Section 29. Power to amend Schedules

29. Power to amend Schedules.— (1) If the Central Government is satisfied that it is necessary or expedient so to do, it may, by notification, amend Schedule I or Schedule II and thereupon Schedule I or Schedule II, as the case may be, shall be deemed to have been amended accordingly. (2) A copy of every notification made under sub-section (1) shall be laid before each House of Parliament as soon as may be after it is made. 29. Establish an effective grievance redressal mechanism consisting of: (a) Institutional mechanisms for receiving grievances as and when they arise, while fixing one day each week during which all officials shall be necessarily present for receiving grievances at Ward/GP/Block and District level; (b) Issuance of dated receipt to complaints accepted in writing, phone, internet and orally by all personnel authorized to receive complaints; (c) Enquiry through spot verification, inspection and disposal to be completed within 7 working days; (d) On completion of the enquiry, immediate steps shall be taken by the concerned authority to redress the grievance within 15 days; (e) Failure to dispose of a complaint within seven days shall be considered as a contravention as per Section 25 of the Act; (f) In case of a prime facie evidence regarding financial irregularities are noticed after preliminary enquiry of the complaint or of findings in the social audit report, the District Programme Coordinator after obtaining legal advice will ensure that a First Information Report is lodged; (g) The concerned authority shall be responsible for informing the person or party aggrieved of the conclusion of enquiry and steps being taken for the redressal of his/her grievance, in writing; (h) The action taken on the complaints received by all agencies shall be placed before the meetings of the intermediate Panchayat and the District Panchayat respectively. 29. (1) In case the payment of wages is not made within fifteen days from the date of closure of the muster roll, the wage seekers shall be entitled to receive payment of compensation for the delay, at the rate of 0.05% of the unpaid wages per day of delay beyond the sixteenth day of closure of muster roll. (a) Any delay in payment of compensation beyond a period of fifteen days from the date it becomes payable, shall be considered in the same manner as the delay in payment of wages. 1. Subs. by Notification S.O. No. 2309(E), dated 13-7-2020. (b) For the purpose of ensuring accountability in payment of wages and to calculate culpability of various functionaries or agencies, the States shall divide the processes leading to determination and payment of wages into various stages such as— i. measurement of work; ii. computerising the muster rolls; iii. computerising the measurements; iv. generation of wage lists; and v. uploading Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs), and specify stage-wise maximum time limits along with the functionary or agency which is responsible for discharging the specific function. (c) The computer system shall have a provision to automatically calculate the compensation payable based on the date of closure of the muster roll and the date of deposit of wages in the accounts of the wage seekers. (i) Appeals against the orders of the Gram Panchayat shall be made to the Programme Officer; those against the orders of the Programme Officer shall be made to District Programme Coordinator; those against the District Programme Coordinator shall be made to State Commissioner (NREGS), Divisional Commissioner (NREGS) and State Grievance Redressal Officer. (j) All Appeals shall be made within forty-five days from the date of the issuance of the order. (k) All Appeals shall be disposed off within one month. (l) There shall be a system of escalation of the grievances registered at ward/GP/Block/District level if not resolved within 15 days to the next higher level; and monitoring the same electronically. (d) The State Government shall pay the compensation upfront after due verification within the time limits as specified above and recover the compensation amount from the functionaries or agencies who is responsible for the delay in payment. (e) It shall be the duty of the District Programme Coordinator or Programme Officer to ensure that the system is operationalised. (f) The number of days of delay, the compensation payable and actually paid shall be reflected in the Monitoring and Information System and the Labour Budget. (2) Effective implementation of sub-paragraph (1) shall be considered necessary for the purposes of the Section 27 of the Act.