Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan has now percolated from the streets of India to the government buildings as Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) issued an order on 10 July 2017 to chalk out a calendar of Swachhta related activities with ‘measurable indicators’ for next one year.
This has spurred the Central Information Commission (CIC) to make a month-by-month cleanliness campaign schedule from July 2017 to June 2018, which, by the way, also includes clearing up of pending cases. (One would have thought this is part of their duty and should not require a special scheme!)
For example, the cleanliness drive slotted for April 2018 is “Review of pending cases and bases on the outcome of the review, action for (i)Take remedial measures so as to avoid filling of grievances by petitioners and (ii) early disposal of pending grievances.’’ In June 2018, the CIC pledges to review pending cases and action for their early settlement.”
For February 2018, the CIC has planned “Review of pending court cases and action for out of court settlement JS (Law) C wherever possible and compliance of court cases.”
Now, for the more tangible part of CIC’s Swachhta Abhiyan. In May 2018, it will review and weed out files and dispose off waste papers and documents. The circular in tabular form, states, “Special drive to be undertaken for Recording and Review of Files. Complete list of files which have been recorded and reviewed may be prepared for submission…”
Now, by the end of March 2018, CIC has pledged a zero garbage environment as it states: “Prepare a list of unused/obsolete items and ensure its disposal by following due procedure like e-auctioning, etc. No Garbage to be left at the end of month.” January 2018 will be the month for “Updation and Digitization of Service Records and Personal Files.” Details of the circular are here:
http://cic.gov.in/sites/default/files/Circulars%20%26Noification/Fron0001.pdfSpring-cleaning is most welcome, but going by the CIC’s month by month schedule, one wonders whether it is all by fiat and diktat. Clearance of files and disposal of cases are part of its daily schedule. In this case, it is being slotted into monthly compartments, for the sake of mechanically following the circular issued by the DoPT.
Box:
In the CIC’s July 2017 newsletter, Chief Information Commissioner RK Mathur has stated that, “The Commission had 34,982 pending cases as on 1 April 2016. Even after addition of 23,811 new cases, the Commission has brought down pendency to 27,137 cases as on 01 Apr 2017. Thus 32,344 cases were disposed during 2016-2017, as against 28,188 cases, during 2015-2016. This has been possible with digitisation of all its records of old and current cases, (approximately 1.7 lakh files) and use of the new APPSCOM software.
“(The) Commission has also decided to clear all cases registered up to 2015 by September 2017 and may be in a position to clear cases registered up to 2016 by March 2018. The Commission has also setup its own studio control mechanism within the Commission, which has improved number and quality of video conferencing. During the year 2016-17 the Commission held 15,228 hearings through video conferencing. The corresponding figure for the previous year was 10,882.”
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Vinita Deshmukh is consulting editor of Moneylife, an RTI activist and convener of the Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyaan. She is the recipient of prestigious awards like the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting, which she won twice in 1998 and 2005, and the Chameli Devi Jain award for outstanding media person for her investigation series on Dow Chemicals. She co-authored the book, “To The Last Bullet - The Inspiring Story of A Braveheart - Ashok Kamte”, with Vinita Kamte, and is the author of “The Mighty Fall”.)
