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LAW MANTRATHINK BEYOND OTHERS

(National Monthly Journal, I.S.S.N 2321-6417)




Indias Citizens Charter: Tracing its Success and Failure

*Prapti Kedia
Student at ILNU
Semester IV
B.A. LL.B. (Hons.)


Government and bureaucracy in India suffer from the charges of corruption and delayed
work. This is against the ethics of an economy and also against the needs of consumers. To
substitute this image the Indias Citizens Charter was enacted to make the government and
bureaucracy more responsible, effective and responsive. But the success of this is in question.
The author is researching that whether Indias Citizens Charter was a great success or
merely a great step towards ensuring government to become responsive towards its citizens
that are consumers of the services so provided. These consumers need to be protected and so
the charters must be designed in a stronger way.


Introduction
Citizens have become more articulate and expect the administration not merely to respond to
their demands but also to anticipate them.
1
Since this change in 1996 the government had a
consensus on the issue of effective and responsive administration. An effective and
responsive administration would mean a transparent and corruption free administration which
responds to citizens in the due time. Several attempts have been made since independence to
address the administrative challenges and introduce institutional and procedural reforms
aimed at a responsive and accountable bureaucracy, keeping the citizen at the centre-stage.
2

One of such attempts is a Citizens Charter. Citizens Charter initiative is a response to the
quest for solving the problems which a citizen encounters, day in and day out, while dealing
with the organisations providing public services.
3

In 1994 consumer rights activist for the first time drafted a charter for health service
providers at a meeting of the Central Consumer Protection Council in Delhi.
4
In 1996 the
program of Citizens Charter was launched on a national level. In India, a Conference of

1
Centre for Good Governance (2008), Citizens Charter: A Handbook, p. 3
2
Indian Institute of Public Administration (2008), Citizens Charter in India: Formulation, Implementation and
Evaluation, p. 1
3
Supra note 1, p. 1
4
Fekadu Nigussa, A Critical Analysis of the Conceptualization and Implementation of Citizens Charters: Case
Studies from UK, India, South Africa and Ethiopia, p. 53
2

Chief Secretaries was held in 1996 in New Delhi to develop An Agenda for Effective and
Responsive Administration.
5
It followed the UKs pattern in the designing and
implementation of Citizens Charter. Following this was the Conference of Chief Ministers
which was held on 24 May, 1997 in New Delhi in which an Action Plan for Effective and
Responsive Government at all levels, i.e. centre and sate, was adopted. In the conference one
of the steps taken towards an effective and responsive government was formulation of
Citizens Charter beginning with the sectors having large public interface. These Charters
were required to include standards of service and time limits that the public can reasonably
expect, avenues of grievance redress and a provision for independent scrutiny with the
involvement of Citizen and consumer groups.
6
The task of coordinating, formulating and
managing the operational aspect of the Citizens Charter was on the Department of
Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in Government of India (DARPG).
There were various evaluations of the Citizens Charter claiming it to be a great step and not
a great success. For righting the deficiencies bills were introduced. In 2011, the government
reintroduced the Citizens Charters Bill in the form of the Rights of the Citizens for Time
Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, which clearly
outlines the responsibilities of government departments towards citizens.
7
The Bill is still
pending.
The deficiencies in terms of implementation and lack of investment and support for Citizens
Charter have been a topic of discussion lately which needs to be worked on. The paper is
dealing with such critiques of the Citizens Charter. It is to be seen and evaluated that
whether Citizens Charter was a great success or merely a great step.

Analysing Success or Failure of Citizen Charter
The charters of as many as 47 Union Ministries/ Departments/ Organizations, which were
available either on the website of the DARPG or on the website of the
Ministries/Departments, were reviewed along the twenty eight parameters to assess the extent
of inclusion and exclusion of these. The following observations may be noted in the context
of the Charters which were reviewed for their content:
a) Most of the Charters under review failed to communicate effectively the vision of the
organisation. Vision statement was missing from nearly 60% of the reviewed Charters.
b) The articulation of the mission was also not found in nearly 40% of the reviewed
Charters. And many of those which did include some kind of a mission statement, were not
always very focused, clear or able to relate the mission to the vision. In some cases the
objectives of the organisation were stated rather than any statement on the manner in which
these were to be attained.
c) The client groups/stakeholders/users were not identified at all in nearly 30% of the
Charters reviewed. The identification was, at best, partial in case of many others. The

