No more 'under process', Centre tells officials

THE Centre has reminded its officials that elected representatives are not to be kept waiting or fobbed off with boilerplate replies that say much and mean little.

- PARVEZ SULTAN @ New Delhi

In a fresh set of consolidated guidelines, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has instructed ministries, departments, state governments and Union Territory administrations to follow "proper procedure" while dealing with communications from Members of Parliament and state legislators, warning against delays and familiar bureaucratic foot-dragging.

The guidelines underline that letters and representations from MPs and MLAs must be handled promptly and through the appropriate channel, with the DoPT making it explicit that "dilatory tactics" will not be tolerated. Delays in responding to such correspondence, the department has stressed, are unacceptable and undermine the spirit of democratic accountability.