The National Council for Vocational Education and Training NCVET has been notified by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

REGD. No. D. L.-33004/99 The Gazette of India CG-DL-E-05072024-255159 EXTRAORDINARY PART III—Section 4 PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY No. 479] NEW DELHI, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2024/ASHADHA 11, 1946 3960 GI/2024 NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 19th February, 2023 NCVET Guidelines on Grievance Redressal Mechanism F. No.: 37001/10/2023. - Section 1: Introduction The National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) has been notified by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) vide gazette notification no. SD- 17/113/2017-E&PW dated 05th December, 2018. NCVET acts as an overarching skills regulator which regulates the functioning of bodies engaged in vocational education and training, both long and short-term, and establishes minimum standards for the functioning of such bodies. NCVET strives to integrate fragmented regulatory system involving multiple stakeholders and infuse quality assurance across the entire vocational training value chain, leading to strengthened outcomes. As provided under clause (e) of sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 16 of the NCVET notification, “to create and monitor, a system of redressing grievances" is one of the key functions of NCVET in the skill ecosystem. NCVET regulates the Vocational Education & Training (VET) ecosystem with multiple stakeholders in their functioning as Awarding Bodies, and/or Assessment Agencies, which could be Sector Skill Councils (SSCs), Skill Universities, bodies of Central Ministries/ State Government, and their affiliated training partners, trainers, assessors, trainees, Skill Information Providers, etc. In order to ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency in the functioning of various NCVET recognized bodies and other Vocational Education and Training (VET) stakeholders, a grievance redressal mechanism is to be put in place in Awarding Bodies, Assessment Agencies, Training Providers affiliated to ABs other bodies, and in NCVET to redress the grievances in a time bound manner, to prevent unfair practices and to improve the service delivery in the VET ecosystem. The Council's Power to redress grievances is provided in Para 22 of the NCVET Notification. In discharge of its function of redressing grievances referred to in clause (e) of sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 16, the Council may- (a) require recognized bodies to redress grievances of their respective aggrieved persons, including pa yment of monetary compensation; and (b) provide redress to aggrieved persons by itself against certain types of grievances relating to the conduct of recognized bodies or training bodies. The Council has been mandated to frame guidelines under Para 22 (2) of the NCVET Notification regarding the system of grievance redressal by stating the obligations of recognized bodies to redress grievances. 1.1 Objectives of Guidelines: The key objectives of the Grievance Redressal Mechanism (GRM) are: (a) To create and monitor, a system of redressing grievances to be implemented by Awarding Bodies, Assessment Agencies, Training Providers (TPs) and the Council for providing all stakeholders easy access for resolution/ redressed of their grievances in a timely manner. (b) To enable creation of a tech enabled platform encompassing the Awarding Bodies, Assessment Agencies, Training Providers (TPs) and the Council for registration, acknowledgement, handling, tracking and monitoring of the grievances filed by learners, students, recognized bodies, Training Providers (TPs), their employees and other stakeholders for redressal/ resolution. Also flagging the deviations in implementation to the concerned authorities for necessary action. (c) To put in place a Dashboard for effective monitoring of the grievance redressal system in the skill ecosystem. (d) Identify areas susceptible to grievance generation and/or malpractices effectively checking the same while also improving processes and systems. SECTION 2: GRIEVANCES UNDER THE PURVIEW OF GRM 1.2 Indicative Grievances, under the purview of these Guidelines: Indicative list of matters under the purview of these Guidelines are as under: +-----+-----------------------------------+----+-----------------------------------+ | a) | Quality of training delivery | b) | Competency of trainer/ instructor | +-----+-----------------------------------+----+-----------------------------------+ | c) | Training infrastructure | d) | Training tools and equipment | +-----+-----------------------------------+----+-----------------------------------+ | e) | Computer and Internet infrastructure| f) | Assessment process/ delivery | +-----+-----------------------------------+----+-----------------------------------+ | g) | Assessor related issues | h) | Issue of Certification, delay | +-----+-----------------------------------+----+-----------------------------------+ | i) | Any Corrections in the Certificate | j) | Non-Compliance/ contravention of | | | | | NCVET Guidelines | +-----+-----------------------------------+----+-----------------------------------+ | k) | Any deviations in implementation by the | l) | Non-payment/ under payment of | | | concerned authorities | | assessment fee to Assessment Agencies | +-----+-----------------------------------+----+-----------------------------------+ | m) | Over charging fee for training from learners, | n) | Qualifications/ Curriculum related | | | trainers, assessors