New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS) The government Wednesday unveiled a bill that seeks to get committed standards of public service and redressal of grievances in a stipulated time frame.
The Citizens Right to Grievance Redress Bill, 2011 will look at complaints of violation of the citizens’ charter to be formulated by each government department, identify liabilities of public servants in case of default and impose penalities for failure to deliver services or redress grievances in a time-bound manner.
Speaking about the bill, the Minister of State for Personnel V. Narayanasamy said its architechture will ensure an appropriate decentralised and citizen-friendly mechanism to redress public grievances.
‘The citizen’s charter will have to be defined by the authorities at various levels, including panchayats, municipalities, states and the centre. For every authority, there will be a Grievance Redress Officer,’ Narayanasamy told mediapersons at a joint briefing with Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh.
He said the bill will be put up on the website of the department of personnel for 21 days for people to give their comments.
‘We will like to introduce it (the bill) in the winter session (of parliament Nov 22-Dec 21) after cabinet approval,’ he said.
Narayanasamy said the bill can be enacted as a central legislation under the concurrent list and cover central schemes and central government departments. It will provide a platform to states to make a grievance redressal mechanism for state schemes and departments.
Ramesh said the bill was another landmark in the ‘rights-based approach followed’ by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
‘It (the) bill gives people legal entitlement,’ he said.