5
Supra note 2, p.2
6
Supra note 1
7
Ritu Srivastava, India, the Internet and the Need for a Government that is Responsive, p. 135
3

commitment made by the organisation towards their specific concerns was not to be found in
most Charters, including many of those which did identify these. Where competing groups of
stakeholders with competing claims existed, Charter often remained silent on these rather
than suggest mechanism or processes through which the organisation sought to resolve these.
d) The levels within the organisation were not indicated in about 27% of the Charters with the
result that commitments and time-frame at each level did not find a place in the Charters.
e) Service standards and timelines have been neglected in the Charters of most organisations.
The service delivery standards were not mentioned in about 43% of the Charters reviewed.
The service quality standards were missing from about 38% of them. These were poorly
articulated in many others. Even those which mention some of these were quite ambiguous
and lacked specificity and measurability. There were no clear commitments evident in the
Charter when it was read from the viewpoint of the citizens/ clients/ stakeholders.
f) As high as 40% of the Charters reviewed failed to give information about the processes of
obtaining service benefits.17% of the Charters reviewed did not even provide the contact
points of obtaining service benefits. Procedures/cost/charges were either not made available
online, through display boards, booklets, inquiry counters etc., or the place was not specified
in the Charter despite some of these being provided.
g) Nearly 62% of the Charters reviewed did not offer any clue regarding the system for
obtaining suggestions from the client groups/stakeholders/citizens. None of the Charters gave
information about time frame for review of the suggestions. None of the Charters indicated
that the organisation analysed the outcome of such a review to improve the functioning of the
organisation. The mechanism for processing of suggestions and systematic review of
suggestions were missing from nearly 98% of the Charters. Consequently, an equal
percentage of the Charters failed to mention anything about the outcome of the review of
suggestions.
h) Almost 41% of the Charters under consideration did not indicate any timeframe for redress
of public grievances. 61% of them did not indicate any timeframe for acknowledging the
receipt of public grievances and nearly 43% of them did not have the timeframe for
responding to the petitioners. None of the Charters reviewed specified whether a petitioner
would be conveyed the reasons for rejection of his grievance. Likewise, none of the Charters
reviewed indicated any commitment of the organisation to convey the action taken to a
petitioner whose grievance is accepted.
i) There has been a complete neglect of the need to specify commitments related to a regular
review and analysis of grievances received and responses offered in the Charter itself. Most
of the Charters reviewed failed to indicate any system of systematic review of the public
grievances or any system of analysing the outcome of such a review to improve the
functioning of the organisation.
j) Even in the case of the Ministries/Departments, the Citizens Charters of which mention
that the time-frame of sending acknowledgements and final replies to the petitioners had been
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laid down, there was no indication as to how the Ministries/Departments ensure that the time-
frame was being honoured by the officers/staff. Clear indications on how specific provision
in the charter would be ensured in practice are wanting in most Charters.
k) None of Charters reviewed gave any indication of a system of resolution offered to the
client groups/stakeholders/citizens if the organisations or any of its levels failed to fulfill their
commitments.
l) Charters neglect the need to commit the organisation to information provision. Not many
Charters make a mention of the concern of the organisation to provide for the information
needs of the people in a proactive manner. The avenues for seeking information are not
indicated in many Charters. Even a mention of an essential Charter component like
Information Facilitation Counters (IFC) was missing from nearly 62% of the Charters and as
high as 72% of them remained silent about the functions performed by the IFC and the
facilities available therein.
m) The Government of India has adopted the Right to Information Act which enables the
citizens to seek information as a matter of right. It is expected that the Charters would give
information about the Act and information available under it. Nearly 77% of the Charters
reviewed remained silent about the RTI Act and about 94% of them failed to even mention
the Information Handbook brought out under the RTI Act.
n) None of the Charters reviewed gave any indication regarding the periodicity for a review
of the Charter. The commitment to review itself was rare. Most Charters in existence had
been framed several years ago and did not reflect even the contemporary state of the
organisation, not to mention its commitments to citizens/ clients/ stakeholders in the rapidly
changing organisational environment.
o) Any commitment towards the monitoring or review of Charter implementation was not
found in the Charters. It was also found that most of the Charters have not been reviewed or
updated for years together. In some cases, the Charters had lost any connection with the
nature of activities and organisational structures, which had undergone significant changes
over the years. The DARPG website itself required to be updated as it carried the Charters of
Ministries which no longer existed.
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We usually claim that there is a problem with the implementation of the law and not with the
law. But in case of the Citizens Charter before moving towards moving to the
implementation aspect of the charter we must look into the formation of it first. The data that
has been mentioned reflect the very basic default with the most of the charters that is missing
vision and mission. Without the vision and mission the charter cannot have a direction. Not
even the target audience has been clearly specified. There is no clear specification of service
delivery and timelines along with no specification of the service quality in many. When there
are no such mentions then how can the administration be more responsive and effective,
which was the ultimate aim of the Citizens Charter. The charters do not even mention

