Govt depts don't send timely response: MPs complain to PMO

Some Members of Parliament have complained to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) regarding delayed response from central government departments to queries sent by them.
The matter was taken up with higher authorities and Union minister Jitendra Singh wrote to ministers of all the departments concerned.
As per the guidelines, any communication received from the MPs should be attended "promptly" and acknowledged within 15 days, followed by a reply within the next fortnight.
In cases where delay is anticipated, an interim reply should be given, indicating the possible date for a final reply. This is to ensure that prompt attention is given to the communications received from the MPs, the guidelines say.

The guidelines further specify that appropriate record should be maintained and monitored in respect of communications received from the Members of Parliament.
"The Prime Minister's Office has been receiving references from some of the MPs that they are not receiving timely acknowledgement and responses from the ministries/departments in response to their letters.

"I would be grateful, if you could issue suitable instructions to ensure prompt reply to the letters of the MPs and also like to consider setting up of a mechanism to periodically monitor progress in disposal of references received from the MPs," said Singh, Minister of State in the PMO, in the letter.

In this regard, it is also suggested that all letters received from the MPs should be immediately scanned and uploaded in e-office, he said.
"This system will facilitate electronic monitoring of disposal of letters received from the MPs," the Minister said.
It is not the first time that the legislators have raised this issue. In past also, the Ministry of Personnel has written to all the ministries seeking timely disposal of the references from the MPs.
In almost all Parliament sessions, the Ministry is "questioned" on the delay in sending replies to letters received from Members of Parliament and non-adherence to the existing guidelines, as per another communique sent to the ministries last year.

With Budget Session of Parliament scheduled to begin from February 1, this issue may crop up.