UP stop Nov salary of SPs, magistrates, CMOs for non-redressal of grievances

Agra/Bareilly: In an unprecedented step, salaries of the Aligarh SP, magistrate, CMO and 51 other top officers have been stopped "for failing to redress grievances".
District magistrate of Aligarh, Rajmani Yadav, on Thursday ordered stoppage of disbursement of salaries to 54 officers, including SP city, SP rural, city magistrate, chief medical officer, for failing to dispose of complaints filed under the integrated system for grievance redressal (an online portal) within the stipulated time limit.
Confirming the move, Yadav told TOI that these officers had been advised several times in the past to address the complaints but they failed to do so. He said some of them have now given an assurance to resolve the pending complaints within a week, following which their salaries would be released.
A source said, "Since redress all of grievances happens to be a focus area for chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, action was initiated against them."
According to the order, during a review of complaints filed on the Jan Sunvai portal, it was discovered that these officers had not been addressing the concerns "within the specified time limit". The order further states that these officials were informed from "time to time" about the delay and were directed to settle them at the earliest.
When contacted, Rajesh Pandey, SSP Aligarh said he was aware of the order and has assured that pending complaints would be resolved soon. He attributed the delay in addressing the complaints to work pressures due to the festival season.
Aligarh CMO Dr Rupindra Goel admitted that his salary has been stopped and blamed "shortage of manpower" as the reasons for delay in resolving the grievances. "The nature of our jobs is totally unpredictable and we are under staffed," he said, adding that these complaints would be resolved soon.
Similar action has also been taken in Bareilly where salaries of 167 officials, including additional district magistrates and other departmental heads have been stopped for the same reason. According to DM Pankaj Yadav these salaries would be released once the concerned officials produce a "no-pendency declaration" certificate.
Yadav said, “During the review of revenue related matters it was found that cases in good numbers have been pending for over a year in revenue courts. Similarly, a big number of complaints registered through IGRS are yet to be resolved. Salaries for November of all ADMs, sub divisional magistrates, tehsildars, nayab tehsildars and land consolidation officers have been stopped till the next order."
IGRS is an integrated system for redress of grievances in UP. The aim is to achieve the goal of good governance using latest technology and involving all stakeholders. The CM's office keeps an eye on such grievances. District administration, police and other departments come under the ambit of IGRS system.