Why can’t a Govt officer address a citizen as Sir or Madam ?

Some months back I went through an official communication made by a an SHO Police Station with an NGO seeking their help to rehabilitate some mentally retarded persons. When I saw that letter it looked like an order rather than seeking help from the NGO? The SHO who had sent the letter neither mentioned Dear Sir, nor anything similar to it; he even didn’t conclude the letter with salutations like yours sincerely or warm regards? I saw this letter in a whatsApp group and felt so bad about it; I brought the matter into the notice of the concerned DIG who assured me to take up the matter with his subordinate officers.

This incident is mentioned for simple reference as I see more such violations happening in other civilian departments. Even a Junior Assistant or an Under Secretary level gazetted officer finds it below his /her dignity to respectfully address a citizen while sending any kind of official letter, especially when it comes to providing information under the Right to Information Act? I have written about this issues several years back but it seems the Govt isn’t serious on this issue and that is why I am again highlighting this issue.

Public Servants?

The Constitution has given several rights to citizens. It is the citizen for whose benefit governments are supposed to work. Citizens pay taxes which are utilized for the welfare of the state. It is the taxpayers’ money which is used for construction of schools, hospitals and roads. The tax-payers’ money is also used to pay salaries of Government employees. That is the reason Government officials are no longer called Government servants but they are known as “Public Servants”.

For the last almost 20 years I have been filing applications under the Right to Information Act (RTI) in different Government offices. I have a very bad experience when it comes to official responses from J&K Government offices. I have analysed at least 300 to 400 RTI replies in last several years citizens have received but in 99 % of these cases, the Public Information Officer-PIO never addressed the applicant with salutations -like dear sir / sir or concluded the letter with yours sincerely or similar words ? The words like public servants, public service etc., have only been confined to the books of constitution and law, as citizens have a lot of bad experience with Government officials. Even a Junior Engineer in a J&K Govt office doesn’t have the courtesy to write sir or dear sir while addressing a contractor or the firm with whom he or she is communicating?

Citizens deserve respect

In J&K state, the exchange of official letters in response to RTI queries between citizens and Govt offices began after the enactment of RTI Law in 2009. Now we have RTI Act 2005 in operation (post article 370 abrogation) but the way Govt officers address the citizens seeking information under RTI or non RTI communication, the same is very strange and needs to be rectified? On the contrary, when a citizen receives any official communication from Govt of India under RTI Act 2005 or other communication, the letters are addressed with respect and salutations. The reason is that Govt of India offices follow the procedures and prescribed norms of letter drafting that is issued by Govt of India Ministry of Personnel & Trainings through its Institute of Secretariat Training – New Delhi

GoI guidelines Letter Writing
As per the prescribed norms of Institute of Secretariat Training under the Ministry of Personnel & Training Govt of India an official Government letter addressed to Government officials or citizens has following parts :

1. a) Letterhead: This bears the name of the Government of the State and that of the Department and Branch in case of the Secretariat. In other cases the name of the office.
2. b) File number and date of communication c) Name /organization of sender d) Name /designation of the addressee.
3. e) Subject and Reference : The subject will be written in clear terms and will be brief. It will generally indicate the contents of the letter.
4. f) Salutation: If addressing official authorities, one must begin with the salutation Sir, and those addressed to nonofficial individuals (citizen) or groups of individuals with Dear Sir / Sir. Those addressed to firms will begin with the salutation Dear Sirs. Official Government letters must end with the subscription ” Yours faithfully ” followed by the signature and designation of the person signing the letter.

Conclusion

The guidelines of Govt of India on official communication with citizens are not followed at all in J&K. Even the name and contact number of Govt officers isn’t mentioned in the official letters especially the RTI replies. This needs to be taken seriously by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who holds the portfolio of General Administration Department-GAD. A circular must be issued to all Govt offices to ensure that whenever any Govt official makes a written communication with any citizen or private bodies or non governmental institutions the letters be addressed with respect and proper salutations as per Govt of India guidelines.

Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow. He is Founder / Chairman J&K RTI Movement