The people of Kerala will no longer have to apologise or seek the government’s mercy for lapses like delays in applications for benefits and services.
The government has decided to do away with the system of seeking “letters of apology” or “mercy petitions” from the people for failing to apply for some services in time.
A government circular signed by Additional Chief Secretary A. Jayathilak on May 17 admits that the word “apology” implied regretful acknowledgement of a serious offence rather than a mere lapse of time. Therefore, the circular has asked different government departments to consider delays and lapses of deadlines in people’s applications for various services without seeking their apologies.
Until now, the government has been following a system where the people had to submit a letter of apology or mercy for their delays in submitting applications for certain services from the government departments.
“As per our Constitution, only the Indian President and the judiciary have the right to pardon someone. The government and its officials have no right to pardon or seek an apology from the people,” said Boban Mattumantha, a rights activist whose long fight made the government scrap the system of apology.
The government had earlier rejected Mr. Boban’s complaints against the system of seeking people’s apology for lapses in time. The government had claimed that the “letter of apology” was meant to remind the people of the importance of applying for the services in time.
Undaunted, Mr. Boban approached the Official Languages Committee of the Assembly against the rejection of his plea by the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department.
Simultaneously, he approached the State Human Rights Commission too claiming that begging before or seeking forgiveness of a government official for lapses like delays in applications would be against the dignity of a citizen. “I insisted that matters concerning the semantic aspect of the language in current use should be examined by language experts, and not mere IAS officers,” Mr. Boban told The Hindu.
The bureaucrats in Secretariat were convinced of the importance serving the people without seeking their apology for lapses like delays in applications after the intervention of the Human Rights Commission and the Official Languages Committee. “The government decision to do away with the system of seeking apology from people has reasserted the equality of the citizens,” said Mr. Boban.
