PROVISION OF DIGITAL PAYMENT SULUTION AT POS COUNTER – REG
LDCE - 2022 FOR AAO CADRE OF IP&TAFS
GROUP "B'" - ADDENDUM TO NOTIFICATION
113th REPORT OF DEPARTMENT RELATED
PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES, LAW AND
JUSTICE RECOMMENDS TO INTEGRATE DEFENCE, RAILWAY, TELECOM & POSTAL
PENSIONERS UNDER DOPPW
*********************
The
Committee scrutinised the Demands for Grants thoroughly in its meeting with the
Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances; and
the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare. The Report was considered
and adopted by the Committee on 22nd March, 2022. The
Recommendations/Observations made by the Committee in this Report are enclosed.
The entire Report is available on https://rajyasabha.nic.in.
ON
113th Report on
Demands for Grants (2022-23) of the Department of Administrative Reforms &
Public Grievances; and the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare
OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF THE DEMANDS FOR GRANTS
DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS AND PUBLIC GRIEVANCES (DARPG)
1. The
Department has been able to spend only 61.7% of the budgetary allocation made
under RE 2021-22 upto 31st January, 2022, leaving 38.3% to spend in just 2
months. As per the instructions issued by the Ministry of Finance (MoF),
expenditure in the last quarter has to be restricted to 33% ceiling and in last
month (March) expenditure has to be restricted to 15% of ceiling. Thus, the
performance of the Department in terms of utilization of funds needs
considerable improvement. A focused planning and close monitoring of
utilization of funds is required on the part of the Department. As restrictions
imposed due to COVID on expenditure are waning, the Department should have met
the quarterly expenditure targets set by the MoF without fail. The Committee,
therefore, recommends that the Department should identify the bottlenecks
responsible for not being able to maintain the pace of utilization required as
per the instructions of the MoF and take remedial measures to improve its
performance in utilization of funds in future.
(Para 2.5)
Scheme(s) of DARPG
2. The
track record of the Department in terms of utilization of funds under the
scheme has been very poor. In 2020-21 BE of Rs. 30 crores got reduced to Rs.15
crores at RE stage, and the actual expenditure incurred was Rs. 11 crores only.
In 2021-22, BE of Rs. 15 crores got reduced to Rs.12 crores and the Department
has been able to utilize only about 9.7 crores upto 09.02.2022. The Department
may furnish detailed reasons for such under-utilization of funds to the
Committee with Action Taken Note.
(Para 2.8)
3. After
considering the elaborate mandate of the Department, the number of schemes and
funds allocated to it does not seem commensurate with each other. The Committee
is therefore of the view that the Department should devise more schemes and
programmes aimed at improving the Human Resource potential and productivity of
the government and project their funds requirements to the MoF accordingly.
(Para 2.10)
DEPARTMENT OF PENSION AND PENSIONERS’ WELFARE (DPPW)
Scheme(s) of DPPW
4. During
2020-21 the BE allocation was Rs. 5 crores for the scheme, however, it got
reduced to Rs. 3.03 crores at RE stage and at the end of the year only Rs. 2.54
crores could be spent. On a similar pattern the scheme allocation for the BE
2021-22 was again Rs. 5 crores, which was reduced to Rs. 3.31 crores at the RE
stage and the actual expenditure upto 31.01.2022 is Rs. 1.48 crores only. Not
surprisingly, the BE for the Department under scheme for the year 2022-23 has
been pegged at Rs. 3.57 crores only, against their projection of Rs. 4.40 made
to the Ministry of Finance. The Department should furnish detailed reasons for
such under-utilization of funds in the last two financial years to the
Committee.
POLICIES, PROGRAMMES AND SCHEMES
DEPARTMENT OF
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS & PUBLIC GRIEVANCES (DARPG)
Public Grievances
Centralized
Public Grievances Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS)
5. The
Committee is of the view that no government can claim itself to be accountable,
responsive and user-friendly unless it has established an efficient and
effective grievance redress mechanism. In fact, the efficiency and
effectiveness of any organization can be measured by its grievance redressal
mechanism as it provides important feedback on its working. Thus grievance
redressal should be one of the core components of good governance.
(Para 3.4)
6. The
Committee also observes that CPGRAMS has become the mainstay of public
grievance edifice of the country. The Committee notes that over the years the
Department has made many significant improvements in the grievance redressal
system. Citizens are now being able to benefit from the portal by getting their
grievances redressed in a time-bound manner. The Department has brought to the
notice of the Committee several instances where citizens have got redressal of
their grievances promptly and timely through the portal during the lockdowns
due to pandemic.
