Uttar Pradesh government reiterates directives, asks officers to take public representatives’ letters ‘seriously’

The order has been sent to all the additional chief secretaries/principal secretaries/secretaries, DGP, divisional commissioners, district magistrates and district police chiefs.

With senior officers now appearing to be ignoring even letters from public representatives – MPs, MLAs and MLCs -- as has been allegedly the case with their phone calls in Uttar Pradesh, the state government has reiterated its directives for compliance on priority to tackle this “uncomfortable situation”.

The Uttar Pradesh government has issued at least eight Government Orders in the past four years, asking senior officers to receive and respond to phone calls of MPs and legislators. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

“It has come to the state government’s notice that the officers of different departments/districts do not take the letters of public representatives seriously and do not inform them about the action taken (on the letters). When the members raise these issues in the house or in the meetings of various committees, the state government finds itself in an uncomfortable situation which is regrettable,” said JP Singh, principal secretary, parliamentary affairs department, in an order dated April 7, 2025.

The order has been sent to all the additional chief secretaries/principal secretaries/secretaries, DGP, divisional commissioners, district magistrates and district police chiefs.

Singh has reminded the officers about the state government’s orders issued on April 3, 2018 and January 21, 2021 that asked all the government offices to maintain a “Janpratinidhi Patrachar Register” (a register to note correspondence with public representatives) and inform the public representatives about the receipt of their letter and the disposal of the same to ensure that the MPs/legislators don’t write on the same issue again. He has asked the officers to ensure that the state government’s directives in this regard are strictly implemented.

“Yes, these issues are being raised by the public representatives from time to time. The state parliamentary affairs department has been writing to them consistently. We will now take such acts of ignoring the letters or calls seriously,” said Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly speaker Satish Mahana.

“All the government offices need to maintain a record of the letters from public representatives. As chairman of the state legislative council’s privileges committee, I always checked whether the district’s offices are maintaining such a record. The departments may decide what action is to be taken on the letters of public representatives. But they need to maintain a record and inform the public representatives accordingly,” said Vijay Pathak, MLC and UP BJP vice-president.

Samajwadi Party MLC and spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said this was a reflection on the state government’s style of functioning.

“Action on the letters of public representatives is the responsibility of the state government. But the officers probably don’t take the state government’s directives seriously,” Chaudhary said.

The state government has issued at least eight Government Orders (GOs) in the past four years, asking senior officers to feed the contact numbers of public representatives to receive and respond to phone calls of MPs and legislators and always call back, if busy in a meeting. It has also often reminded the officers to show courtesy to the public representatives. Yet, the complaints of the public representatives against the officers refuse to die down.