Govt aborts plan for grievance redress law

Instead, an administrative scheme is in the making

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has junked the idea of passing a grievance redress law, which would have given citizens legal rights to secure proper and timely delivery of government services and benefits. Instead, it is working on a scheme called the Delivery of Services and Grievances Redressal Scheme.

A law would have given citizens legal entitlements to get government to deliver on time. A scheme provides for a recourse to more departmental procedures and actions, as the minister in-charge under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Jitendra Singh, had said in response to a question in Parliament in March 2016.

The turnaround comes more than two years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office told the ministries concerned that “passing of the Citizen’s Grievances Bill” would be an “immediate thrust area” of the NDA government.

The PMO told the Department of Personnel and Training and the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievance as much in an order in June 2014, ordering that the departments should expedite action for the passage of the law and keep it informed of the developments.  Business Standard reviewed the orders from the PMO.

When the question on the status of the law was raised in Parliament, Singh had said, “For this purpose, a scheme known as Delivery of Services and Grievances Redressal Scheme-2015 has been prepared. The ambit of the scheme inter-alia includes goods and services being offered by the public authorities of the Government of India (with some exceptions). The scheme also has provisions for administrative action with respect to delays, etc, in provision of designated services in specified timeframe.”

When a Right to Information (RTI) application was filed by Amrita Johri of the National Campaign for the People’s Right to Information in June 2016, the government said the scheme has not been finalised. “Finalisation of Delivery of Services and Grievance Redress Scheme, which has been prepared by this department, is still under consideration.” It refused to part with the details of the scheme, stating that it was denying the information on the prepared scheme “in view of Section 8(1)(i) of the RTI Act, 2005.”

The Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011, was introduced in Parliament in 2011. It had the support of the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, and Opposition parties, including the BJP. In December 2013, parliamentarians from across parties spoke in favour of the law. But, with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha, the Bill, which had been tabled in the Rajya Sabha, also lapsed.

After the NDA took over the reigns at the Centre, it reiterated in Parliament in 2014 and 2015 that it was committed to bringing in a legislation. This was backed by the PMO missive that the passage of the law, along with setting up of a Lok Pal and amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act, were immediate thrust areas for the government.

But by March 2016, the government told Parliament that it was not looking at legal justiciable rights for delivery of services but had “prepared” only a government scheme that would allow administrative action in case of deficiency in delivering services. The fate of this, too, now remains unclear, with the government saying in June 2016 that while it had “prepared” the scheme, it was still under “finalisation”. Since then, it has not put out any public information or announcement on the scheme in the public domain.

PREMATURE DEATH?

• 2011 The Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill introduced in Parliament
  
  Then UPA govt, Opposition, including BJP, back it
   
• 2013 Parliamentarians across parties speak in favour of the law
   
• 2014 & 2015 NDA govt reiterates commitment to the legislation
   
• 2016 Govt tells Parliament has only made a scheme to allow administrative action in case of deficiencies in services