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Panel seeks display of citizens' charter

Special Correspondent

KOCHI: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice has asked all Government offices and Government-owned companies to prominently display the `citizen's charter' that lists out the responsibilities of each office and what services the citizens can expect to get.

"This is mandatory," E.M. Sudarshana Natchiappan, chairman of the committee said at a press conference. "Each office and each public-sector company should prominently display the charter on the wall behind the officers' seats."

The nine-member MPs' committee that includes Varkala Radhakrishnan and Ram Jethmalani and its 13-member staff are on a two-day visit to the city. Dr. Natchiappan said the public-grievances redressal mechanisms in Government offices and Government-owned companies and banks needed vast improvements. It should be lively, pro-active, humane and compassionate. The grievance should be redressed immediately without waiting till the 30-day deadline, he said.

The committee would visit several places across the country on its current mission. It aims at studying the operation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and the functioning of the public-grievances redressal mechanisms, besides making recommendations on judicial and electoral reforms.

Varkala Radhakrishnan said the RTI Act needed more teeth and that its provisions should be implemented strictly. The committee felt that there should have been a provision for punishing officials who did not comply with the Act (as of now, erring officials can only be awarded penalty up to Rs.25,000).

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