Shivraj Patil cancels 70% public hearing sessions in 19 months

Patil assumed office as Punjab Governor-cum-UT Administrator on January 22,2010. His predecessors like Lt General (Retd) JFR Jacob used to attend office at the UT Secretariat almost daily,meeting officers and hearing people’s grievances. General (Retd) S F Rodrigues too used to hold public hearing sessions twice a month. However,ever since Patil took over as UT Administrator,the very concept is on the verge of becoming redundant. Earlier,as a practice the Administrators used to hold public hearing sessions on the first and third Monday of every month.

The statistics reveal that in the 19 months of his tenure as UT Administrator,according to precedent there should have been 39 public hearing sessions till date. However,Patil has managed to hold only 14 such sessions so far,which does not amount to an average of even one session a month. On the other hand,whenever there is a public hearing session,scores of people throng the UT Secretariat to meet Administrator and seek redressal of their grievances. On an average,around 30-40 complaints are redressed by Patil in a two- to three-hour public hearing session.

According to UT Administration figures,the last public hearing session by Patil was held on July 4 and another was scheduled to be held on July 18,which got cancelled. Similarly,so far in August there has not been a single public hearing session.

In the previous months too,the public hearing sessions remained extremely irregular and uncertain. The 11th hour cancellations and non-announcement of further dates has left many in a tizzy. While Patil heard people’s grievances only once each in May and June,there was no session for almost two months prior to that. The public hearing sessions scheduled to be held on March 21,April 4,April 11,and May 2 were all cancelled.

Senior Chandigarh Administration officials,on condition of anonymity,cited Patil’s additional charge as Governor of Rajasthan as the prime reason for his inconsistency in holding public hearing sessions. “He has to take care of his additional charge as well,for which he frequently visits Rajasthan. This could be one reason for so many cancellations. As such,the charge of Administrator and Governor of the State are very busy portfolios. But the Administrator ensures that whenever he meets people,their grievances are promptly redressed”,remarked a senior UT official.