In a directive to all Government officers/officials including Armed and Para-military forces personnel, the Union Government has told them not to make direct representation to the Prime Minister, Ministers, Secretaries and other higher authorities and follow existing instructions and Civil Services Rules to make representations to immediate boss for redressing their grievances. Apparently this directive has come in the wake of tons of petitions made by various categories of Government functionaries and those in the armed and Para-military organizations to the Prime Minister, various ministers and senior civil servants. This has increased the work of all departments manifold and proves hindrance to the more important matters of national interests. The fact of the matter is that this order has both positive and negative sides. The positive side is that instead of these petitions percolating down from higher to lower authorities and again with action taken or proposed to be taken back to higher authorities, a process that takes months and even years to materialize. The way out is to approach the immediate officer and thereby build the case for final disposal by the competent authority. It is a time saving device. The negative side is that obviously, the immediate authority is not inclined to satisfy the complainant and actually the complaint is against the immediate officer. What course of action is left to the lower level employee for seeking justice when he cannot address an appeal to the Minister or the Secretary?
True there is a mechanism at PMO level called the grievance cell to which appeals can be made. But taking into account the volume of the appeals and applications, will it be possible for the Complaint Cell to mete out justice to all the complainants? This seems practically impossible. It would have been better if each ministry or cluster of ministries had a combined Complaints Cell to directly deal with the departmental complaints. We all support the idea of distribution of power. It is easy to reject the facility to an aggrieved Government functionary of approaching a Minister or even the Prime Minister with his complaint. If a viable alternative had been suggested simultaneously, that would have received public appreciation. This being the situation, we do understand that the directive of the Central Government puts heavy responsibility on the shoulders of the immediate officer to whom a representation is made. With this order, he cannot sit on the complaint but shall have to take a decision whatever he thinks suitable.
In final analysis, both things have to go side by side. Government functionaries who feel justice is not done to them should try to settle the issue within the department and by approaching the Head of the Department and avoid shooting representations to the Ministers, Secretaries and other high level officials. At the same time the Government must improve the mechanism of complaint cells responding to the representations. It should not function as a mere post office of passing on the complaints up and down. It should have a locus standi in the process.
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