etc | | | +-----+-----------------------------------+----+-----------------------------------+ | o) | Content/Resource material - quality, | p) | Recognition/affiliation process - delay | | | adequacy | | | +-----+-----------------------------------+----+-----------------------------------+ | q) | Any Malpractices, please specify | r) | Deficiency of service by any agency | +-----+-----------------------------------+----+-----------------------------------+ s) Assistance for placement t) Administrative or managerial issue u) Staffing or professional development issues v) Gender or women related issues Any other grievance, please specify 2.1 Grievances not under the purview of these Guidelines: The following types of grievances are not under the purview of these guidelines for redressal: (a) Funds and payment Related: Grievances related to the payments and fund disbursements to the training partners and matters pertaining to the operational issues of the concerned funding ministries or the state departments (b) Business Related matters: Any business matter of Awarding Bodies, Assessment Agencies, or Training Providers (TPs), including business disputes, Interpersonal grievances within the stakeholder members (c) Matters relating to any Ministry or any other regulatory authorities in case the grievant is under overlapping jurisdictions of more than one regulator, e.g. skill universities. Such matters maybe raised with the regulators concerned or the ministry concerned as the case may be. (d) Matters pertaining to the qualifications not aligned and approved by NCVET (qualifications not in the NQR). (e) Policy Matters of NCVET. However, suggestions may be given for consideration of NCVET. (f) Matters already enquired into and settled by the Council unless any fresh facts are brought (g) Any on-going Sub-Judice Matter which are under on-going regulatory / legal action, or potential action. (h) Anonymous & Pseudonymous Grievances are not admissible. SECTION 3: PROCESS FOR REGISTRATION HANDLING AND REDRESSAL/ RESOLUTION OF GRIEVANCES 3.1 Redressal of grievances: It is the obligations of the recognized bodies to redress the grievances of their stakeholders. The NCVET recognized bodies shall establish their grievance redressal mechanism/ platforms in their operations for their affiliated partners and stakeholders to address their grievances. NCVET shall also create and establish a tech platform based mechanism for registration handling and redressal/ resolution of grievance(s). Till the tech platform is in place, NCVET shall use CPGRAM/ handle grievances through digital mode. 3.2 The grievant: A grievance can be filed by a learner/ student/ trainee, Awarding Body (AB), Assessment Agency (AA), Training Provider (TP), Trainers, Assessors, their employees and other stakeholders for redressal/ resolution for the same. 3.3 Limitation for filing the Grievances: The limitation for filing a grievance pertaining shall be 90 days from the date of arising the grievance. However, NCVET may consider or ask the recognised bodies, Training Provider etc to considered the grievances beyond limitation on genuine grounds. 3.4 The process for filing, registering a grievance: (a) The aggrieved person shall register himself on the grievance portal (with full name, address, valid email address, valid contact number) and his/her identity shall be verified via OTP on mobile, and a proof of identity (as per the list at Annexure-I) (b) Any aggrieved recognised body, Training Provider or other stakeholder shall also register itself on the grievance portal (with name of the organisation, Name of head of the organization with mobile, address, official email and contact number) and identity shall be verified via OTP on mobile/ official email (c) After successful completion of the registration process the grievant shall be asked to fill up details of the grievance in the online form provided for the purpose (Annexure-II). The application for shall include i. Description of the grievance (including earlier responses, if escalating the grievance). ii. Any supporting documents/ evidence Please upload the latest response you have received from concerned agency on your earlier registration of the grievance. iii. The request/ prayer/ indicative expectation of the grievant from the concerned agency regarding redressal/ resolution of the grievance (d) If the grievance already been made to the concerned organisation, the details thereof with relevant documents. (e) Allotment of a Unique Grievance Registration Number: A unique, system generated registration number would be generated to each grievance as under: i. NCVET/Month-Year/ /Recognized Body(code)/ Category of Grievance (code) ii. Number of Grievance in the category- based upon the ledger folio system The Unique Grievance Registration number of the file thus generated could be: NCVET/2021/AB/03/001. Here, NCVET stands for National Council for Vocational Education and Training, 2021 - is the year of representation, AB – is the code of the Awarding Body, 03-Cateogy of the Type of Grievance Code, 01 - is the grievance number received during that year (f) All grievances shall be acknowledged indicating theirin the Unique Grievance Registration Number by email/ mobile for tracking of the same by the grievant. (g) Only the grievances directly pertaining to the NCVET against its recognized bodies or their Training Providers (TPs) will be raised directly before NCVET. (h) All others grievances will be raised before the respective bodies, i.e. Awarding Bodies, Assessment Agencies, Training Providers (TPs). (i) In the first instance the Staff of the respective entities shall lodge their grievance before their corresponding employer entities i.e TP/ AA/ AB (as applicable). (j) In case the grievance is not redressed by taht entity, the same may be escalated to the next level (as per applicability). 