This presentation on citizen's charters discusses its origin, key features, process flow as well as recent developments in an Indian context. The status of the initiative in Andhra Pradesh is also briefly discussed.

1. CITIZENS' CHARTER
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NAYANA RENUKUMAR, CENTRE FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE

2. What is a Citizen’s Charter
 Expression of an understanding
 Between citizens and provider of a public
service
 With respect to the quantity and quality of
services
Essentially about the rights of the public and the
obligations of the public servants
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3. In practical terms…
Citizen’s Charter is a
 written
 voluntary
 declaration
 by service providers that highlights
 standards of service delivery that they subscribe to,
 availability of choice for citizens,
 avenues for grievance redressal, and
 other related information
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4. Origin of Citizen’s Charter
 Pioneered by UK government in 1991
 Aim : Establish measurable and accountable public services
 “Services First” replaces UK’s Citizen’s Charter in 1999
 Service First incorporated at least 200 national Citizen’s Charters covering
all major areas of public service in 2002
 UK’s initiative encouraged countries around the world to undertake similar
programmes. France (Service Charter, 1992), Malaysia (Client Charter,
1993), Canada (Service Standards Initiative, 1995), Australia (Service
Charter, 1997) are notable among these programmes
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5. Key Principles of Citizen Charter
 Quality - improving quality of
services
 Choice - wherever possible
 Standards - specify what to expect
and how to act if standards are not met
 Value - for the tax payers money
 Accountability- individuals and
organizations
 Transparency - rules/
procedures/ schemes/ grievances
Six principles of original
Citizens’ Charter Movement
(1991)
Six principles of original
Citizens’ Charter Movement
(1991)
 Set standards of service
 Be open, provide full information
 Consult and involve
 Encourage access and promotion of
choice
 Treat all fairly
 Put things right when they go
wrong
 Use resources effectively
 Innovate and improve
 Work with other providers
Nine principles of ‘Service First’
(1998) framed by Labour govt., UK
Nine principles of ‘Service First’
(1998) framed by Labour govt., UK
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6. Citizen’s Charter in India
 Conference of Chief Secretaries of States on “Effective and Responsive
Administration” – 1996
 Conference of Chief Ministers’ discussed the Action Plan for Effective &
Responsive Government -1997
 Decision to introduce Citizen’s Charters in Central and State Government
departments
 DAR&PG assigned the responsibility of coordinating, formulating and
operationalising Charters
o Guidelines for formulating the Charters and list of do’s and don’ts were
communicated to various government departments/organisations
o Departments/organisations advised to constitute a task force with
representation from users, senior management and the cutting edge staff.
o Handbook on Citizen's Charter sent to all the State Governments/UT
Administrations.
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7. Components of India’s Citizen’s Charters
1. Cover Page
2. Vision
3. Mission
4. Service standards
5. Grievance redress mechanism
6. Stakeholders/ Clients
7. Responsibility centres
8. Indicative expectations from service recipients
9. Month and year for next review of Charter
Source: DAR&PG/PMD guidelines (2010)
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8. GUIDELINES FOR CITIZEN’S CHARTER
(DAR&PG)
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9. Process of developing a citizen charter
Publish charter in public domain
Collect information on service
standard achieved/ can be achieved by
the department
Collect information on service standard achieved/ can be
achieved by Responsibility Centres of the department
(agencies under the department)
Plan for stakeholder consultation on service standards
of the Departments and its agencies
Receive inputs through stakeholder consultation
Prepare charter and get approval
Ensure implementation of charter
by staff
Consolidate internal information and
stakeholder consultation results
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10. 10
CITIZEN’SCHARTERTRANSPORTDEPARTMENT,GoAP LIST OF SERVICES

11. 11
CITIZEN’SCHARTERTRANSPORTDEPARTMENT,GoAP STANDARDS OF SERVICE

12. 12
CITIZEN’SCHARTERTRANSPORTDEPARTMENT,GoAP STANDARDS OF SERVICE

13. 13
CITIZEN’SCHARTERTRANSPORTDEPARTMENT,GoAP GRIEVANCE REDRESS

14. Impediments in Citizen’s Charter implementation
 Lack of political will
 Lack of awareness among the citizens and officials
 Average to poor services offered by agencies which have
enacted citizen’s charters
 Poor awareness of redress options
 Absence of end-users consultation in formulating charters
 Lack of precision on determining standards and commitments
 Little interest shown by the organizations in adhering to their
Charter
 Lack of regular updation mechanisms among others
Source: IIPA, PAC (among others)
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15. Citizen’s Charters
-
Post 2008
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16. Second Administrative Reforms Commission on
Citizen’s Charters – 12th
Report
 Citizen’s Charters should be made effective by
adopting the following principles:
 One size does not fit all
 Citizen’s Charter should be prepared for
each independent unit under the overall
umbrella of the organization’s charter
 Wide consultation which include civil society
in the process
 Firm commitments to be made
 Internal process and structure should be
reformed to meet the commitments given in
the Charter
 Redress mechanism is case of default
 Periodic evaluation of Citizen’s Charters
 Benchmark using end-user feedback
 Hold officers accountable for results
 The ARC Seven Step Model for Citizen
Centricity
 Define all services which you provide
and identify your clients
 Set standards and norms for each
service
 Develop capability to meet the set
standards
 Perform to achieve the standards
 Monitor performance against the set
standards.
 Evaluate the impact through an
independent mechanism
 Continuous improvement based on
monitoring and evaluation of results
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17. Linking Citizen’s Charters with Right to Public
Services
 Limited success in addressing flaws in Citizen’s Charters through several
measures including ‘Sevottam’ (integrates the concepts of Citizen’s Charters,
public grievance redressal and service delivery capability) led to legislative
measures
 The draft Right Of Citizens For Time Bound Delivery Of Goods And Services
And Redressal Of Their Grievances Bill, 2011, Government of India aims to:
 lay down an obligation upon every public authority to publish citizens charter
stating therein the time within which specified goods shall be supplied and
services be rendered
and
 provide for a grievance redressal mechanism for non-compliance of citizens
charter and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto
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18. Linking Citizen’s Charters to Performance
 The Results Framework Documents (RFD) initiative of
Performance management Division, Cabinet Secretariat,
Government of India mentions preparation, implementation
and updation of Citizen's Charter as a key performance
requirement which will be evaluated annually by an ATF and a
High Power Committee
 DAR&PG’s earlier guidelines and directions on Citizen’s
Charters have been revised and updated in collaboration with
PMD as discussed in slides 7&9
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19. Citizen’s Charters in Andhra Pradesh
 GoAP initiated Citizen’s Charter formulation in early 2000s
 In 2004, the Centre for Good Governance (CGG) brought
out a compilation of around 90 charters of various
departments/agencies of GoAP
 Regular review of these charters took place till 2007-08
 According to Public Affairs Centre (2007), Andhra Pradesh
was one of the few States providing better access to Citizen’s
Charters and having end-users who are more aware of the
program than agencies in other states
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20. Thank You
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