Prime Minister Narendra Modi has issued a directive to dispose of all pending public grievances and complaints by October 31. The Indian Government will also clear all pending assurances given to Parliament, MPs, state governments and conclude all inter-ministerial consultations.
As part of the exercise, all the unwanted, old files along with obsolete material will be disposed. As per instructions from Cabinet Secretariat, all ministries, departments and subordinate offices from September 13 had started preparing the material and identifying the scope of the work.
Conveying the orders of the Prime Minister, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba in his letter to all the ministries said, “…The existing processes may be reviewed with a view to reducing compliance burden and unnecessary paperwork done away with, wherever feasible.”
“It may be recalled that during his Independence Day address this year, the Prime Minister has emphasized the need to review existing rules and procedures on a continuing basis,” the letter read further.
Additionally, the Cabinet Secretary has directed the ministries to review record retention rules before disposing of pending matters to ensure no records are prematurely destroyed or retained beyond a necessary time frame.
No pending assurances
As per parliamentary procedures, ministers while responding to questions in the House or during discussions on Bills, Resolutions or Motions give undertakings or promises to consider a matter, take action or furnish information later. This is known as assurance.
Each assurance given by the ministers then becomes a separate file to be dealt with by the ministry. It is the right of Parliament to seek an explanation on assurances given to it. The exercise is expected to ensure that no assurance remains pending.
Exercise to commence on Gandhi Jayanti
Reportedly, the reviewing process is set to last till September 29 after which the disposal drive will be initiated. The exercise that commences on October 02 on Gandhi Jayanti is said to be part of the nationwide cleanliness campaign started by the NDA government.
Apart from the clearance exercise, the government this year also reduced the maximum time for the redressal of a complaint from 60 days to 45 days after observing that 87 per cent of the complaints get resolved within 45 days.
