Being the most important government office in the country, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) receives a lot of petitions/letters each day. But how does the PMO deal with such petitions? Here is a look at the guidelines followed in dealing with such petitions.
Being the most important government office in the country, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) must be receiving a lot of petitions/complaints/representations/letters each day. Technology has also made it easier to lodge such petitions. But how does the PMO deal with the many petitions that it receives? What is the procedure followed? Factly filed an application under the RTI act to find out.
Two Categories of Petitions
As per the reply received from the PMO’s public wing, there are certain guidelines to deal with the petitions received in the public wing. All the petitions received in this wing are categorised into
ActionablePetitions and
Non-actionablePetitions
How Is the Categorisation Done?
As per the existing guidelines, the following types of petitions are categorised as non-actionable petitions.
Petitions not directly addressed to the PM or the PMO, but only a copy is endorsed to the PM/PMO
Anonymous petitions
Unsigned petitions
Petitions containing frivolous suggestions [decision whether it is frivolous or not will be taken after the approval of Under Secretary (Public)]
Petitions containing comments without any specific grievance
Letters written in foul indecent language
Meaningless letters which are vague in nature
Requests for nomination to different commissions, bodies, routine request for awards, routine requests for jobs
Request for financial assistance
Request for free/concession tickets
Letters from foreigners highlighting India’s international matters
Letters asking for favours like the following items:
Routine requests for admission to schools/colleges
Routine requests for agency/dealership
Routine requests for shop/kiosk/Tehbazari etc
Routine request for allotment of land/house/flat etc
Only four different types of petitions are considered as actionable petitions.
Petition containing specific grievances
Petitions alleging corruption in any Ministry/Department/ Organization of Government of India/ State Government or any public servant
Petitions containing significant suggestions
Petitions seeking appointment with the PM
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As per the guidelines, in case of a doubt about categorisation of any petition, the Under Secretary (Public) will decide if it’s to be acted upon or not.
What Happens Then?
As per the guidelines, all non-actionable petitions are filed and no acknowledgement is sent to the petitioner. But in case of actionable petitions, the following actions are taken.
All actionable petitions highlighting specific grievances are forwarded to the concerned Secretaries/ Chief Secretaries of the Ministries/ State Governments. Reports may be called on petitions containing grievances which are severe in nature.
In case of any complaint regarding corruption, the same is sent through the Under Secretary (Public) to the sectoral officer in charge of Anti-Corruption unit of PMO, who will in turn decide on one of the following courses of action
Complaint may be filed in the public wing
Complaint will be examined in the PMO or
Complaint may be forwarded to the concerned Ministry/Department/ State Government through the public wing directly
All such petitions which have been decided as significant by the Under Secretary (Public), will be sent to the sectoral officer who will decide on one of the following courses of action
Send it back to the public wing for filing or
Forward it to the concerned Secretaries/ Chief Secretaries of the Ministries/ State Governments through the public wing. If the suggestions pertain to various ministries in the Government of India, then the petition may be sent to the Cabinet Secretary for appropriate action through the public wing or
Process on file the suggestion in the PMO
Petitions requesting for appointment with the PM received in the public wing are sent to the Personal Section for taking a decision
A copy of the petition which is forwarded to the concerned Ministry/Department/ Organization of Government of India/ State Government will also be endorsed to the petitioner as acknowledgement.
How Many Such Petitions Does the PMO Receive?
Though the latest information is not available, a total of 1,07,775 petitions were received in the public wing in the 18 month period between 1 May 2013 and 31 October 2014. This is an average of 6,000 petitions a month or 200 such petitions a day.
(This article has been published in collaboration with Factly.)
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