Report of The Administrative and Services Reorganisation Committee, Part-III: The Procedure, 1974

Abstract

We have, in the earlier two parts of our Report, made recommendations for the reform of the Services and of the Administration. These by themselves would not, however, bring any immediate relief to the members of the public in their day-to-day dealings with the Government, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, etc. We are aware that the people have to suffer a lot of difficulties in their dealings with the offices of these organisations because of their cumbrous forms and complicated procedures. Instances are not rare where the members of the public have to wait for days to get even a simple job done by an office. The sufferings are not limited to the general members of the public. Even the Government officials themselves have also to suffer for months and sometimes years to settle their simple affairs like sanction of pension, final withdrawal of General Provident Fund balance, etc. It is generally recognised that a lot of these hardships can be minimised, if not removed altogether, by simplification of the existing forms and procedures. 2. 'The existing forms and procedures are a legacy of the past. These do not appear to have kept pace with the fast changing circumstances. Consequently these have become in many of the cases outmoded and unsuitable in the present context of the situation. Many of the forms and procedures, specially those relating to the financial matters, have become unnecessarily complicated due to the keen desire to have as many checks and counter-checks as may be possible. 3. Some work had earlier been done for the simplification of forms and procedures. An expert committee was appointed in the year 1962 to study the problem and make suitable recommendations on the simplification of forms and procedures. The committee made some recommendations on their study of a number of the problems. It is necessary that a complete catalogue of the studies so far made is prepared and that the actions which have been taken on the recommendations made are ascertained with a view to decide what further steps are required to be taken on these recommendations. The proposed Administrative Management and Reforms Division should take up the work. In fact, there should be a permanent organisation in that Division for the continuous study for the simplification of the forms and procedures with a view to removing the hardships the people h&ve to undergo because of the cumbrous forms and complicated procedures. 4. In the following chapters, we have made studies of a few selected problems and have suggested the steps that should be taken for the removal of the hardships in those fields. It may be pertinent to recotd here that we had consulted the concerned officers dealing with the, relevant subjects and their views had been taken into consideration in formulating our recommendations. It hardly needs any emphasis that the studies are illustrative in nature. The Government should make arrangements for continuous studies, as suggested in the above paragraph, of the problems of similar nature. We would like to emphasise that this is a field where the Government can earn a lot of good will of the people through the immediate amelioration of their difficulties in their day-to-day contact with the Government and semi- Government offices. 5. In this part of the Report, the references to the Ministries, etc., and situations are on the basis of their present position. Where a reference or references relate to the position as the same would become if our recommendations are accepted, specific mention of the same have been made in the text.