SMC’s ‘Private Email’ Complaint System Raises Accountability Questions

SURAT : A citizen’s complaint to the Surat Municipal Commissioner Rajkumar Beniwal has raised a sharp question over whether public-health complaints can be routed through private email inboxes, potentially leaving citizens without a clear trail of what happened to their grievances.

The concerned citizen has urged the SMC Commissioner Beniwal to examine allegations that officials in the Health Department may be using personal email IDs for official food-safety communications.

“A public complaint belongs to the public institution—not to the private email account of an individual employee,” the citizen said in the letter, stressing that every complaint should be recorded, traceable, acted upon and auditable.

The citizen argued that complaints sent to personal Gmail or other private accounts may not automatically enter SMC’s central record-management system. If an email is ignored, deleted or remains in an officer’s inbox, questions could arise over whether senior officials or auditors would even know the complaint existed.

The issue assumes greater significance for the Health Department, which handles complaints involving food hygiene, adulteration, unsafe food and restaurants and eateries.

The letter has sought an immediate audit to determine which officials use private email IDs, how many complaints were received through them, whether they were entered into official systems and whether records were preserved when officials were transferred.

The citizen also urged SMC to provide every Health Department and food-safety official with an official institutional email ID and ensure complaints receive unique reference numbers and action-taken records.

“This is ultimately not about email IDs. It is about accountability,” the citizen said, calling for an end to any parallel, untraceable complaint mechanism.