At a Conference of Chief Ministers held on 24 May, 1997 an “Action Plan for Effective and Responsive Government” at the Centre and State levels was adopted. It was decided that the Central and State Governments would formulate Citizen’s Charters, starting with those sectors that have a large public interface (e.g., Railways, Telecom, Posts, Public Distribution Systems and the like).
The Charters have to cover various aspects of an organization. We discuss them below.
TheCitizen’sCharter shouldbegin with a clear statement of vision. Visionreflectsthe final objectives of an organization and the manner in which it seeks their achievement. A clear vision helps an organization to plan for and achieve its goals. The vision of an organization should be known to its personnel andthecitizens it serves.Publicbodies have to preparetheirvisionthrough a consultative process, involving multiple points in the organization as well as citizens, client groups or stakeholders. This will ensure that the vision will have considerable acceptability.
The ‘mission’ statement outlines the specific objectives which propel the organization in tune with its vision. An organization needs to think of the manner in which the vision is to be realised. This would help it in framing the mission in concrete rather than in vague terms.
The Charter should clearly specify the services, which an organization would provide to attain its mission and vision. This should list all the services, which would be made available through its various agencies. Some Charters give information about ‘details of business transacted by the organization’. An agency may use other expressions like ‘Our Function’, or ‘Our Duties and Responsibilities’. But the main point is that all services should be clearly mentioned in the Charter.
Organizations operate at multiple levels; depending on the allocation of responsibilities and authority, particular levels deal with specific client groups/users/stakeholders. Irrespective of whether the
organizations mention ‘details of business’, ‘commitments’, ‘functions’ or ‘services’ in their charters, there should be a clear identification of the levels at which specific services would be provided. Citizens/clients will know the levels at which they can access a specific service and not waste their time and energy in locating the service delivery point. The charter should make it clear whether it applies to all the agencies that come under the Ministry or Department or the agencies have their own specific Charters.
Identification of Client Groups/Stakeholders/Users
A citizencharter has to clearly mention its client groups/stakeholders/users. This will lead to better service and greater interaction with them. One common weakness of citizen charters is their failure to clearly identify the client groups/stakeholders/users with reference to the services offered. This deficiency needs to be remedied. Sometimes organizations will not have specific client groups with whom they have regular dealings. Some organizations may have direct clients, who pay for the service accessed. But others may have users who may access the service by virtue of being citizens. In some cases, despite not being the users of a service, citizens or groups may feel concerned about the organizational decisions as they have to bear the fall-outs of the decisions, as in case of many decisions related to industrial or mining projects, which affect the local people even if they are not users or clients. But public organizations have to respond to all citizens irrespective of their status as their clients.
Big organizations with many client groups may have different services for different client groups. In such a situation, the Charter should list out the services for each client group and the ‘commitments’ for each of such services. This can be fine tuned further by listing out the specific ‘commitments’ at each level of the organization and the ‘commitments’ in terms of the special client groups like the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, religious minorities and weaker sections.
Specification of Time-Frames for Each Service
The charter has to show the time by which a particular service will be provided. By mentioning the time, the organization will prevent undue public expectations and can work within reasonable schedules. Citizens can plan things from their end, and look for alternatives where available. Evidently, some services are perennial. Examples are services which Department of Telecommunications, Indian Railways, Department of Posts and Department of Drinking Water Supply provide. However, even here services like delivery of post, payment of postal deposits, and installation of telephone connections and reservation/cancellation of reservation of railway tickets can be time bound.
Specification of Time-Frames at Each Level
Time-frame for service delivery is required for each level at which specific services are delivered. They need to be observed. Ideally, organizations should publish information showing the extent of adherence to time-frames at each level. Public sharing of a comparative picture of service delivery from various levels in the organization is likely to introduce competition and improve performance.
Specification of Service Quality Standards
Organizations have to show theservice qualitystandards in the charters. Based on this information, citizens can look for other available sources of service or may seek enhancement of the proposed
standards. Organizations can also exercise internal controls based on their declared standards. Whiledeclaring standards,organizations have to followbothpublicpolicyrequirements and clients’ interests. For example, in passport delivery, clients prefer speed, but public policy interest requires proper scrutiny.
Specification of Service Delivery Standards
Citizencharters need to include clear commitment on servicedelivery standards such as timeliness, access, accuracy, reliability, affordability, responsiveness, fairness, sensitivity, and courtesy. These standards should be stated in the form of commitments and not simply as targets. Standards have to be measurable so that theorganizationcanconcretely present itsperformance. Standards should be widely publicized and made known to people thorough suitable media advertisements.
Providing Information about the Public Grievance Redressal Procedures
Grievance redressal helps an organization in correcting its functioning. The charter should encourage the citizens/clients to ventilate their grievances. It should clearly lay down the grievance redressal proceduressothatcitizens/users/clients/stakeholderswhohaveanygrievancescanseekredressal. This mechanism has to be taken seriously since unsolved citizenproblems can damage an organization’s image.
Providing Information about the Public Grievance Redressal Mechanisms
Citizens need to be informed about the grievance redressal mechanism available to them at various levels in the organization. A senior officer should be made responsible for inviting and processing ‘grievances’ for redressal. His/her name, designation, office room and telephone numbers and e-mail addressshouldappear in theCharter.Theofficerin-charge of thegrievancesshouldensurethat they are received, diarized, acknowledged in a day or two and examined. Organizations should have mechanisms such as a committee for review, weekly or monthly meetings with concerned officers at various levels and reports on the number and type of grievances received.
Information about the Time-frame for the Public Grievance Redressal
Time limit for looking at complaints is an important item in the citizen’s charter. The time-frame laid down for grievance redressal should be realistic and has to be observed by the organization. Otherwise, the system will lose credibility. A complaint may finally be accepted or rejected. If a complaint is rejected, the reasons for its rejection have to be clearly stated. A provision for appeal should be made for those citizens who still want to pursue their complaint after its rejection.
To summarize, a Citizen’s Charter includes: vision and mission statements; identification of services; identification of levels; identification of client groups/ stakeholders/users; specification of time-frames for each service; specification of time-frames at each level; specification of service quality standards; specification of service delivery standards; and providing Information about the grievance redressal procedures.
To be effective, citizen’s charters need to give clear information on the following aspects:
¤ Processes/Procedures for accessing servicesincluding about forms andcharges
¤ Contact points for reaching service providers including addresses, telephones and e-mail
¤ Location and functions of Information Facilitation Counters (IFCs)
¤ Handbook on the scheme brought out under the RTI Act, 2005
¤ Monitoringmechanism for citizen’s charter
¤ Procedure for receiving suggestions and comments from public
