In spite of repeated instructions from Board, a large number of grievances have not been disposed of within prescribed timeline - CBDT Chief
THE CBDT Chairman Atulesh Jindal has in a D.O letter to his Principal Chief Commissioners says:
1. Centralised Public Grievance Redress And Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) is a citizen-centric initiative for online receipts and redressal of public grievances. It is one of the key result areas being constantly monitored by the Government at the highest level.
2. Currently around 1600 public grievances are being registered every month in the centralized grievance cell at CBDT.
3. The Hon'ble PM while reviewing the status of pending grievances with the CBEC in the last PRAGATI Meeting (held on 27.01.2016) had directed for early redressal of public grievances within the timelines prescribed by the Government.
4. The total number of grievances pending in all jurisdictions in CBDT as on date is 7863 out of which 81 grievances are pending for more than one year and 1696 grievances are pending for more than six months.
5. Considering the fact that our Citizens' Charter clearly lays down that all grievances should be disposed off within a period of two months, it is obvious that the overall progress on disposal of grievances is unsatisfactory and that in spite of repeated instructions from the Board from time to time, a large number of grievances have not been disposed off within the prescribed timeline of 60 days from the date of their receipt.
6. The grievances are required to be redressed within a maximum period of two months of their receipt. Further, if the finalization of a decision on a particular grievance is expected to take longer than two months, an interim reply is required to be given with reasons for delay in redressal of the grievance.
7. After redressal, the position may also be upgraded simultaneously on CPGRAMS.
The Chairman wants an action taken report in respect of grievances pending within for more than six months to be sent to him by 15th February, 2016.
Redressing of grievances is a long dream; the least the babus can do is to reply to the grievance - that your grievance is under active consideration meaning the file is being traced.