With the Parliament
passing the Freedom of Information Bill, which enables statutory
right to the citizens to access information from the Government,
the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions achieved
an important landmark not only for the year but in the history
of Indian democracy. The Ministry with its three Departments namely,
Department of Personnel and Training, Department of Pension and
Pensioners’ Welfare and Department of Administrative Reforms and
Public Grievances has taken several measures to carry the process
of a responsive people-oriented modern administration in an effective
manner.
Empowering
Citizens with Right of Information
Out of 200 countries,
India is now among 20 to have laws for Freedom to Information.
In order to make the Government more transparent and accountable
to the citizens, the Parliament has passed ‘Freedom of Information
Bill-2000’ passed by the Parliament on December 16, 2002. The
Bill specifies that subject to the provisions of this Act, every
citizen shall have right to freedom of information. CCS Conduct
Rules would be amended for disciplinary action against officials
who refuse to information. In present democratic framework, free
flow of information for the citizens and non-Government institutions
suffers several bottlenecks and Government proposes to deal with
all these aspects in a phased manner so that the Freedom of Information
Act became a reality with the objective of having, transparent
and efficient Government.
Promotion Benefit
to SC/ST Govt. Employees
For the upliftment
of Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes employees, the Constitution
(Eighty-fifth) Amendment Act, 2001 to amend article 16(4A) of
the Constitution was enacted on 4th January 2002. The
amendment empowers the Government to grant consequential seniority
also to SC/ST Government servants on their promotion by virtue
of rule of reservation. Instructions have been issued to all Ministries/departments
to carry out review for early assessment of the backlog vacancies
in respect of SCs and STs by way of direct recruitment and promotion
and make concerted efforts to fill up backlog vacancies.
India Bags
International Innovation Awards-2002
The most enviable
moment of pride for India in the year 2002 came when two of its
successful innovative projects won Gold and Silver awards at the
Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management
(CAPCAM) International Innovation Awards Programme-2002 held in
Glasgow,U.K.on September 11, 2002. As an institutional member
of CAPCAM, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
has been sponsoring best practices of the Central and State Governments.
The Indian entries ‘Trichy Community Policing : A Novel Experience’
from the Government of Tamil Nadu had won he Gold medal and ‘Bhoomi’
– online delivery of land records, from Government of Karnataka
bagged the Silver medal.
CAT disposes
of 3.51 lakhs cases
The Central Administrative
Tribunal (CAT) which brings justice nearer to Central Government
employees and helps in many ways to bring judicial balance to
administrative action, had disposed of 3.51 lakh cases upto June
2002 out of over 3.83 lakh cases it received since its inception
in 1985, leaving the pendency of little over 32,000 cases. A state
of art Office-cum-Court complex of the Principal Bench of CAT
was inaugurated on August 14, 2002.
Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC), which has been handling vigilance cases against
senior officers of the Central Government and its public sector
organisatons, has disposed of 440 cases, referred to it for advice,
in the Month of September 2002.
Regional Seminars
of Citizen’s Charter
Regional Seminars
on Citizen’s Charter were organized at various parts of the country.
The main objective of the Seminar was to share experiences with
the State Governments in the area of implementation of Citizen’s
Charter, develop consensus for future action to make the initiative
more effective and motivate State organisations which have not
yet issued Citizen’s charters.
International
Conference on Quality Governance
To further strengthen
the relations between International organisations and national
administrations in sustainable development policies, the Ministry
of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions had hosted an International
Conference of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences
in New Delhi from November 5 to 9, 2002. About 225 delegates from
about 55 countries participated in the Conference and held wide
range discussions on capacity enhancement of administrations and
civil services towards quality governance for sustainable growth
and development in the field.
