Context :
Provisions
of UPA-era Bill may see light of the day through a New Window / Eco
Times – 01 Dec
Extract :
A
key UPA era antigraft bill — Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and
Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011— could make a
comeback, albeit in a new avatar.
The
first round of inter-ministerial discussions has explored a non-legislative
route for building a new public
response system for every department such as publication of citizens’
charters, ensuring ‘universal digital access’ on a single platform and strengthening grievance
redressal systems further.
While
the Modi government does not appear inclined on reviving the bill, it is
looking at implementing its key elements.
The
parliamentary panel
has been reminding the government on the need for the UPA-era bill or such a
scheme. “The committee reiterates its recommendation as it believes that
passage and enactment of this bill will ensure time-bound delivery of goods and services and
facilitate timely redressal of grievances,” the panel, chaired by BJP’s Bhupendra Yadav,
said in its September report.
===================================================
I can appreciate why the government is not keen to
revive the bill. When you pass a law, it is implied that the law contains “
specific punishments ” for the law-breakers
Now, if a certain “ Department – Division – Section –
Unit – Agency “ of a government (including, Gram Panchayat/ Local Municipality / State Govt / Central
Govt / A Statutory Body etc ), fails to,
Ø Deliver
a legally-obligated Service to a citizen ( even in absence of a Citizen Charter
), or
Ø Fails
to redress a legit complaint of a citizen ( for non-delivery / late delivery of
a service ),
-
then, who can the law punish ? ( assuming
that for a million such instances / occurrences DAILY , those aggrieved citizen
file a million court-cases EVERY DAY )
Obviously, a court cannot send to jail, a “ Department
– Division – Section – Unit – Agency “ !
Is there a way out, which can bring about a speedy GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL, without passing a law ?
I think there is .
By evolving a mechanism ( a Digital Platform ), which
will evaluate the DELIVERY PERFORMANCE of all
govt departments ( in a transparent / quantifiable manner for everyone to see
on a Government Portal )
Then Government ( Personnel Department ) using this QUANTITATIVE INDEX of PERFORMANCE, for internal
rewards / punishments of persons considered responsible for failure to deliver
/ failure to redress the Citizen Complaints
In my following blog / e-mail ( to Cabinet Ministers ),
I had described a CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK of such a
DIGITAL PLATFORM , in the shape of a Mobile App, called :
I SIN > < U SIN…………………….. ………………………… 29
Dec 2012 ]
Then , a few years later , I sent following e-mail :
Needed : a Service
Liability Act ………………………..[ 12
June 2019 ]
Extract :
To hold
every Public Servant “ accountable “ for causing hurt / damage to any citizen,
what we urgently need is a “ Service
Liability Act ( Govt Employees ) 2019 “ , which clearly spells out :
# Extent of hurt / damage
Minor
injuries / Temporary-permanent Disabilities
/ Deaths
# Coverage
Individual
Citizen / Community / Entire Country
# Time Frame
Short
term / Medium Term / Long Term
# Economic Impact on the Sufferers
Mild
( loss of money ) / Medium ( loss of assets ) / Severe (
loss of earning capacity )
# Cause
Negligence
( abdication of responsibility ) / Indecisions on part of a Public Servant
Poor
but honest decisions
Mala-fide
decisions ( with pecuniary gains for decision taker )
Here is my Conceptual Frame Work for an Online Rating Form :
===================================================
SLAM : Service Liability
Assessment Matrix
( an online form / Mobile App ,
for rating by citizens )
===================================================
Dear Citizen
:
Following
news just got reported in Media . Please rate it by appropriate selection :
Metal staircase with live wires electrocuted 2
boys
===================================================
|
Assessment Parameter |
Weightage |
Most (5) |
Certain (4) |
Possible(3 ) |
Negligible(2) |
Least ( 1 ) |
|
Extent of Hurt |
20 % |
|||||
|
Coverage |
30 % |
|||||
|
Time Frame |
10 % |
|||||
|
Economic Impact |
30 % |
|||||
|
Perception ( Most likely reason for
mishap ) |
10 % |
TOTAL :
{ Call it “
AQ = Anger Quotient
“ or “ WS = Wrath Score “ }
===================================================
Let
the Service Liability Act ( Proposed ) , prescribe various levels of
punishments ( for Govt Employee/s , determined responsible for the root-cause of this mishap )
A certain
time period may be prescribed for the citizens to fill up the form for each
mishap
If , my
proposal sounds too REVOLUTIONARY / RADICAL ( even for our bold and decisive, PM ), then , to begin with, some NGO ( eg : ADR ? ) may consider
implementing this on its own , to create awareness and to educate the public in
airing their opinion / feedback , on what lapses they see around them ,
everyday
===================================================
Dear Members of
“PARLIAMENTARY
STANDING COMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES, LAW AND JUSTICE”
I urge you to :
Ø Debate my proposals, and if convinced ( with whatever changes you
deem necessary )
Ø Circulate to Ministers ( Central + State ) / MPs / MLAs of State
legislatures
You will succeed in convincing them that, a
“ trial / experimental “ beginning can be made without having to pass any law
With regards,
Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 03 Nov 2020
===================================================
PARLIAMENTARY
STANDING COMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES, LAW AND JUSTICE
================================================
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