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OFFTRACK: GWALIOR,
MADHYA PRADESH
Justice Home Delivery
A mobile court redresses the common man's everyday
complaints
By Neeraj Mishra
It is only an old
axiom but has a ring of truth to it, especially in the Indian context:
justice delayed is justice denied. Forget civil cases and criminal trials
that never seem to reach a conclusion, even the small injustices of everyday
life often have no remedies. Medicines past the expiry date, adulterated
petrol, an overcharging autorickshaw driver, a blaring loudspeaker, an
indolent government servant-the list could go on. No one complains. And
even if someone did, who would listen?
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ON THE MOVE: Kamal uses the Cheetah to take governance to the
people's door
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If you are in Gwalior, however, and took the
trouble of dialling a telephone number you can be sure someone will listen.
Perhaps even dispense justice within minutes. This is instant mobile governance.
Introduced by Prabhanshu Kamal, the district magistrate of Gwalior, a
van called Cheetah rushes to you if you have dialled 572233. In it are
11 officials, including a revenue officer, a drug and food inspector,
a doctor, a vet and a police officer, who will address and decide your
case depending under whose purview it is.
In its fourth month now, the Cheetah has become
a household name in Gwalior and brash taxi drivers, encroachers on government
land and small-time musclemen are on the run. "The government machinery
moves too slowly and by the time redressal is provided, the aggravating
cause of most grievances is over," explains Kamal. If, say, a person
wants to lodge a complaint against a petrol pump mixing kerosene in its
fuel, he would have to seek out a policeman who in turn would look for
a food inspector who would then collect a team to ascertain the fact.
By the time any action is taken, the case literally gets diluted.
To avoid such a situation, Kamal put all departments
concerned in one van. True, not every complaint can be dealt with by lower
officials but those that can be looked into are common enough. The 11-point
list of complaints includes, besides adulteration and traffic offences,
people in distress, medical emergencies, cruelty against animals and noise
pollution. Officials in the van are rotated every day so that nobody can
accuse them of targeting an individual or business. Kamal has also made
it compulsory for the team to compile data of all complaints received
and the action taken.
To its credit, the Cheetah has been able to
crack several cases of encroachment on government land and has so far
cleared plots whose market value is around Rs 1 crore. During school and
college examinations, the mobile team has acted swiftly on complaints
from students about noise in their areas. Autorickshaw drivers now think
twice before demanding more than what is due to them and there is no bottle
of carbonated drink or mineral water from an outdated stock on the market
shelves. "In Gwalior you will not find a single petrol pump with
a faulty meter," claims Kamal with a touch of pride.
Naturally, petrol pump owners are not very happy.
Like some traders and businessmen who claim their business is being affected.
"The appearance of the Cheetah at your doorstep is enough to ruin
your prospects as people pronounce you guilty before a trial," says
Vishnu Prasad, who runs a general store. "Sometimes there is nothing
wrong and the team is following up a false complaint."
There have also been complaints of high-handedness.
To be fair, officials in their new-found fervour have indeed gone overboard
on a couple of occasions, the most glaring being the arrest of three girls
from a hotel on charges of immoral trafficking. In a mid-afternoon swoop,
the Cheetah team led by a naib tehsildar arrested the trio and paraded
them in public. It later transpired that the girls were college students
and there was nothing amiss about their activities. A public protest led
to the naib tehsildar's suspension.
Kamal admits that such schemes do tend to attract
bitter criticism but is determined to forge ahead. Madhya Pradesh Chief
Secretary K.S. Sharma is even planning to introduce justice vans in other
towns of the state. Cheetah's long-term success, they know, depends on
the common man's support. And that's something the mobile court has in
abundance.
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