3.5 The process for Handling the grievance: (a) The grievances will be evaluated as per check-list and assigned or escalated on the basis of functional/ domain area and the bodies concerned with the grievance. (b) As part of the grievance redressal/ resolution process, NCVET or the concerned bodies will send/ take-up the matter with: i. The organisation(s) concerned with the grievance to seek a response including copies of relevant documents, if necessary. ii. Review all relevant information and consider it in relation to the grievance. iii. Give all parties the opportunity to be heard/ present information, where necessary. (c) The grievant would also be informed the stage wise status of the grievance on the digital platform. (d) The grievances would be taken up on First Come First Served (FCFS) basis as per the prescribed timeline. In case resolution is not possible within the prescribed time-frame due to the circumstances beyond the control of the NCVET, an interim reply shall be given to the grievant. (e) The grievances can be escalated in case of delay in the redressal by the concerned agency or unsatisfactory remedial action. (f) Feedback of the Grievant (s) on concerned organisation shall also be taken (g) A similar process would be followed for redressal/ resolution of any grievance (s) in the matter related to NCVET. NCVET Awarding Body (AB) Assessment Agency (AA) Training Provider Employees Learner/ Student/ Trainees 3.6 Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) (a) shall be constituted in NCVET and all Awarding Body, Assessment Agency and Training Provider for looking into serious grievances and resolving/redressing the same in consultation with the other departments/verticals/persons in the organisation. (b) The GRC in NCVET shall comprise the following members: i. Director NCVET concerned ii. Functional heads of the department / Concerned consultant iii. External experts (need basis) to be nominated by Director (c) The concerned Departments / persons would closely work and coordinate with GRC for any technical support, information and actions required to resolve/redress the grievances and reporting of the grievances. (d) GRC would also monitor and report the status of grievances to the higher authorities/NCVET. (e) The terms of reference of GRC include Scrutiny of the grievances, Approval of the remedial actions for the grievances raised and Monitoring of the grievances (f) Similar to NCVET, other bodies will be mandated to form GRCs at their respective organizations. The composition of the GRC at other bodies shall include the Head of the agency as Chairperson and key functional heads as other members. 3.7 For the grievances escalated upto the level of NCVET for resolution/ redressal, the decision taken by NCVET, after giving an opportunity of being heard to all parties/ in the public interest and by following due process given in the guidelines/NCVET notification shall be final and shall be implemented by all recognised bodies, or affiliated bodies within the stipulated time 3.8 Process Flow and resolution timelines are as follows: +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ | Sr No. | Step | Prescribed Time | Maximum Time | | | | (Working Days) | (Working Days) | +========+=============================================================+====================+===================+ | | Registration of the Grievant | Same day | | +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ | 1 | Online filing/ submission of the Grievance | Same day | | +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ | 2 | Providing Acknowledgement and Registration Number | Same day | | +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ | 3 | Forwarding of the grievance to the Concerned | Same day | | | | AB/AA/TP/NCVET Officer | | | +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ | 4 | Preliminary Examination by the Concerned AB/AA/TP/NCVET | 3 | 5 | | | Officer | | | +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ | 5 | Detailed Examination/ inquiry by the Concerned | 5 | 10 | | | AB/AA/TP/NCVET Officer | | | +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ | | Getting information from other agencies/ bodies | 5 | 5 | +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ | | Escalation of and final redressal/ resolution | | | +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ | 6 | Execution of the final resolution/ remedial action | 3 | 5 | +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ | 7 | Inquiry into serious Grievances, presentation to GRC & | 7 | 10 | | | decision of GRC | | | +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ | 9 | Execution of remedial action | 3 | 5 | +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ | | Total | 26 | 40 | +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+-------------------+ 3.9 Provision of Appeal: (a) The grievant can appeal to the NCVET, Awarding Body, Assessment Agency (AA), Training Provider as the case may be, if the grievance has been rejected/ found invalid or has not been satisfactorily redressed/ resolved subject to the following: i. Online application for internal review with evidences i.e. the decision was based on insufficient facts/documents that could change the decision. ii. Grievant has some new & relevant information that was not previously available (b) The matter will