8
Supra note 2, p. 11 14
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information of how to avail the service benefits. Even if the charter is not making the
administration effective and responsive, it is not even making the citizens aware of the simple
information as to how to avail these benefits. Also there is no system of getting the
suggestions in most of them and even if there is then there is no mention of the processing of
the suggestions in almost all of them, thereby not leaving any scope for the improvement of
the charters. Then is the aspect of redress of public grievance. There is no mention of the
same and the timeframe relating to it. Further there is no mention (in any charter) of
communication of reasons in case of rejection and the action in case of acceptance of the
grievance, which implies that any grievance could be rejected and there is no requirement of
providing with the reason and in case it is accepted the plan of action would not be known to
the citizen. Can with such deficiencies a Citizens Charter be enforced properly? There is no
mention of Information Facilitation Counters (IFC) in as many as 62% of charters. When
there is lacking in the mention of this in the charter then it is impossible to have effective
implementation of the charters. Even when IFC is mentioned, then in many the functions of
the same are not mentioned. Information Handbook brought about by Right to Information is
also missing. There is no periodicity for a review of the Charter; even the commitment to
review itself was rare. Along with this no monitoring or review of Charter is there. Most
charters have not been reviewed or updated for years. Therefore it is analyzed that there
exists a huge lacking in the formation of the Citizens Charters itself and not merely in the
implementation.

Conclusions and Suggestions
Citizens Charter was brought about with the intention of making the administration more
responsive and effective. Various states, departments and ministries formed the same to have
an enforcing impact and thereby aiding the achievement of the specified aims. But with the
kind of prevailing deficiencies in the Citizens Charter as mentioned in the analyses it is near
to impossible to serve the aims, as the fault lies in the foundation itself. The step so taken to
create a transparent society with zero corruption was great but not as greatly formed and
implemented as to be a success. Therefore the Citizens Charter was definitely a great step
but not a great success.
Everything has its own limitations and so does the Citizens Charter which can be altered by
working on the points mentioned in the analyses. Another thing that is required to be done is
rethinking on the aspect as to whether Citizens Charter must be different in different states
or there should be a uniform Citizens Charter for whole of the country. And if it is state wise
you opt then there must be some set standards that cannot be done away with. There must be
proper review and monitoring of the charters and in case of any deviation action must be
taken as soon as possible. Also, if required assistance from external agencies can be taken in
respect to formulating the charter and strategizing its launch. Also the aspects relating to RTI
must be included.
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Working on these suggestions, broadly, will take the Citizens Charter a step ahead towards it
being a great success and then the citizens can expect to have a responsive and effective
administration i.e., a transparent and corruption free administration.

References:
1. Samuel Paul (2008), Indias Citizens Charters: In Search of a Champion,
Economic and Political Weekly, p. 67 73
2. Priti Garg (2006), Citizens Charter: A Step Towards Making Bureaucracy
Responsive and Responsible, Indian Journal of Political Science, p. 233 244
3. Ritu Srivastava, India, the Internet and the Need for a Government that is
Responsive http://www.giswatch.org/sites/default/files/gisw_12_cr_india.pdf
accessed at 13-3-2014
4. Indian Institute of Public Administration (2008), Citizens Charter in India:
Formulation, Implementation and Evaluation.,
http://darpg.gov.in/darpgwebsite_cms/Document/file/IIPA_Report_Citizen_Charter.p
df accessed at 1-4-2014
5. Public Affairs Centre (2007), Indias Citizens Charters: A Decade of Experience,
http://www.pacindia.org/uploads/default/files/publications/pdf/1264b6a536388591ba
81aef60860abd6.pdf accessed at 1-4-2014
6. Centre for Good Governance (2008), Citizens Charter: A Handbook,
http://www.cgg.gov.in/publicationdownloads2a/Citizen%20Charter%20Handbook.pd
f accessed at 4-4-2014
7. Fekadu Nigussa, A Critical Analysis of the Conceptualization and Implementation of
Citizens Charters: Case Studies from UK, India, South Africa and Ethiopia,
http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/PPAR/article/view/10495/10686 accessed at
4-4-2014