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3.4. Citizen Charter in India

Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, coordinates the efforts to formulate and operationalize Citizens' Charters. It provides guidelines for formulation and implementation of the Charters as well as their evaluation.

DARPG prescribes that a good Citizen’s Charter should have the following components:-

Vision and Mission Statement of the Organisation

Details of Business transacted by the Organisation

Details of ‘Citizens’ or ‘Clients’

Statement of services including standards, quality, time frame etc. provided to each Citizen/ Client group separately and how/ where to get the services

Details of Grievance Redress Mechanism and how to access it

Expectations from the ‘Citizens’ or ‘Clients’

Additional commitments such as compensation in the event of failure of service delivery.


Who is a ‘Citizen’ with reference to Citizen’s Charter?

The term ‘Citizen’ in the Citizen’s Charter implies the clients or customers whose interests and values are addressed by the Citizen’s Charter and, therefore, includes not only the citizens but also all the stakeholders, i.e., citizens, customers, clients, users, beneficiaries, other Ministries/ Departments/ Organisations, State Governments, UT Administrations etc.