Grievance Redressal System

Grievance Redressal System

• GRM is a complaint and proposal consideration mechanism that provides an additional and accessible channel for submission of complaints and feedback to individuals and communities.
• Grievance Redressal typically covers the following types of complaints:

. Service unavailability

. Non-delivery against commitment

. Excessive delays

. Injustice concerns (such as over race, caste, sex)

. Staff Misbehaviour

. Malpractice

Grievance Redressal in India

• The grievances of public are received at various points in the Government of India .There are primarily two designated nodal agencies in the Central Government handling these grievances. These agencies are:

. Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions

. Directorate of Public Grievances, Cabinet Secretariat

• Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances is the nodal agency in respect of policy initiatives on public grievances redress mechanism and citizen centric initiatives.
• The Department proposes to introduce and lead change to establish a public service of quality, efficiency, integrity and effectiveness and modernize the public service. 
• Citizen’s charter initiative, public grievance policy, quality management in government, e-governance, review of administrative laws, documentation and dissemination of best practices, organisation & methods, information & facilitation counters, civil services reforms are some of the areas under its ambit. 
• The grievances received by the Department are forwarded to the concerned Ministries/ Departments/ State Governments/ UTs, who are dealing with the substantive function linked with the grievance for redress under intimation to the complainant. 
• The Directorate of Public Grievances was set up initially to look into individual complaints pertaining to four Central Government Departments which were more prone to public complaints. Subsequently, more Departments having larger public interface were added to its purview and presently this Directorate is handling grievances pertaining to 16 Central Government Organisations.
• The Directorate was envisaged as an appellate body investigating grievances selectively and particularly those where the complainant had failed to get redress at the hands of internal machinery and the hierarchical authorities. 
• Unlike the Department of AR&PG, Directorate of Public Grievances has been empowered to call for the files and officers for discussion to see that grievance handling has been done in a fair, objective and just manner. 
• Wherever the Directorate is satisfied that the grievance has not been dealt in such a manner, it makes suitable recommendations for consideration and adoption by the concerned Ministry/ Department, which are required to be implemented within a period of one month.