Exhaust administrative channel before moving courts: Govt

The Nayab Singh Saini government has asked employees to seek redressal of their grievances through the institutional grievance redressal system before moving the court.

In a bid to check pendency in the courts and settle employees’ grievances at the pre-litigation stage, the government has come out with a time-bound system to settle their grievances. This, and several other provisions, find a place in the newly notified Haryana State Litigation Policy-2025.

“It shall be mandatory for employees to seek redressal through the normal administrative channel first before going to the courts,” a notification issued by Sumita Misra, Additional Chief Secretary, Administration of Justice Department, said.

Under the new policy, a two-tier structure shall be set up. In the first tier, each department shall have a redressal system at the state level. The second tier shall be set up at the district level.

The department-level grievance committee shall be headed by the head of the department and would meet once a month to review the efficacy of the system at the state and district levels. A time-limit of eight weeks may be fixed to decide a representation.

“To facilitate effective grievance redressal system, a dedicated software platform should be developed which shall enable the employees to submit grievances online, ensuring transparency and accountability,” the notification noted.

The committee should commence the redressal proceedings within seven days from the receipt of the complaint.

Meanwhile, the committee shall consider oral and written submissions and provide its recommendations to the next higher authority within 30 days of hearing.

Redress process to start within 7 days

• Officers mandated to keep record of all cases

• Law officer given 15 days to give legal opinion in routine matters, seven days in urgent matters

• Failure to adhere to policy’s provisions to invite penal action

• Government litigation panels to include lawyers with competence; no procedural errors to be tolerated

• Redressal of staff’s complaints to start within seven days

• Committee to submit recommendations within 30 days