E- payment is okay, now provide e- service CVC’s (e) nitiative’
Your application is not processed; you find the others cutting the queue; there is no response on the status of your application; you get piecemeal queries from the department; you don’t know which form is to be filled up; you don’t know what the statutory obligations are. Not surprised? All of us face all these problems, but if the Central Vigilance Commission has its way, all this is going to change. Come January 1st 2007, your rendezvous with the government is only a click away. Have you received repeated piecemeal objections on your applications? This happens mostly in refund cases. Now the officer sending you those repeated queries can be punished for misconduct. The CVC has instructed all Govt. departments/organisations/agencies over which the Commission has jurisdiction to change the way they do business. The CVC wants
1. All Govt. organisations discharging regulatory/enforcement functions or service delivery of any kind, which cause interface with the general public/private businesses, etc., shall provide complete information on their websites regarding the laws, rules and procedures governing the issue of licenses, permissions, clearances, etc. Each Ministry should prepare an exhaustive list of such applications/matters and submit a copy of same to the Commission for record and web-monitoring.
2. All application forms/proformas should be made available on the websites in a downloadable form. If they want a fee, it can be collected at the time of receipt of the form.
3. All documents to be enclosed or information to be provided by the applicant should be clearly explained on the websites and should also form part of the application forms.
4. As far as possible, immediately after the receipt of the application, the applicant is informed about the deficiencies, if any, in the documents/information submitted.
5. Repeated queries in a piece-meal manner should be viewed as a misconduct having vigilance angle
6. They should give adequate publicity about these facilities in the newspapers and such advertisements must give the website addresses of the organisations concerned.
This is the first stage to be put in place by 1.1.2007 and in the second stage, by 1.4.2007, the CVC wants
1. The status of individual applications to be made available on the web site.
2. examine the feasibility of online receipt of applications and, wherever feasible, a timeframe for introducing the facility should be worked out.
CVC further wants Heads of Organisations/Deptts
1. to get personally involved in the implementation of these important preventive vigilance measures.
2. to arrange close monitoring of the progress in order to ensure that the required information is placed on the website in a user-friendly manner before the expiry of the prescribed deadlines
3. to ensure that the information is updated regularly.
Great ideas CVC, but you should ensure that this does not become another compliance report from the government. All the departments will inform you that they have complied with your instructions. As of now some departments are totally incapable of putting their latest law on their ancient web sites, but they refuse to part with the information.
If CVC can really monitor the implementation, it is going to change the life of the citizen in his interaction with the mighty government which he pays to run.
CVC’s Circular no.40/11/06 dated 22nd November, 2006