Public services law to be implemented from April 1

Times of India: Gandhinagar: Thursday, 11 February 2016.

Three years after it was passed by the state assembly, the state government has finally decided to implement from April 1, 2016, the Gujarat Rights of Citizens to Public Services Act-2013.

At a meeting of top secretaries on Wednesday, chief secretary Ganga Ram Aloria reprimanded the Administrative Reforms and Training Division (ARTD) of General Administration Department for its failure to implement the Right to Public Services Act. The ARTD of General Administrative Department (GAD) is the nodal agency for implementation of the new law. Aloria asked the secretaries of all departments to expedite the formulation of rules and creation of necessary mechanism for its implementation.

When contacted, Aloria said he had asked all departments to speed up the process of implementing the Right of Citizens to Public Services Act and complete the preparatory work. "We plan to implement the law across the state from April 1," the chief secretary said.

Under the new law, the authorities of the civic bodies, revenue, health, education and the police, have to ensure delivery of public services within a stipulated time limit. All government offices will have to give a receipt for applications received and mention the deadline for clearing the applications.

If the authority concerned does not respond to an applicant, he or she may have to pay a fine, on the lines of the RTI Act. The state government can impose a fine ranging from Rs1,000 to Rs25,000 on officials who intentionally do not provide timely service. The state-level appellate authority may also order compensation to the aggrieved applicant.

There will be a grievance redressal officer in every government office. A state-level appellate authority will soon be created under the new law to deal with complaints against failure in delivery of time-bound public service .

Government officials guilty of negligence may have to pay fines for missing deadlines. The applicant will get compensation for delay in services.

Every public authority will have to designate as many officers as necessary as Grievance Redressal Officers in offices of all administrative units at the state, district and taluka-levels, municipal corporations, municipalities, notified areas, panchayats and other such offices providing various services . The Grievance Redressal Officers will receive, enquire into and make answer complaints.

Timely-bound delivery

1.    The law stipulates that the state government should notify services and the time limit within which they are to provided to every resident of the state.

2.    Appointment of designated officers, grievance redressal officers, designated authorities as well as constitution of the state appellate authority, have to be made.

3.    Among other things, the new Act lays down that if a service is not provided within the prescribed time limit, the aggrieved person can file a complaint before the Grievance Redressal Officer and go right up to the appellate authority.

4.    The Act empowers the designated authority and state appellate authority to impose a fine on the officer responsible for providing the service on time and also on the grievance redressal officer acting in a 'mala fide' manner.