• This feature in BCAJ is to report on matters connected with RTI. However, in this issue 1 report on “The Rajasthan Right In Hearing Act, 2012” (RRHA) which received the assent of the Governor on 21-05-2012. This is relevant to the RTI Act. Under this Act, duties are cast on the Public Hearing officer (similar to the Public Information officer under the RTI Act). Section 4(5) provides: The Public Hearing Officer on receipt of a complaint u.s/s. (1) shall, within the stipulated time limit, provide an opportunity of hearing to the complainant and after hearing the complainant, decide the complaint either by accepting it or by referring it to an authority competent to grant the benefit or relief sought for or by suggesting an alternative benefit or relief available under any other law, policy, order, programme or scheme or by rejecting it for the reasons to be recorded in writing and shall communicate his decision on the complaint to the complainant within the stipulated time limit. Section 5(3) provides: Every public authority shall be responsible for the development, improvement, modernisation and reform in redressal of grievance system including redressal of grievance through information technology.
Section 7: Penalty provisions read:
(1) Where the second appellate authority is of the opinion that the Public Hearing Officer has failed to provide an opportunity of hearing within the stipulated time limit without sufficient and reasonable cause, it may impose on him a penalty which shall not be less than five hundred rupees but which shall not exceed five thousand rupees:
Provided that before imposing any penalty under this s/s., the person on whom penalty is proposed to be imposed shall be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard.
(2) The penalty imposed by the second appellate authority u.s/s. (1) shall be recoverable from the salary of the Public Hearing Officer.
(3) The second appellate authority, if it is satisfied that the Public Hearing Officer or the first appellate authority has failed to discharge the duties assigned to him under this Act, without assigning sufficient and reasonable cause, may recommend action against him under the service rules applicable to him.
The Rajasthan Right of Hearing Rules are enacted on 09-06-2013 some of the rules are:
Rule 11: No fee shall be payable along with complaint, memo of first appeal or second appeal and revision application per Rule 11.
Rule 20 provides for Establishment of Information & Facilitation Centre: It reads (1) The State Government may establish Information and Facilitation Centre which may include establishment of customer care centers, call centers, help desks and people’s support centers or any other e-mitra, Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra or other institutions authorised to act as Information and Facilitation Center.
(2) If the complaint is received by any Information and Facilitation Centre authorised for receiving complaints, the In-charge of the Information and Facilitation Centre shall transfer the same immediately to the Public Hearing Officer concerned and the time taken in such transfer shall not be counted in the stiputed time limit.
(3) The unique registration number given on complaint and action taken on complaint or transfer of complaint may also be made online for efficient and effective hearing of grievance of the people.
(4) A State wide net work may be developed by the State Government to receive, register and monitor the complaints.
This RRHA is very powerful Act, similar to the RTI Act. To note that it is only for complaints against Authorities in the State of Rajasthan. It is hoped that other states legislate similar law.
It may also be noted that the Central Government has introduced the Bill under the title:
THE RIGHT OF CITIZENS FOR TIME BOUND DELIVERY OF GOODS AND SERVICES AND REDRESSAL OF THEIR GRIEVANCES BILL, 2011
Unfortunately it is not enacted yet even though introduced in 2011 as we know that parliament does not function much due to political disputes between parties. Once such an Act is enacted, the great relief will be available to the citizens and it would be a supplement to the RTI Act. I reproduce clauses 3 & 4 of the Bill:
3. Subject to the provisions of this Act, every individual citizen shall have the right to time bound delivery of goods and provision for services and redressal of grievances.
4. (1) Every public authority shall publish, within six months of the commencement of this Act, a Citizens Charter specifying therein all the category of goods supplied and services rendered by it, the time within which such goods shall be supplied or services rendered.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions contained in s/s. (1), the Citizens Charter shall provide all or any of the following matters, namely:-
(a) the details of all the goods supplied and services rendered by the public authority and the name of person or agency through which such goods are supplied or services rendered and timings during which such services are supplied or services rendered;
(b) the conditions under which a person becomes entitled for goods or services, and the class of persons who are entitled to receive such goods and avail services;
(c) the quantitative and tangible parameters (including weight, size, frequency) of the goods and services available to the public;
(d) complaint redressal mechanism including the time within which the complaint be disposed of and the officer of the public authority to whom such complaint may be made;
(e) the name and addresses of individuals responsible for the delivery of goods or rendering of services mentioned in (a) above;
(f) any other functions, obligations, responsibility or duty the public authority is required or reasonably expected to provide;
(g) any other information relevant to delivery of goods or provision of services or such other information as may be prescribed.
(3) The appropriate Government may, by notification, make rules in relation to citizens’ charter and grievance redressal.
Let us hope that this bill becomes the Act in the coming session of Parliament starting in August 2013.
• July issue of BCAJ reported the three-member decision of CIC ruling that political parties are covered under the RTI Act. They were given six weeks time to appoint PIO, FAA etc. None of the six political parties have complied with this order.
It is now reported that Government shall overturn CIC’s order. The Bill amending the RTI Act shall be moved in the coming monsoon session. It shall provide in the definition of public authority [section 2(h) of the RTI Act] that it will not include any political party registered under the Representation of the People Act. RTI Activists all over the country has mailed to the President of India that he should not give assent to such bill.
