals in order to prevent hardships to the
people. As the whole module is linked through the Internet, it is possible for any officer
to monitor the complaints received by him from anywhere. It allows all the officers the
facility to issue virtual instructions for taking immediate remedial actions.

Online Tracking of Building Plan Status

The municipal corporation engages in the task of approving building plans,

subdividing plots and regularizing structures with the city limits. The citizens have no
clue as to the status of respective cases. The website has opened the floodgates of
information to the public through the Internet. Now, at the click of a mouse, the status of
the application is known without running from pillar to post. The entire process of
scrutinizing, processing and sanctioning of building plan approvals has been
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computerized. This allows online tracking and monitoring of the movement of any such
paper within the town planning section. This has also helped the section in meeting the
statutory deadlines set for the release of plans and also allows citizens access to the status
of disposal of their applications. The project also envisages the creation of a building plan
database and its subsequent hosting on the site so that citizens are able to know the exact
nature of the approval given and are not lured into buying unapproved buildings creating
future complications for themselves.20

The state governments could consider steps to promote widespread and easy
access of the people in rural and urban area to information on public services, details of
government schemes, status of applications, allotments and permits, etc. they could
ensure this through a systematic and phased computerization of administrative operations
with the help of NIC, and the emphasis on providing quick information and assistance to
the people across the counter for priority services in all offices with public interface.

In a way, the above discussion clearly indicates the fact that there are various
machineries for redressing citizen grievances at all levels of governance. But there is gap
between citizen, government and the citizen grievances redressal mechanism. Hence,
government must take steps to enable the citizens to access the available mechanism to
the extent possible.
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ENDNOTES

1 Citizen Centric Administration: The Heart of Governance, Twelfth Report,

Second Administrative Reforms Commission, Government of India,
February 2009, pp. 80.

2 Mary Parmer, Lokayukta, Reliance Publishing House, New Delhi, 1996, pp.25-28.

3 http://www.meseb.gov.in/pfc/

4 Hazary N, Development Administration: Quest for Identity, APH Publishing

Corporation, New Delhi, 2006, pp. 71-73.

5 Hoshiar Singh & Mohinder Singh, Public Administration in India: Theory and
Practice, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, 1990, pp. 484-485.

6 Chaturvedi. T.N & S.N. Sadasivan, Citizen and Administration, Indian Institute
of Public Administration, New Delhi, 1984, pp.2-6.

7 http://darpg.nic.in/

8 www.pgportal.nic.in.

9 http://darpg-grievance.nic.in/

10 Goel. S.L., & Shalini Rajneesh, Public Personnel Administration: Theory and
Practice, Deep & Deep Publications, New Delhi, 2006, pp. 381, 382

11 Maheshwari. S.R., Administrative Reforms in India, Macmillan India Ltd, New

Delhi, 2002.

12 Niranjani Pani, Grievance Management in India: Lokpal and Lok Ayukta,

Anmol Publications, New Delhi, 2001, p.43.

13 Dhawan R.K., Public Grievances and the Lokpal: A Study of the

Administrative Machinery for Redress of Public Grievances,
Allied Publishers, New Delhi, 1981.
14 Government of India, “Citizen Centric Administration: The Heart of
Governance”, Twelfth Report, Second Administrative Reforms
Commission, New Delhi, February, 2009.

15 Government of India, “Promoting E-Governance: The Smart Way Forward”,

Eleventh Report, Second Administrative Reforms Commission, New
Delhi, December, 2008.
16 Gupta. M.C. & R.K. Tiwari, Restructuring Government, Indian Institute of
Public Administration, New Delhi, 1998, pp. 163-164.
 137

17 Biyut Chakrabarthy, Reinventing Public Administration: The Indian

Experience, Orient Longman, New Delhi, 2007, 138-140.

18 Goel. S.L., Advanced Public Administration, Deep & Deep Publications, New
Delhi, 2003, p. 570.

19 www.brnrda.kar.nic.in

20 E. Vayunandan, Dolly Mathew, Good Governance Initiatives in India, Prentice

Hall of India Private Limited, New Delhi, 2003. pp.77-78.