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Are some Ministries giving a short shrift to work relating to Parliament? The government has woken up to a complaint from an Opposition-headed panel of Parliament that many ministries and departments do not care to respond to petitions sent to them nor furnish "action taken reports".

The blame has, of course, fallen on the bureaucrats and not the Ministers.

In a letter to secretaries of all ministries and department, Cabinet Secretary BK Chaturvedi enclosed a communication received from senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu, who is chairman of the Committee on Petitions, Rajya Sabha about the conduct of the Ministries of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Urban Development, Health, Women and Child Welfare.

In his letter to the Cabinet Secretary, the Rajya Sabha panel chairman asked him to sample this: 

• Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas took more than a year to furnish ATR on the 123rd report.
• Ministries of Health and Family Welfare and Women and Child Development took 8 months to furnish ATRs after their secretaries were summoned to explain reasons.
• Ministry of Urban Development did not respond to a letter for more than a year.
• None of these Ministries either acknowledged or responded to reminders.
• A joint secretary said it was not the Ministry's job to respond.
• Secretaries of the Ministries apologised but the panel thought they do not care about Parliament.

Chaturvedi reminded the secretaries that "Ministries and departments are expected to ensure that utmost priority is given to all parliamentary matters and that the communications sent by the Secretariats of Parliament and its Committees are dealt with promptly and information desired therein or action to be taken on the reports is completed in the prescribed time frame."

The Cabinet Secretary endorsed the Rajya Sabha panel chairman's observation, saying that "he has already expressed his unhappiness with the handling of these matters in certain departments." He asked the secretaries to ensure effective monitoring and take prompt action so that action taken reports (ATR) are furnished to the Committee on Petitions before the deadline.

The Rajya Sabha panel said it is the "innate right" of a citizen to petition Parliament on a matter of public interest that falls within the domain of the Central government. Chapter X of the Upper House's Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business provides for the panel to examine such petitions and submit reports to the House, and sent to Ministries for action.