CITIZENS' CHARTER

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NAYANA RENUKUMAR, CENTRE FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE

What is a Citizen’s Charter

Expression of an understanding

Between citizens and provider of a

public service

With respect to the quantity and

quality of services

Essentially about the rights of the public

and the obligations of the public

servants

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In practical terms…

Citizen’s Charter is a

written

voluntary

declaration

by service providers that highlights standards of service delivery that they subscribe to, availability of choice for citizens, avenues for grievance redressal, and other related information

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Origin of Citizen’s Charter

Pioneered by UK government in 1991

Aim : Establish measurable and accountable public services

“Services First” replaces UK’s Citizen’s Charter in 1999

Service First incorporated at least 200 national Citizen’s Charters

covering all major areas of public service in 2002

UK’s initiative encouraged countries around the world to

undertake similar programmes. France (Service Charter, 1992),

Malaysia (Client Charter, 1993), Canada (Service Standards

Initiative, 1995), Australia (Service Charter, 1997) are notable

among these programmes

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Key Principles of Citizen Charter

Quality - improving quality of services

Choice - wherever possible

Standards - specify what to expect and how to act if standards are not met

Value - for the tax payers money

Accountability- individuals and organizations

Transparency - rules/ procedures/ schemes/ grievances

Six principles of original Citizens’ Charter

Movement (1991)

Six principles of original Citizens’ Charter

Movement (1991) Set standards of service Be open, provide full

information Consult and involve Encourage access and

promotion of choice Treat all fairly Put things right when they

go wrong Use resources effectively Innovate and improve Work with other providers

Nine principles of ‘Service First’ (1998) framed by Labour govt., UK

Nine principles of ‘Service First’ (1998) framed by Labour govt., UK

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Citizen’s Charter in India

Conference of Chief Secretaries of States on “Effective and Responsive Administration” – 1996

Conference of Chief Ministers’ discussed the Action Plan for Effective & Responsive Government -1997

Decision to introduce Citizen’s Charters in Central and State Government departments

DAR&PG assigned the responsibility of coordinating, formulating and operationalising Charters

o Guidelines for formulating the Charters and list of do’s and don’ts were communicated to various government departments/organisations

o Departments/organisations advised to constitute a task force with representation from users, senior management and the cutting edge staff.

o Handbook on Citizen's Charter sent to all the State Governments/UT Administrations.

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Components of India’s Citizen’s Charters

1. Cover Page

2. Vision

3. Mission

4. Service standards

5. Grievance redress mechanism

6. Stakeholders/ Clients

7. Responsibility centres

8. Indicative expectations from service recipients

9. Month and year for next review of Charter

Source: DAR&PG/PMD guidelines (2010)

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GUIDELINES FOR CITIZEN’S CHARTER (DAR&PG)

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Process of developing a citizen charter

Publish charter in public domain

Collect information on service standard achieved/ can be achieved by the department

Collect information on service standard achieved/ can be achieved by Responsibility Centres of the department (agencies under the department)

Plan for stakeholder consultation on service standards of the Departments and its agencies

Receive inputs through stakeholder consultation

Prepare charter and get approval

Ensure implementation of charter by staff

Consolidate internal information and stakeholder consultation results

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PLIST OF SERVICES

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PSTANDARDS OF SERVICE

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PGRIEVANCE REDRESS

Impediments in Citizen’s Charter implementation

Lack of political will Lack of awareness among the citizens and officials Average to poor services offered by agencies which have

enacted citizen’s charters Poor awareness of redress options Absence of end-users consultation in formulating charters Lack of precision on determining standards and

commitments Little interest shown by the organizations in adhering to

their Charter Lack of regular updation mechanisms among others

Source: IIPA, PAC (among others)

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Citizen’s Charters-

Post 2008

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Second Administrative Reforms Commission on Citizen’s Charters – 12th Report

Citizen’s Charters should be made effective by adopting the following

principles: One size does not fit all Citizen’s Charter should be prepared

for each independent unit under the overall umbrella of the organization’s charter

Wide consultation which include civil society in the process

Firm commitments to be made Internal process and structure should

be reformed to meet the commitments given in the Charter

Redress mechanism is case of default Periodic evaluation of Citizen’s

Charters Benchmark using end-user feedback Hold officers accountable for results

The ARC Seven Step Model for Citizen Centricity Define all services which you

provide and identify your clients

Set standards and norms for each service

Develop capability to meet the set standards

Perform to achieve the standards

Monitor performance against the set standards.

Evaluate the impact through an independent mechanism

Continuous improvement based on monitoring and evaluation of results

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Linking Citizen’s Charters with Right to Public Services

Limited success in addressing flaws in Citizen’s Charters through several measures including ‘Sevottam’ (integrates the concepts of Citizen’s Charters, public grievance redressal and service delivery capability) led to legislative measures

The draft Right Of Citizens For Time Bound Delivery Of Goods And Services And Redressal Of Their Grievances Bill, 2011, Government of India aims to:

lay down an obligation upon every public authority to publish citizens charter stating therein the time within which specified goods shall be supplied and services be rendered

and

provide for a grievance redressal mechanism for non-compliance of citizens charter and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto 17

Linking Citizen’s Charters to Performance

The Results Framework Documents (RFD) initiative of Performance management Division, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India mentions preparation, implementation and updation of Citizen's Charter as a key performance requirement which will be evaluated annually by an ATF and a High Power Committee

DAR&PG’s earlier guidelines and directions on Citizen’s Charters have been revised and updated in collaboration with PMD as discussed in slides 7&9

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Citizen’s Charters in Andhra Pradesh

GoAP initiated Citizen’s Charter formulation in early 2000s

In 2004, the Centre for Good Governance (CGG) brought out a compilation of around 90 charters of various departments/agencies of GoAP

Regular review of these charters took place till 2007-08

According to Public Affairs Centre (2007), Andhra Pradesh was one of the few States providing better access to Citizen’s Charters and having end-users who are more aware of the program than agencies in other states

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Thank You

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