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(12th Report)- Citizen centre Administration – The Heart of Governance (2009)

Citizen centricity is the essence of any vibrant democracy and is inextricably linked to good governance. Good governance basically means creating an environment in which all classes of citizens can develop to their fullest potential. It also means provision of public services in an effi cient and equitable manner to citizens. In India, the Constitution lays the foundation for promotion of citizen centric governance. It provides for fundamental rights that are the hallmark of our democracy and mandates the welfare of all citizens through a set of Directive Principles. Based on the principles enshrined in the Constitution, India has developed an elaborate legal and institutional framework for ensuring good governance to its citizens. The Commission’s primary mandate is to suggest measures for achieving a proactive, responsive, accountable, sustainable and effi cient administration for the country at all levels of government. The objective of promoting citizen centric administration has, therefore, been a central focus of all the Reports submitted so far by the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC). In this Report, the Commission has emphasized on governance processes that can make administration more citizen oriented. The strategies highlighted in the Report can be conceptualized as demand side strategies and supply side strategies. While the demand side strategies are geared to giving citizens’ groups a greater role in governance, the supply side strategies aim to reorient government organizations to make them more effi cient, eff ective and participative. The Commission has therefore looked at various mechanisms for making administration more responsive to citizens.Thus the concept of citizens’ charter as a tool for promotion of greater effi ciency and accountability has been examined in detail. Further, processes and mechanisms for promotion of citizens’ participation in administration have been suggested. The Commission has also emphasized simplifi cation of processes along with de-centralization and delegation to make administration more accessible to citizens. The Commission has, in addition, suggested various measures for revamping the grievances redressal mechanisms in government departments. The role of special institutional mechanisms such as the various national and state commissions for protection of vulnerable groups has also been examined and measures suggested for improving their functioning. In conclusion, the Commission would like to reiterate that the aforesaid measures will need to be implemented in conjunction with the various recommendations made in the Commission’s other Reports.

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1. Functions of Government

a. Government organisations should adhere to the principles while performing regulatory functions.
b. Government agencies, whether regulatory or developmental, should introduce the Single Window Agency concept within their organisations to minimize delays and maximize convenience to citizens.

Government as a whole should draw a roadmap with timelines for expeditious creation of a single window at the local level for provision of all developmental and regulatory services to citizens.

a. The principle of subsidiarity should be followed while deciding on the implementation machinery for any programme.
b. Citizens should be actively involved in all stages of these programmes i.e. planning, implementation and monitoring.
c. Mandatory social audit should be carried out for all programmes.
d. Impact assessment should be carried out for all programmes at periodic intervals.

2. Making Citizens’ Charters Effective – An Agenda for Reform Citizens’

Charters should be made effective by adopting the following principles:

i. One size does not fi t all.
ii. Citizens’ Charter should be prepared for each independent unit under the overall umbrella of the organisations’ charter.
iii. Wide consultation which include Civil Society in the process.
iv. Firm commitments to be made.
v. Internal processes and structure should be reformed to meet the commitments given in the Charter. vi. Redressal mechanism in case of default.
vii. Periodic evaluation of Citizens’ Charters.
viii. Benchmark using end-user feedback.
ix. Hold offi cers accountable for results.

3. The ARC Seven-Step Model for Citizen Centricity

1. The Union and State Governments should make the seven-step model outlined mandatory for all organizations having public interface.

4. Citizen’s Participation in Administration

a. It should be mandatory for all government organizations to develop a suitable mechanism for receipt of suggestions from citizens, which could range from the simple ‘Suggestion Box’ to periodic consultations with citizens’ groups. Heads of the concerned organizations should ensure rigorous follow up action on the suggestions received so that these become a meaningful exercise. A system of incentives and rewards should be introduced so that suggestions that lead to significant improvement or savings can be acknowledged.
b. Every government organization must ensure the following: (i) fool-proof system for registration of all complaints, (ii) a prescribed time schedule for response and resolution, and (iii) a monitoring and evaluation mechanism to ensure that the norms, prescribed are complied with. Use of tools of information technology can help to make such a system more accessible for citizens. Heads of all government organizations should be made responsible ensuring the development of such a system for responding to a time bound resolution of the complaints of citizens.
c. Regular citizens’ feedback and survey and citizens’ report cards should be evolved by all government organisations for gauging citizens’ responses to their services. Tese should be used as inputs for improving organizational efficiency.
d. While no single modality or mechanism can be prescribed for encouraging citizens’ participation in governance; in general, there is need to create institutionalized mechanisms for encouraging their participation in governance across public agencies at all levels and, for this to happen, the following steps are necessary:

1. A comprehensive review of policy and practice in each department/public agency.
2. Modifying administrative procedures where necessary.
3. Entrustment of the function of institutionalizing citizens’ participation in governance to a senior level offi cer.
4. Performance management reviews to incorporate eff ectiveness in ensuring citizens’ participation in governance.The objective could also be served by active and cooperative participation by government agencies in civil society initiatives in the area of citizens’ participation in grievance redressal.

