Citizen's Charter

One of the basic responsibility/ function of the Government is to provide some basic services by virtue of exercising control over the natural resources.
It is the public services that constitute the basis of Citizen's Charters.

What is it then?

• It is a document (of commitment).
• The document contains 
• List of services provided
• Estimated timeframe for delivery
• Standard to be maintained etc.
• It is not a legal document. i.e. a person can not go to the courts for enforcement.
• For that, grievance redressal mechanism is provided
• It is a component of 'Good Governance'

Background

• Concept started in UK. 
• First implemented by British PM John Major in 1991. Tony Blair introduced major reforms/ changes in it  in 1998.
• John Major outlined 6 principles of the citizen's charter
• Quality of the service provided
• Citizen's should be given choice for availing the service
• Choice of time - 24X7 (no 9 to 5 availability kind of)
• Choice of place (Internet, mobile etc)
• Standard of the service is to be maintained
• Value of the service is to be maintained
• Accountability
• Transparency of rules, procedures etc.
• Later, more countries adopted.
• Principles as outlined by Blair in 1998
• Standards
• Transparency
• it should consult and involve citizens
• Accessibility and choice
• Equity
• Effective use of resources
• Engaging others
• Innovate and improve
• Correcting things if they go wrong

Indian Scenario

• 1996 : First discussed and recommended in Chief Secretaries Conference on Effective and Responsive Administration
• 1997 : Approved in Chief Minister's Conference
• After this, different Ministries, Departments, Agencies etc. came up with their charters
• Normally a Citizen Charter in India contains
• Vision and Mission statements of the Govt agency
• Details of business 
• Details of Clients 
• Details of services and commitments (with time, quality etc.)
• Details of grievance redressal mechanism and how to use it
• Expectations from clients
• Elements of a good citizen charter
• Focus on customer requirement
• Simple Language
• Service standards
• Effective Remedies
• Training 
• Delegation
• Feedback mechanism
• Close monitoring
• Periodic review

Subsequent Developments

• There existed no model for evaluating the performance of a CC
• So, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) asked a professional agency to develop a model and also to evaluate the implementation in certain govt. agencies in 2002
• Findings
• In most cases, CCs are not formulated in consultation
• Service providers are not familiar with the goal, philosophy and main features
• No funds are set aside for training staffs or for awareness generation
• Adequate publicity and focus is not given
• Another one - a study by IIPA in 2008 found out
• CC still to be implemented by all govt ministries/ deptts
• Service standards and commitments are not precise
• In some cases, these are one time affairs
• general lack of accountability and review mechanism
• poor publicity
• poor partcipative mechanism

Sevottam Model

• an objective, quantifiable model
• 3 components
• CC
• Service delivery capability
• Grievance redressal