Public Grievance Redressal System in Bihar: efficiency and effectiveness.

Any  system howsoever designed with care and precision is not without imperfections. So is the system of governance in any state. It is understandable and naturally acceptable that delivery of services to the people by the officials in the district administration may not be up to the expectations of the general public for reasons more than one. In some cases inordinate delay in the discharge of responsibility of the officials towards redressing the genuine grievances of the public remains unheeded for long. This results in  panning of the system for justified reasons. Hence  the redressal of the public grievances is vital so that the confidence of the general public is not shaken as it is detrimental for both administration and the government. Therefore,  there exists a mechanism of grievance redressal in all the offices of the administration whether functioning under the central or the state governments. It is altogether different issue that many of the arrangements meant for redressal of public grievance may either be found to have remained on paper in quite some cases or performing perfunctorily.
But the case of our State of Bihar is different. Thanks to our Hon'ble Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar. It  was he who first visualised the inadequacy with which the public grievances of the people against administration was being handled with when the present system devised by him was not in place. It hardly requires a detailed description as to how the petitions were lost sight of amidst piling heap of petitions. These  were either left undocumented or callously allowed to fend by  themselves. Even where these petitions were maintained manually to be sent to the concerned public authority the later sat on them using their unchecked delaying power for want of proper monitoring mechanism. Petitions even in the Janta Darbars of the functionaries like District Magistrates and officers below met with the same fate leave alone the action taken therein. Besides, in practice the complainant were not thought to be worthy of being communicated with regard to the fate of her/his complaint if the same was found fit to be rejected or dismissed upon consideration. Any system of appeal against such rejection or dismissal was not available for want of any designated authority vested with such power. This led the people to exercise the option of approaching  to the judiciary. Needless to say this gave rise to unnecessary litigations besides further  burdening an already overburdened judiciary.Of course it was open to the complainant to go before the officer higher in hierarchy against such rejection but not as a matter of right.
It is in this background  the Hon'ble Chief Minister took a view  that a new system of public grievance redressal be devised within the administrative set-up itself. This led him to  establish within the system itself a three tier system of public grievance redressal. The system is manned by the state administrative service personnel vested with quasi judicial power by way of a legislative enactment  known as The Bihar Right To Public Grievance Redressal Act,2015.
The effectiveness which has been aptly defined by Peter Drucker as doing right things thus squarely fits the bill as most of the above infirmities as described above have been sought to be weeded out in the said Act. The said Act provides for complaints to be filed online as well as  offline. Thus a complainant, with the commencement of the Act , now need not move from pillar to post for getting their complaint properly registered leave alone redressing them. The public authorities were not in the habit of giving receipts against such registrations.This sort of situation is now a thing of past. The Act provides for a succinctly defined duty and responsibilities of the Sub-Divisional Public Grievance Redressal Officer(SDPGRO),District Public Grievance Redressal Officer(DPGRO) and Departmental PGRO seated respectively at the sub-division, district and departmental level. Besides, the complainant's right of redressal of public grievance  within a fixed period of 60 days as provided under the Act is yet another arrow in his quiver. The public authorities have to make themselves not only responsible but responsive also. This is what the Act seeks to ensure. Further the right of appeal against the order related to the redressal facilitates the complainant to get the decision scrutinised by the appellate authorities designated under the Act. This is a safeguard available to the complainant against the perfunctory or wayward disposal of the complaint by the PGROs.
Thus it is apparently clear that the effectiveness of the Act is above board. However its  success depends how efficiently the system is allowed to run by the people manning the system. As we are told by the same management expert Peter Drucker that efficiency is doing things right; a little reflection shows that  this requires the following to say the least for the efficient functioning of this Act driven system.
i) professional attitude of the PGRO with respect to their jobs. In view of the fact that PGROs are not the officers outside the system of administration hence it is necessary that they be allowed to  function independent of conventional administrative control. It is a desideratum that a decision should be given on merit and without any form of administrative push or pull in various forms of sorts.This requires a change in mindset on behalf of the PGROs and the public authorities who unlike the judicial officers belong to the same administrative unit where one is hearing and the other is being heard. In short, a task oriented co-ordination among the PGROs, Public Authorities and positive outlook on part of their controlling officers is critical to its success otherwise it will remain best as a ruse.
ii) the public authorities be strengthened in terms of their capabilities to give effect to the orders leading to redressal of the public grievance. This calls for enhancement in soft and hard infrastructure  in office of the public authorities. It is generally percepted that public authorities find themselves ill at ease amidst rising number of complaints with the phenomenal growth of faith in the system.
Thus the effectiveness and efficiency of this newly devised system depend upon how best the above two factors are addressed. Given the proper execution of the system honoured  by all the  stakeholders who are anyway concerned with it  will go a long way in not only weeding out the glitches of complacency but also further accelerate the wheels  of good governance which has been set in motion on a right track ever since the Hon'ble CM assumed office.
R.R.Prabhakar,
17.11.2018.
District Public Grievance Redressal Officer, Darbhanga.