5. Participation of Women and the Physically Challenged

a. Ensuring the full participation of women should be a specific aim of citizen centric administration and this should be reflected in various policies and programmes, including citizens’ charters and grievances redressal mechanisms.
b. Government may constitute an expert committee to identify the areas where special provisions for the physically challenged should be made mandatory. Tese areas could be reviewed and expanded every fi ve years.
c. Government should adopt a more proactive approach for detection and registration of the physically challenged persons.
d. To achieve this, responsibility should be cast on the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to identify all such cases in their jurisdiction and to get the evaluation of the disabilities done. To enable the PHCs to discharge these responsibilities, adequate resources should be placed at the disposal of the Medical Offi cer, PHC along with delegation of commensurate authority and changes in the relevant rules.
e. Organization of camps at PHC level, attended by the concerned medical personnel, would greatly help in issuing certifi cates of disability on the spot. f. Further, steps should be taken to create a database for all the Disabilities Certifi cate holders with integration at District, State and National levels.

6. Delegation

a. Based on the principle of subsidiarity, each government organization should carry out an exercise to assess whether adequate delegation of authority has been done. In doing so, it should be clearly enunciated that the top levels of the organization should essentially focus on policy making functions and the field level functionaries should focus on operational aspects.
b. The extent to which delegated powers is used or is allowed to be used, should be two of the elements while appraising an officer’s overall performance.

7. Evolving an Effective Public Grievances Redressal System

a. There is need for a strong and effective internal grievance redressal mechanism in each organization.
b. The Union and State Governments should issue directions asking all public authorities to designate public grievance officers on the lines of the Public Information Officers under the RTI Act. These officers should be of adequate seniority and should be delegated commensurate authority.
c. All grievance petitions received should be satisfactorily disposed of by these officers within thirty days. Non-adherence to the time limit should invite financial penalties.
d. Each organization should designate an appellate authority and devolve adequate powers upon them including the power to impose fines on the defaulting officers.

8. Analysis and Identification of Grievance Prone Areas

a. Government organizations should analyse the complaints received and identify the areas wherein interventions would be required so as to eliminate the underlying causes that lead to public grievances. This exercise should be carried out at regular intervals.

9. Consumer Protection

a. Lok Adalats would be effective in settling many consumer disputes. It should be stipulated by law that cases up to a particular value, say Rupees two lakhs, should first be referred to Lok Adalats.
b. All Ministries/Departments need to examine the procedures regulating grant of licenses, permissions or registration including the underlying Acts, Rules, Notifications, etc. These should be recast with the following underlying principles:

1. There should be an upper time limit for grant of any license/permission/registration. The law should provide for penalties if an application is not disposed of within the stipulated period.
2. Applications should be processed only on a ‘First in First out Basis’. All applications received and pending should be put on the licensing authority’s website.
3. Selecting units for surprise inspection should not be left to the discretion of the inspecting officers. Each office should devise an objective procedure to randomly select units for inspection. Exceptions can be made in case of receipt of genuine complaints against any unit.
4. The outcome of all inspections must be immediately put in the public domain.
5. There should be an annual audit of the licensing and inspection system each year by an independent agency.
6. All licensing authorities should evolve an accessible system for receipt of citizens’ complaints.

10. Special Institution Mechanisms

a. A common format for making complaints before various statutory Commissions should be devised in consultation with each other. This format should capture the details of the victims and complainants in such a way that it facilitates matching of data across different Commissions. In case of complaints filed without the use of the common format, the necessary fields may be filled up at the time of registration of cases itself by the Commission receiving the complaint.
b. As recommended in the Commission’s Eleventh Report entitled ‘Promoting e-Governance: the SMART Way Forward’, each statutory Commission should create an electronic database prospectively and each database should be networked with each other to facilitate comparison of data.
c. The Human Rights Commission {as defined in Section 3(3), PHRA} should lay down norms to deal with complaints by the most appropriate Commission. The basic principle could be that the dominant grievance in a complaint should lead to its handling by the appropriate Commission. Nodal officers may be appointed in each Commission to identify and coordinate action over such cases. Internal mechanisms should be evolved within each statutory Commission to facilitate the handling of such cases in a coordinated manner.
d. The Union and State Governments should take proactive steps in dealing with serious offences like custodial deaths/rapes etc on priority so that occurrence diminishes over the years. Help of NHRC may be taken to prepare an action plan for this purpose.
e. In the smaller States, a single ‘multi-role’ Commission may be constituted which would carry out the specific functions of all the constitutional and statutory Commissions at the State level.
f. A separate Standing Committee of Parliament may be constituted to look into Annual Reports submitted by these statutory Commissions.

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