be then considered by the concerned department as per the procedure prescribed in the process flow (from stage 5). Grievant can raise an appeal to NCVET against the decision. Appeal against decision of the GRC, NCVET shall be reviewed by the Executive Member, NCVET. (c) Process and Timelines for Appeal: Grievant may appeal against the decision on redressal/ resolution on the tech portal if it has not been satisfactorily redressed/ resolved and the same would be decided in 20 working days. NCVET Awarding Body (AB) Assessment Agency (AA) Training Provider Employees Learner/ Student/ Trainees 3.1 Lodging of genuine grievances: While NCEVT encourages lodging of genuine grievances, any person/agency, which makes false grievance/s or provides false information against any person/agency, solely with any ill intention, may be penalized as NCVET clause No 23 of NCVET ACT. 3.2 Anonymous/ Pseudonymous grievances: no action shall be taken agaist any anonymous or pseudonymous grievances in terms of DoPT's OM No.104/76/2011-AVD.Idated 18/10/2013 & 18/06/2014 Central Vigilance, Commission's Circular No.07/ 11/2014 dated 25/11/2014 and CVC's No 98/DSP/09/461535 dated 24th September, 2020. SECTION 4: MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF GRM (a) All grievances received will be registered into a Central database to track & monitor (after the launch of tech portal). The information provided by the database is expected to help the regulator to improve the mechanism and address the outcome and impact. The database will capture and flash the vital related key statistics. (b) All NCVET recognised bodies shall share the grievance related databases of such recognised bodies as their affiliates with NCVET or the body authorised by NCVET through Application Programing Interfaces (APIs) or any other mechanism specified by NCVET. (c) The recognised bodies shall take steps to ensure data privacy of the grievant and other stakeholders. (d) Functioning of GRM, Till the tech portal is functional, i. A module of an existing portal like CPGRAMS would be made available on the NCVET website to lodge the grievances. ii. A link to upload self-attested scanned copy of the application along with the required evidence/records would be provided. iii. The acknowledgement of applications submitted by this medium would be provided in 3 working days. Annexure- I List of Documents Acceptable as Proof of Identity 1. Aadhaar Card. 2. Indian passport 3. Voter ID Card 4. Overseas Citizenship of India document 5. Person of Indian Origin Card 6. PAN Card 7. Driving license in India 8. Ration card with Photo 9. Service/ Employees Identity Card issued by State/Central Government/ Defence Forces, Public Sector Undertakings, local bodies, public Limited Companies or Reputed MNCs 10. Certificate of practice issued by professional bodies like ICAI/ICSI/ICWAI/ICFA with photo of the member on the certificate 11. Bank pass book from scheduled commercial Banks with attested customer photograph and signature COL SANTOSH KUMAR, Secy., NCVET [ADVT.-III/4/Exty./248/2024-25] Annexure- II A FORMAT FOR GRIEVANCE REGISTRATION 1) Registering the grievance - please specify a) An individual i) Existing trainee of Training Providers (TPs) / ii) A candidate who is applying for training with a Training Provider iii) Trainer/ instructor iv) Assessor v) Administrative Staff of any recognized body vi) Administrative Staff of any agency operating under fold of recognized body vii) Other stakeholders (Industry, academic partners etc.) b) On behalf of an agency operating under the fold of NCVET, please specify representative of - i) Awarding Body ii) Assessment Agency (AA) iii) Training Provider (TP) iv) Central or state government body v) Private body/ institution 2) Registering the grievance against: a) Director General Training (DGT) b) Awarding Body c) Assessment Agency (AA) d) Training Providers (TPs) e) The matter relating to the NCVET f) Any other stakeholder, please specify 3) Registering this grievance - a) For the First time b) Already registered grievance (pl provide registration no and outcome), escalating for the first time. c) Already escalated grievance once (pl provide registration no and outcome), escalating to higher authority. 4) Grievance is related to – a) Quality of training delivery b) Competency of trainer/ instructor c) Training infrastructure d) Training tools and equipment e) Computer and Internet infrastructure f) Assessment process/ delivery g) Assessor related h) Issue of Certification, delay i) Any Corrections in the Certificate j) Non-Compliance/ contravention of NCVET Guidelines k) Any deviations in implementation by the concerned authorities l) Non-payment/ under payment of assessment fee to m) Over charging of training fee from learners, trainers, assessors etc n) Qualifications/Curriculum related o) Content/Resource material – quality, adequacy p) Recognition/ affiliation process – delay q) Malpractices by any authority r) Deficiency of service by any agency s) Assistance for placement t) Administrative or managerial issue u) Staffing or professional development issues v) Gender or women related issues w) Any other grievance, please specify 5) Description of the grievance (including earlier responses, if escalating the grievance). 6) Any supporting documents/ evidence Please upload the latest response you have received from concerned agency on your earlier registration of the grievance. 7) The request/ prayer/ indicative expectation of the grievant from the concerned agency regarding redressal/ resolution of the grievance. 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