(Para 3.5)
7. The
Committee is pleased to note that the Department has implemented most of its
recommendations like reduction in redressal period from 60 to 45 days,
introduction of appellate mechanism, integration of the portal with the portals
of states and thus achieving one nation – one portal goal, making available the
CPGRAMS website in regional languages, initiating preparation of a ‘Grievance
Redressal Index’, creating a facility for filing grievance via speech to text
method etc. The Committee therefore appreciates and lauds the efforts of the
Department for continuously improving and bringing about thoughtful changes in
the grievance redressal system.
(Para 3.6)
8.
However, it has come to the notice of the Committee that a large part of
grievances are being disposed off in a routine and ad-hoc manner and the
complainant remains dissatisfied with the redressal. The Committee feels that
the Public Grievances should be resolved in a professional and satisfactory
manner. There is a need to fix accountability on the decision making
authorities. In the event of unsatisfactory redressal of the grievances, the
public usually tend to approach courts for redressal of their grievances which
increases the burden of courts, so the Committee desires every endeavour should
be made to resolve grievances to the satisfaction of the complainant.
Accordingly, the Committee recommends the department to develop mechanism to
ensure accountability of the government officials dealing with the citizen’s
grievances.
(Para 3.7)
9. The
Committee also takes note of the fact that a very large number of the public
grievances are limited to some specific aspects of certain
organizations/Departments. The Committee desires that all those areas where a
large number of grievances are received, should be examined and in those common
areas of grievances, after analyzing the root cause, systemic changes wherever
necessary should be brought without any delay which in turn will reduce the
volume of grievances to a large extent.
(Para 3.8)
10. More
and more people are becoming aware of the CPGRAMS, which may be gauged from the
ever increasing number of grievances received every year on the portal.
However, a large number of citizens are still not aware of the CPGRAMS;
especially in the rural and semi-urban areas the awareness about it is very low
or negligible. The Committee therefore recommends that every effort should be
made to advertise on a large scale in mass media including newspapers, FM
radio, social media etc. about CPGRAMS in the scheduled languages.
(Para 3.9)
11.
Lastly, on the recommendations of this Committee, the Department has recently
made available the CPGRAMS portal in three regional languages i.e. Bengali,
Gujarati and Marathi. The Committee recommends that the Department should make
available the portal in other regional languages on priority basis.
(Para
3.10)
Time Bound Delivery of Services
12. The
Committee, recommends the government to bring a scheme for a time- bound
delivery of goods and services for citizens. Initially the scheme may be
started by including a few basic services only, which may later be expanded to
include other services also. The Scheme should include appropriate measures for
reward and punishment of government functionaries so that it remains effective.
(Para 3.12)
E-Office – Mission Mode Project
13. The
Committee observes that e-Office is one of the key e-Governance reforms brought
by the Department in the recent past. It has helped not only in making the
government’s work more faster and more efficient, but has also made a marked
difference in the decision making process. It has proven its worth during the
recent lockdowns due to COVID pandemic in the work-from-home scenario.
(Para 3.16)
14. The
Committee is therefore of the view that the e-office should be implemented in
all Central Government Ministries / Departments / organizations on priority
basis. Proper training on e-Office should be imparted to the officials. Every
effort must be made to encourage officials to carry out their office work
through e-office only. Further, at an appropriate time, it should be made
binding for all Government Departments/organizations, in a phased manner, to
carry out all their official work through e-office only.
(Para 3.17)
15. The
Department, along with NIC/MeitY should also keep on improving the e- office
software based on the inputs received from all stakeholders, on a continuous
basis. The e-office should also be made compatible with all widely used
browsers. As e- office has the potential for making lot of savings for the
government in terms of office space, stationery etc., the Committee therefore,
recommends the DARPG to approach the MoF, with proper justifications, and seek
funds to implement the e-office project on a faster pace in all Ministries.
(Para 3.18)
Administrative Reforms
16. The
Committee observes that apathy of civil servants in implementation of
Government schemes/programmes is one of the major impediments in the
implementation of government schemes and delivery of services and therefore,
recommends DARPG to make appropriate programmes and initiatives for instilling
right public service delivery attitude in civil servants by strengthening their
behavioural competency.
(Para 3.21)
17. The
Committee observes that more than a decade and a half has passed since the 2nd
ARC was constituted and there have been phenomenal changes in the governance of
the country mainly on account of changes in the socio-economic structure and
technological revolution and recommends that the Department should explore the
need for setting up of 3rd ARC.
