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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Delayed entitlements should be compensated with cash: NCPRI by Gargi Parsai

Delayed entitlements should be compensated with cash: NCPRI by Gargi Parsai

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published Published on Nov 16, 2011   modified Modified on Nov 16, 2011
-The Hindu
 
Aruna Roy writes to PM

The National Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information (NCPRI) has sought a new provision in the government's draft Citizen's Right to Grievances Redress Bill, 2011, to compensate a complainant for entitlements wrongly denied or delayed.

The government's draft empowers the independent appellate authority to penalise for denial or delay in entitlements but does not provide for compensating a complainant.

Rather than have the Grievance Redress as part of the proposed Lokpal as Team Anna wants, the government has decided to bring forth a separate Bill. The Department of Personnel and Training has drafted a Bill and posted it on its website for public comments till November 23.

At a joint press conference here, those associated with NCPRI including Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Shekhar Singh and Anjali Bhardwaj said they had given their views on the draft Bill to the government. They have also written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the subject.

The NCPRI also proposed that the disclosure provision under the RTI Act which outlines obligations of public authority be linked to the proposed Grievance Redress Bill and become the basis for complaints against a public authority that violates its obligations. As of now the proposed Bill provides for violations of entitlements of a complainant, but not of the obligations of the public office.

“Non-compliance with Section 4 of the RTI Act is in itself a violation of the Act and thus a legitimate complaint under Grievance Redress Act,” they said.

According to Mr. Dey, this would require that Section 4 of the RTI Act be explicitly included as part of the Citizen's Charter and Statement of Obligations of the public authority under the proposed Bill. “Use of section 4 of the RTI Act should be codified under this new Act,” he added.

Appellate authority

Apprehending a “conflict of interest” if appeals against the orders of a Grievance Redress Officer within a public authority/department were to lie with the head of the department, the NCPRI has sought an independent grievance redress appellate authority at the district level.

Also, rather than each public authority having its own Information and Facilitation Centre, it wants a single-window centre at the Block level.

On the demand of Team Anna to include grievance redress in the proposed Lokpal Bill, Mr. Dey said, “this Bill will be complementary. Any issue of corruption can be sent to the Lokpal while an individual's grievance can be addressed and redressed through this mechanism.”

The government's website describes the Citizens Right to Grievance Redress Bill, 2011 as a “comprehensive rights based bill providing statutory backing for getting timely services and goods specified in citizens charters of public authorities from Gram Panchayat, Block, District, State up to Central Level.”

“Any violation of the citizens' charter will be dealt as a grievance and institutional mechanism has been provided for time-bound grievance redressal and malafide action on the part of responsible officers will lead to penalty/disciplinary action.” It adds: “the Lok Pal Bill will not address these day-to-day issues.”


The Hindu, 17 November, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2634540.ece


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