Citizen's charter ~ Indian Polity Notes

The Citizen’s Charter emerges as a remarkable initiative to bridge the chasm between the citizens and the administrative machinery. It’s a document that embodies the commitment of a public body towards maintaining a high standard of service delivery within a stipulated time frame, alongside a structured grievance redressal mechanism.

It is a document that outlines the commitment of a public body towards standard quality and time frame of service delivery along with grievance redress mechanism.
It includes how citizens can redress any grievances.
It includes what the citizens can expect out of the service provider.
The concept is that the charter preserves the trust between the service provider and the citizens/users.
The concept of a citizen’s charter was initiated by former British Prime Minister John Major in the year 1991. It was started as a national programme intended to improve the quality of public services.

Components of Citizen Charter

1. Vision and mission statement

2. Service standards/Procedures

3. Grievance redressal mechanisms

Citizen’s Charter in India:

In India, the concept of citizen’s charter was first adopted at a ‘Conference of Chief Ministers of various States and Union Territories’ held in May 1997 in the national capital.
A major outcome of the conference was a decision to formulate Citizen’s Charters by the central and state governments
The task of coordination, formulation, and operationalization of citizen’s charters are done by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG).
The DARPG website lists more than 700 charters adopted by various government agencies across India.
Citizen’s charters are not legally enforceable documents. They are just guidelines to enhance service delivery to citizens.

Principles of Citizen’s Charter

Quality – Improving service quality.
Choice – Wherever possible.
Standards – Specifically mention what to expect and how to go about if standards are not met.
Value – For taxpayer’s money.
Accountability – At the level of the individual and the organization.
Transparency – Transparency in rules/schemes/procedures/grievances.

The charter is the declaration of commitment to superiority in service to customers of the department. Example – SEVOTTAM MODEL

Role of Citizen Charter in Public Administration

Provides for standards of Service Delivery to citizens
Empowers citizens by creating a professional and customer-oriented environment for the delivery of services.
Boosts accountability and transparency in the delivery of public services.
Provides for Grievance Redressal mechanism for public institutions and offices.
Enhance good governance by improving the effectiveness of organizations by having measurable standards.
Augment quality of services delivered by incorporating an internal and external monitoring entity.
Facilitates participatory democracy by making administration citizen centric.
Promotes collaboration of all sections of the community without any prejudice.
Develops yardsticks for monitoring and evaluation of service delivery.

Shortcomings of CC in India:

Devoid of participative mechanisms – in a majority of cases, not formulated through a consultative process with cutting edge staff who will finally implement it.
Poor design and content: lack of meaningful and succinct CC, absence of critical information that end-users need to hold agencies accountable.
Lack of public awareness: only a small percentage of end-users are aware of the commitments made in the CC since effective efforts of communicating and educating the public about the standards of delivery promise have not been undertaken.
Charters are rarely updated: making it a one-time exercise, frozen in time.
End-users, Civil society organizations and NGOs are not consulted when CCs are drafted: Since a CC’s primary purpose is to make public service delivery more citizen-centric, consultation with stakeholders is a must.
Measurable standards of delivery are rarely defined: making it difficult to assess whether the desired level of service has been achieved or not.
Little interest shown by the organizations in adhering to their CC: since there is no citizen friendly mechanism to compensate the citizen if the organization defaults.
Tendency to have a uniform CC for all offices under the parent organization. CC has still not been adopted by all Ministries/Departments. This overlooks local issues.
Ineffective grievance redressal mechanism. Officers in charge go unpunished which does not infuse a sense of responsibility and commitment.
Considered as mere formality without any periodic evaluation of its implementation.It has become a routine activity of government departments without any accountability.

Reforming CC to make them Effective:

One size does not fit all: formulation of CC should be a decentralized activity with the head office providing only broad guidelines.
Wide consultation process: CC be formulated after extensive consultations within the organization followed by a meaningful dialogue with civil society.
Firm commitments to be made: CC must be precise and make firm commitments of service delivery standards to the citizens/consumers in quantifiable terms wherever possible.
Redressal mechanism in case of default: clearly lay down the relief which the organization is bound to provide if it has defaulted on the promised standards of delivery.
Periodic evaluation of CC: preferably through an external agency.
Hold officers accountable for results: fix specific responsibility in cases where there is a default in adhering to the CC.
Include Civil Society in the process: to assist in improvement in the contents of the Charter, its adherence as well as educating the citizens about the importance of this vital mechanism.

Way Forward

Citizens and staff need to be consulted at every stage of formulation of charter.
Orientation of staff about the salient features

A Citizens’ Charter cannot be an end in itself, it is rather a means to an end – a tool to ensure that the citizen is always at the heart of any service delivery mechanism.