MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently directed the chief secretary and secretary to the human resources management department to issue suitable instructions to all government departments to scrupulously adhere to the timelines prescribed for disposal of grievance petitions filed by the public.
Justice B Pugalendhi further directed the chief secretary to take disciplinary action against officials who fail to dispose of such petitions on time.
The judge said there are clear and repeated instructions, in the form of Government Orders, government letters and the Tamil Nadu Government Office Manual, prescribing a time-bound procedure for the receipt, consideration and disposal of grievance petitions.
The court has also consistently issued various directions and reminders to the authorities to adhere to the prescribed timelines, he added.
Despite the same, representations continue to remain pending, compelling petitioners to approach the court to redress their grievances, the judge noted, adding that the valuable time of the court is being spent on directing the concerned authorities to perform a duty which they were already required to discharge in accordance with the existing instructions.
A timely and reasoned decision on the representation would enable the petitioners to pursue an appropriate remedy and would also prevent avoidable litigation, expenditure of public funds and consumption of valuable judicial time, the judge observed.
The Government of the day, which has expressed its commitment to transparency and accountability in administration, must therefore ensure that the above mechanism functions effectively, the judge said and issued the above directions.
Justice Pugalendhi passed the order while disposing of a batch of petitions filed by retired government servants and widows, daughters, and legal heirs of deceased government servants, whose applications seeking disbursal of pension and retirement benefits have been kept pending for a long time. The judge directed the authorities concerned to take a decision on the petitioners’ representations within three months.
