Imphal, October 18 2009: Even after more than a month, the state government is yet to start process for appointing an ombudsman, of which the Centre had directed state governments to set up office within three months after the day the directive was issued.

The Central government had issued the order on September 7 last to set up office of ombudsman in order to bring more transparency in the implementation of its flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) which is being implemented across the states of the country under the National Rural Guarantee Act.

The State government is yet to take up steps to set up the office even though the order was passed more than a month back on September 7 last, official source disclosed to Hueiyen Lanpao.

Realising the need for an independent authority to expeditiously redress the grievances in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the rural development ministry issued an order to the state governments and UTs on September 7, 2009 for establishing an ombudsman office.

The grievance redressal mechanism is part of the 100-day agenda of the UPA government and was included in the President's address to the joint session of Parliament on June 4 this year.

Ombudsman offices would be set up in over 600 districts across the country and will have financial powers to impose penalty and order for recovery of money, in case any misappropriation of funds is detected in the implementation of the rural job scheme.

The Instructions for NREGS Ombudsman was formulated under Section 27 of NREG Act with the objective of establishing a system for redressal of grievances and disposal of complaints relating to implementation of the NREG Act and the Schemes made under the Act by the States.

The establishment of the Ombudsman under the Act should be done on the recommendations of the Selection Committee which the state government to constitute with state chief secretary as chairperson.

A representative of Union Ministry of Rural Development and an eminent civil society person nominated by Union Ministry of Rural Development will be the member of the committee which the secretary of the state nodal department implementing the scheme will be the convener.

State government may appoint one or more persons, but not more than three persons, as the Ombudsman in a District as per the instruction on ombudsman.

The Selection Committee will prepare a panel of suitable persons for consideration for appointment as Ombudsman.

Deputy Ombudsman will also be appointed from the same panel based on his merit position.

All comments and objections related with implementation of the scheme which can be available at the official website should be settled within 30 days of the date of expiry of the period for inviting comments.

Anonymous comments and objections will not be considered.

The selection of Ombudsman shall be made from among persons of eminent standing and impeccable integrity with at least twenty years of experience in public administration, law, academics, social work or management.

The persons selected as Ombudsman must be physically active and capable of conducting field tours, inspections and visits to remote rural locations in the districts.

The Ombudsman shall be appointed for tenure of 2 years extendable by one year based on performance appraisal or till the incumbent attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

There shall be no reappointment.

Performance appraisal shall be made by the Selection Committee.

A copy of the performance appraisal report shall be furnished to the State Employment Guarantee Council.

The Ombudsman shall be independent of the jurisdiction of the Central or State Government.

The Ombudsman will be allowed compensation of Rs.500/- per sitting.

Comment