Thursday, April 05, 2007

Bureaucracy...Can it make you feel good?

Long time no post...but as always, no excuses. Today my post is in response to what I have experienced with IIT Kharagpurs beurocratic machine.

Now, I am not a huge fan of Bureaucracy. My exposures to it have not entirely made me a fan; whether it is for a driving licence, or for filing a police complaint, the complete lack of interest of the average government employee is not something I enjoy.

Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to interact closely with the administration part of IIT Kharagpur, and see for myself how it works. The reason--I need to get some money refunded from an organization that is legendary in its desire to keep its loot!

Now, the problem was, I had no bill that showed that I had paid, and all that I actually had was a letter signed by a prof, requesting for the refund. Nothing else. The  following is an example of the travails I went through....and yes....why IIT Kharagpurs Bureaucracy makes me feel good. (Though I am yet to get the money!)

It all began more than a month ago, when I went with the letter to this chap in the office. Now he warned me...without a bill, this would be extremely tough to do...but seeing my stricken look, he told me to go meet another chap, who he was kind enough to introduce...an Asst. Registrar of Accounts...who in turn directed me to yet another Assistant registrar. This chap was amazingly friendly. He told me that as long as I could produce some kind of proof, I could manage the refund...so it was back to my original office contact for any sort of proof, which turned out to be an order from the IIT kgp administrative office authorizing the use of a hall(for Which I had paid).

All this took a couple of weeks, mainly because I only did this when I was free, and I have not found too much free time in the meantime. Then there was a break of another week or two, when I disappeared to Bangalore (for Admissions, which is another story in itself).

So when I returned, I found a whole new Assistant registrar...who told me...no...just any proof is not quite enough...he needs a waiver form. But I guess he saw my look, for he continued by introducing me to the chap who could get me the waiver...and said chap said...I need the bill!

Now, I was ready to go murder someone...but it was my fault (I had lost the dashed bill!). And this man was amaing. Once I told him that I had no bill, he just asked a simple question. "Have you paid?"

I answered"Yes, I think I even remember the date."

"Then its easy. I know this chap in accounts who can help you get a duplicate bill." And he did too, and introduced me to another man, who was most happy to help out. And considering that the date I gave him was wrong...it was a miracle that he could actually find it...all he had to work with was the amount. Rs. 4000.

Now the next problem...he could not print the bill...because it was now the new financial year, and the system could only print bills of this financial year. But this man was quite amazing...an instant later, he runs off to meet another friend of his, who just happens to work with MIS there, who then proceeds to try to print the bill.

This is where things became surreal. The bill number entered (manually) was wrong! So now, I was faced with no proof whatsoever that I had paid. But my man in accounts was quite a man. The next day, when I came to meet him, he said that he spent an hour or two (so what if he lied...it was the thought that counted!) finding out where that payment disappeared...and finally found the right bill number in the computer system. So now, with the right number, we can take a printout. Of course, the only problem is his friend is on leave, so I can only collect it after 3 days.

So this is the situation as of now. While this seems like a rather frustrating exercise, I can tell you that it was quite amazing. Each of the people I met, from the chief Assistant Registrar (which is quite a high position), right down to the lowest level clerk was friendly, and genuinely wanted to help. The bureaucracy is there, with all its rules and regulations, but it is people who make or break a system. And the people in the administrative section are quite a great bunch. I might not have got the money back yet, but I am sure I will, because these chaps are trying their best to ensure that I do get it...they don't just follow the procedures slavishly.



P.S: All right...it was not really my money, so I don't really mind whether I get it today, or next month. So I guess that is one reason why I really enjoyed my encounter with IIT's bureaucracy. I had time to socialize and meet people over time. It might have been a different story if I had only a day or two to do the same thing. But I still think the people manning the system are great people, who really want to do their job well...and that I like!





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