Drafting of letter by a Govt. Employee to higher authorities

How to write letter of complaint/suggestions to the Higher authorities through addressing others?

In real life, in Government service letters of compliant regarding superior officers or colleagues are not well received. It stays in your service record for a long time and at times such employees have 'an unofficial tag of being a difficult employee'. It can adversely impact if one is a temporary or contract basis employee or due for a promotion. So be sure that this is the way forward for you.

If you have to write a complaint, please ensure that you have explored other means of addressing or settling the issue amicably through dialogue. Many a times, we would not have expressed our issue clearly and or to the appropirate authorities.

If you still have to complain, please sit down and calmly write the following.

i. What is the issue that you want to complain about
ii.Who are the people or the department against whom you are complaining
iii.Have you an evidence or proof or wittness who can collobarte the story
iv.The chorolongical sequence of events and important dates
v.What measures have you taken to sort it out before esclating it further
vi. The proper channel through which you have to approach with respect to the office and the department protocols ( you need to be clear about this so that you do not violate any rules)
vii.Have you approached your immediate supervisor regarding the issue.
viii. What do you expect as the outcome of the compliant.

You have to have precise facts and answers to the above, then you can start drafting the letter. You also need to know the Grievance officer or Grievance cell under whose jurisdiction you and the department you work falls under. Avoid being too emotional or irrational, avoid calling names or getting personal about the people who have offended you. Keep it formal and in the spirit of team work. Don't indulge in sarcasm or include personal/physical details. This will help you in the long run.


From
Your name
Rank/Job title
department
office

To,
The Greviance officer in charge
Name of the Government organisation


Fowarded via the proper channel

Dear Sir,

Subject: Request letter for help related to the greviances that I face/ I want to place before your kind self.

I request your kind advise regarding the issues that I have been facing at work. Having tried to settle this unsuccessfully, I'm forced to approach you for further guidance to enable me to overcome my difficulties.

Then write down in a concise fashion about the summary of your problems.

The above are the facts that are true to the best of my knowledge, request your kindself to help me with a solution that is good for me and the department.

Yours Sincerely,
your name and date.


Please keep a copy of what you have written, get an acknowledgement if your are posting it. Once you do this, you cannot back out, you need to have the patience and the mindset to be able to respond and handle any fallout. There are many instances where junior employees face a few years of difficulty but get justice in the end for the higher authorities.

Whether it is suggestion or complaint(unless it is a confidential whistle blowing alert), an employee has to route it through proper channel.Proper channel starts with the immediate superior or at least the department or section head to whom the employee is reporting. From then it will be sent to the next level like regional/district authority etc. The rule book, code of conduct or the government manual may prescribe all those things. However to say it simply, you have to submit the suggestion/complaint to the immediate controlling superior and follow his proper suggestions.

That being theory, the practical side is different.

Suggestions and worse, complaints are not taken happily. Unless and until the sending person has proved his credibility and efficiency, it may be taken as a rebel attitude. For any complaint, there will be departmental procedures like taking statement, inquiry etc. But first it starts with the recommendation or forwarding comments by the first level official who forwards the same to higher ups.

In case it is not confidential he may call and have a direct talk to assess the first hand feel. Even otherwise also the same step may be done when it is taken up at higher levels.

So be very sure and clear about your suggestion/complaint. Be ready and prepared to establish the same from your side.If you cannot prove the complaint, then it may be treated as frivolous or mischief minded and you may get some memo or warning and a black mark in service sheet.
Suggestions which help the department function efficiently and cost cutting etc may be perused and analysed for its implement ability etc.
You are free to write a true and factual complaint to higher authorities. But before putting it in writing first, take it up with the concerned authority in person. If solution happens then okay. Otherwise you can quote that also in your complaint. That will give credibility and weight to your complaint.

If your organisation has trade unions and you are a member in them, you may approach them about this and take guidance from them.

If you want to make a complaint about an employee to your boss . Is it regarding his performance. Or it is regarding his behaviour towards you. Or any other issue. Before making a complaint you should think twice about the same. Is it going to solve your problem. Before taking any action they may conduct enquiry to find the facts. Do you have sufficient witnesses and proofs to prove the guilty. Once you decide on going ahead in the issue, make a letter in writing and submit it to the concerned and take an acknowledgement. Keep all the documents required to present in the enquiry. Brief the issue to the witnesses and ask them to present the facts when asked.

The letter should be as simple as possible and use simple English. A model letter is being given below for your information.

To
The Head of the Dept.,
Dept of.
Office of.
Place.
.Dear Sir,

Through proper channel

I like to bring the following few facts to you kind notice.
Mr.Xxxxxx of our department....... ....... is (,give full details of the episode).

Under these conditions fulfilling my commitments in discharging my duties is becoming very tough.
I request you to kindly intervene and try to see that normalcy . i will be thankful if you see that the enthusiasm of the hard working people will be prevailed.
Thanking yoiu
Yours faithfully

If you want to complain about your superior then you have to consider all pros and cons before going for it. As an impartial person see the whole episode from a judgemental point of view. What were your lapses and what were the atrocities made by the superior are to be seen in totality. If you are sure that you have not done any mistake and they are harassing you then only you can think of the complaint.

Nowadays RTI comes as an handy tool to get information from your office which may help you as an evidence while making the complaint. So please consider that option and get the information which shows that injustice is done to you while others were favoured.

Only after doing all this homework you should go ahead with complaint otherwise you will be entangled in your own trap which will, of course, will be an unfortunate thing.

You must as a prudent person look for an opportunity to compromise the issue by accepting the mistakes on your part if any and forget the whole thing as a bad episode.

Still, if it is required, go for the complaint giving all the data from your side and also as obtained through RTI. Please remember if you do this job professionally, even by taking help of a lawyer, the management may call you for negotiations. RTI is a thing which is fearful to many officials as it exposes their deeds of partiality and favouritism.

Thanks for the suggestions. But what to do if immediate superior refuse to accept something in writing. Also not ready to talk and understand the concern of the subordinate. Authoritatively doing favouritism and overlooking established rules by this.

Before writing any complaint of your superior, there are a few relevant points to be considered so that it can create an impact and influence your higher - ups.
1) You would not proceed in writing against any superiors unless you can prove the same in due time and so enough exercises have to be made so as to justify your complaints at an appropriate stage. Moreover, you would be required to produce witness who will stand by your side when inquiry committee is set up for findings of the facts.
2) The complaint in writing has not to be initiated in a fit of rage or in the event of being over - emotional in the wake of any harsh comment of your superior.
3) Better you sit down in a calm manner after any heated discussion with your superior and think rationally how far it would be justifiable to make a written complaint.
4) You have to follow the the rout of proper channel and the written application should proceed with the forwarding note of your superiors and this chain has not be violated and so you take any initiative in this regard, you have to convince your higher ups. Sometimes it may appear a Herculean task.
5) During the proceedings of enquiry - committee, if the hearing does not go in your favour, you may be rewarded with a punishment and the same may range from minor punishment to major one depending upon the findings of the committee. This aspect has to be understood carefully before implementing the same.
6) Any adverse judgement of the committee may even cause your termination from the service.
It would be always better to have an open dicussion with your superior for whom you are likely to register a complaint and sort out the issues in an amicable way. In that way, you would gain in the long run in your service - career.