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Administrative Law Assignment 6
Administrative Law Assignment 6
Administrative Law Assignment 6
§ The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013 was enacted to establish Lokpal for the Union
and Lokayukta for States to perform the functions of Ombudsman in India.[1]
Here Lokpal was a very necessary way forward to stop all these hazards and perils.
§ The Lokpal body consists of one chairperson and a maximum of 8 members where
half will be judicial members and other half will be from SC/ ST/ OBC/ Minorities
class and women. The President appoints the members with the recommendations
of a selection committee and search panel of minimum 8 persons.
§ The former Chief Justice of India or the former Judge of Supreme Court or a
renowned person with having specific knowledge and expertise of minimum 25
years in the field relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration, diligence
and surveillance, law and management etc; will be eligible to become Chairman of
Lokpal. The term of Chairman’s office is 5 years or till the age of 70 years
whichever is earlier.
§ The selection committee is composed of the Prime Minister who is the Chairperson;
Speaker of Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of India or
a Judge nominated by him/her and One eminent jurist..
As per my view, each and every flaw in the system can be meted out with full proof
planning and in this case my suggestion for better administration of ombudsman will
be:
Except the Lokpal and Lokyukta Act the other kind of ombudsman authority in India
is conducted through Banking Ombudsman Scheme :
This scheme is a prompt and overpriced forum for customers of bank for settlement of
complaints relating to certain services rendered by banks, which was introduced under
the Banking Regulation Act of 1949 by RBI with effect from 1995, through Banking
Ombudsman Scheme 2006.
· The Banking Ombudsman is an official, who is appointed by the Reserve Bank of
India to recompense customer complaints related to the lacunae of the services
provided by bank.
· Scheduled Commercial Banks, Primary Co-operative Banks and Regional Rural
Banks are subjected to this scheme.
· If any aggrieved person does not get reply from the bank itself within one month
after the receipt of the complaint or if it gets overturned by the bank, complaint can
be filed directly before the Banking Ombudsman.
· Complaints can be filed on online platform and it is not required to file a direct
physical complaint.
· If bank is refusing to open new deposit accounts without providing valid legal
reason to refuse;
· If bank is refusing to close any customer’s account without any valid reason.
· If any excess service charge is incumbent on customers without sending them
prior notice.
· If recovery agents by banks are acting beyond the guidelines provided by RBI.[4]
The Reserve Bank of India issued an ombudsman scheme for non-banking finance
companies (NBFCs) too.
Who will be appointed as the ombudsman inNBFCs :
An RBI officer who is not below the rank of general manager will be appointed as
the ombudsman with certain territorial jurisdiction.
· Tenure of office- the maximum tenure of the office of ombudsman is three years
but it can be lowered down by the regulator, who appoints the ombudsman as per
the situation requires
· The complaint procedure in NBFC is same as that of the procedure followed
in bank.
· Compensation:
The ombudsman may award compensation not more than one hundred
thousand rupees to the complainant, to neutralize the loss of time, cost
incurred, mental agony suffered by the complainant.[5]
Conclusion:
Lastly it is very important to know that the Ombudsman authority has been imposed
with huge power and responsibilities in every sense but the Lokpal body and the
Banking ombudsman scheme, as the case may be, need to be more accountable and
transparent for efficient performance and supervision and the controlling as well as the
appointment set up should be more strict to fulfill the purpose for which these were
formed.