Citizens Charter: Nine Principles of Service Delivery and Citizen՚s Charter in India

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  • Citizens are conscious of their rights as customers and demand timely delivery of the services as they pay for the Government services
  • Citizens as “customer-focus” was result of Private Organization which impacted public organizations.
  • Citizens Charter came into existence to change the passive attitude of government officials and make the administration functioning efficient.
  • Transparency and Standard delivery of services he idea behind a Citizens Charter
  • The charter is a Code of Conduct on the part of public officials
  • The Citizens Charter is Voluntary and has no Sanctions
  • The Charter is a commitment on the part of public officials as well as the citizens
  • Idea of a Citizen՚s Charter was first put up by the United Kingdom՚s Conservative Government in 1991 to improve quality of services delivered
  • It was relaunched by the Labour Government in 1998 and was labelled as “Service First”

The Citizens Charter had six principles:

  • Quality
  • Choice
  • Standards
  • Value
  • Accountability
  • Transparency

Nine Principles of Service Delivery (1998)

Table Supporting: Nine Principles of Service Delivery (1998)
1 . Set Standards of Service
2 . Be open and provide full information
3 . Consult and involve
4 . Encourage access and promote choice
5 . Treat all fairly
6 . Put things right when they go wrong
7 . Use resources effectively
8 .Innovate and improve
9 . Work with other providers

Citizen՚s Charter in India

  • The recommendations of the Conference of Chief Secretaries of States and Union Territories on “Effective and Responsive Administration” held in 1996
  • The scheme was introduced from 1997 in India

Components of Indian Citizen՚s Charter

  • Vision and Mission statement
  • Details of business transacted
  • Details of citizens
  • Statement of Services
  • Details of Grievance Redressal Mechanisms
  • Expectations from the citizens

Initiatives for Citizens Charter in India

  • From 1997 there is a Citizens Charter in all Central, State and Union Territories Ministries and Departments
  • From 2010 Citizen՚s Charter is uploaded on the respective departments website
  • Making Citizen՚s Charter as one of the three component of citizens Charter
  • Making Citizen՚s Charter more interactive with citizens on the recommendation rof12th report of second Admirative Reforms Commission entitled “Citizen Centric Administration-Heart of Governance”

Creating Department Charters through pilot projects which was implemented in four states:

  • Himachal Pradesh
  • Karnataka
  • Madhya Pradesh
  • Odisha

SEVOTTAM Model

Sevottam Model is a “Service Delivery Excellence Model” which provides assessment improvement framework

It has three modules or components:

  • Effective Citizens Charter
  • Public Grievance Redress System
  • Service Delivery Capability

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