Law ministry to clear about 300 public grievances, 6 parliamentary assurances this month in cleanliness drive

New Delhi: The ministry of law and justice will dispose of 281 public grievances and has scheduled 272 physical and 138 e-files for closure by the end of October as part of its annual cleanliness drive.

Under the Swachhata Abhiyaan, it will also dispose of six parliamentary assurances, one reference from a state government and an inter-ministerial reference, the ministry said in a statement on Monday. The amount generated from these disposals will be deposited in the government treasury.

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The department of justice within the law ministry handles public grievances filed by citizens directly or routed through the President's office or the Prime Minister's office. It is among the 20 largest receivers of public grievances in the Indian government, the department has said.

These public grievances can pertain to the appointment of high court or Supreme Court judges, legal aid, or judicial reforms. In August, 1,172 complaints were received on CPGRAMS, the department's online portal to file grievances. Of them, 1,000 had been disposed of, leaving 172 remaining, the department said.

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances guided the ministry in this endeavour, according to the statement. The first stage was in September, when the ministry identified dossiers and grievances to be addressed speedily. These items will be cleared in the second stage, by the end of October.

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The ministry will also address six parliamentary assurances. There are 1,375 parliamentary assurances related to the law and justice ministry - 823 in the Lok Sabha and 552 in the Rajya Sabha, according to the ministry of parliamentary affairs.

The pending assurances are related to the law and justice ministry and include topics such as simultaneous elections, institution of national law universities, discrepancies in electronic voting machines, court vacations, and the inadequate number of high court judges.

The earliest pending assurance is from 2011 and is about amendments to the Advocates Act, which governs the actions of advocates in the country, according to reforms suggested by the 184th Law Commission. The government notified amendments to the Advocates Act last week, penalising the act of tout, which means gathering litigants for a legal practitioner in exchange for money.

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