As per inputs provided by Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, the Government has laid down procedures for secretariat work, in Ministries/Departments of the Government of India, in the form of Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMoP), wherein the guidelines and protocols are in place for ensuring timely acknowledgement and responses to correspondence of Members of Parliament.

It is laid down in CSMoP that communications received from Members of Parliament should be attended to promptly. Where a communication is addressed to the Minister, it should, as far as practicable, be replied to by the Minister himself. Each communication received from the Members of Parliament will be acknowledged within 15 days, followed by a reply within the next 15 days of acknowledgement sent. Where any delay is anticipated in sending a final reply, or information has to be obtained from another Ministry or another office, an interim reply will be sent within 15 days (from the date of receipt) indicating the possible date by which a final reply can be given.

Normally information sought by a Member should be supplied unless it is of such a nature that it would have been denied to him even if asked for on the floor of the Houses of Parliament. A separate register has to be maintained for watching the communications received from Members of Parliament. A special watch should be kept on speedy disposal of communications received from Members of Parliament. Mechanisms are laid down for reporting and monitoring MP references by senior functionaries.

For disposal of pending references from MPs and other matters such as pending PGs, VIP References, State Govt. Reference, PMO Reference etc. Special Campaign is conducted from October 2 to 31 every year. As a sequel, all Ministries are advised to dedicate three hours for disposal of pending matters and monitor the same at the level of Secretary of the Department. The instructions contained in the CSMoP are also reiterated from time to time stressing on the need of following the provisions mentioned for disposal of MP References. The progress of MP references pending in Ministries/Departments are monitored through a dedicated portal and a report titled ‘Secretariat Reforms’ is released on monthly basis.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. L. Murugan in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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