(Para 3.23)
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE (NCGG)
18. The
NCGG is envisaged to be the apex think-tank to guide the Government and help it
in implementing Good Governance Reforms. The Committee feels that with such a
significant mandate, the scope and activities of the Centre should be made
broad based and then seek commensurate allocation to carry out the mandate. The
grant-in- aid provided to the institution seems insufficient and accordingly,
the Committee recommends the NCGG to work out a detailed future plan to
effectively carry out its activities, on the basis of which, it should approach
the government for necessary funds. In the long run, the Government should also
evolve a mechanism to ensure that the Centre evolves into a result oriented
organization of global excellence, which is self- sustaining and does not
remain dependent on Government grants.
(Para 3.28)
DEPARTMENT OF
PENSION & PENSIONERS’ WELFARE (DPPW)
19. From
the mandate of the Department, it may be seen that it is primarily concerned
with the Pensioners (including family Pensioners) of all Ministries /
Departments under the Accounting jurisdiction of Controller General of
Accounts, MoF. However, a large chunk of pensioners including Defence
pensioners, Railway pensioners, Telecom pensioners, and Postal pensioners are
governed by their own rules and are outside the jurisdiction of the DPPW.
(Para 3.30)
20. The
Committee observes that though the name and the mandate of the Department
suggest its jurisdiction over all Central Government employees, a large portion
of pensioners from Defence, Railways, Telecom and Postal are outside the
purview of the DPPW. These organizations also implement similar rules and
schemes on the lines of DPPW. However, this multiplicity of agencies and rules
in matters of pension creates confusion and duplicity. The Committee further
notes that recently the Railway Budget has been integrated with the General
Budget and the CPENGRAMS portal has been made common for all these
organizations. Thus, there seems to be an approach in the Government towards
integration and non-duplicity for making optimal utilization of resources.
(Para 3.31)
21. The
Committee, therefore, recommends that the Department should explore the
feasibility of integrating pensioners of all other organizations of Central
Government viz. Defence, Railways, Telecom and Postal be brought in within the
jurisdiction of the DPPW, by making it a single entity in the matters related
to pension and pensioners’ welfare. The Department may furnish a concept paper
in this regard, to the Committee, within three months.
(Para 3.32)
Pensioners’ Portal
22. The
Committee notes that based on an independent third party comprehensive review
of the root cause of the pensioners’ grievances the DPPW has initiated key
reforms like complete digitalization of pension process and improvement in
submission of Life Certificate by pensioners. The Committee appreciates such
initiatives being taken up by the Department based on their learning from
pensioners’ grievances.
(Para 3.39)
23. The
Committee observes that as per last five years data provided by the Department
on satisfaction ratings, about 40% of complainants have rated their grievance
redressal as poor. Such ratings reflect poorly on the overall grievance
handling by different organizations. Further, about twelve
Ministries/Departments in the year 2021 and twenty two Ministries/Departments
in the year 2020 have failed to resolve more than 30% of pensioners’ grievances
pertaining to them within the stipulated time. This shows apathy of those
organizations towards handling of pensioners’ grievances and the Committee
feels dismayed over indifference shown by government officials to the
grievances of their retired colleagues.
(Para 3.40)
24. The
Committee accordingly recommends the DPPW to develop a
mechanism/guidelines/policy to ensure accountability of the government
officials dealing with the pensioners’ grievances and suggest action against
the erring officials. The appellate authority should be empowered to award
monetary penalties and sanction disciplinary action against those officials who
are habitually responsible for delayed action or summary disposal of grievances
without any qualitative action.
(Para 3.41)
Pension Adalats
25. As
per the data provided by the Department on disposal of pension grievances
during Pension Adalats, their resolution rates are significantly high. This
perhaps is due to the fact that all stakeholders of a particular grievance are
invited on a single table, the grievances are resolved quickly. Considering
this performance, as recommended by the Committee in its 106th report, the
Committee once again reiterates that such Pension Adalats should be held more
regularly and frequently. Further, the experience gained during COVID times,
the practice of holding Pension Adalats through video conferencing should be
promoted.
(Para 3.45)
26. The
Committee commends the overall performance of the Department of Pension and
Pensioners Welfare and hopes that it will continue with its good work to bring
about ‘ease of living’ for pensioners, especially for super senior citizens and
family pensioners.
(Para
3.51)
***
Source: Rajya Sabha
*************************
HON'BLE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY, BENCH OF AURANGABAD
HAS DELIVERED JUDGEMENT IN FAVOUR OF THE APPLICANTS, ON THE WRIT PETITIONS
FILED TO INCLUDE INCREMENT THAT FALLS ON 1ST JULY IN PENSION OF THOSE OFFICIALS
WHO RETIRED ON 30TH JUNE.
Click here to view the order--> Judgement
No comments:
Post a Comment