Right to Services Bill proposed in Bihar

PATNA: The proposed `Bihar Rajya Sewa Dene Ki Guarantee Vidheyak’, or Right to Services Bill, stipulates seven days’ time for police to send verification reports on applicants for passport and arms licence as well as on job seekers selected for government jobs.

The draft Bill, prepared by the Bihar government’s general administra-tion department (GAD), is likely to be placed for the state legislature’s ap-proval in its next session. Tipped as a revolutionary move towards ending corruption at various government levels, the initiative aims at ensuring delivery of services to the needy within a fixed timeframe.

To fine-tune the proposals, if so needed, the government has sought suggestions from people till January 5, 2011. The draft has been uploaded on the net at GAD website www.gad.bih.nic.in for the purpose.
The Bill proposes 21 days’ time for disposal of social security pension and sanction of scholarship amount to students.

An autopsy report should be issued in three days while caste, housing and income certificates should be delivered to the applicant within 15 days, the government proposes.

An application for a smart driving licence is proposed to be processed within a week. So should be the certification for international driving, the draft Bill prescribes and fixes a timeframe of one week for temporary reg-istration of vehicles too.

As of now, there is no time limit for the authorities concerned to issue these documents and, as such, they more often than not sit on the applica-tions allegedly till their palms are greased. The draft Bill has sought to cover all the public delivery agencies like municipal corporations, schools, colleges, universities, transport, hospitals, medical colleges, PDS and po-lice, electricity, agriculture and labour departments. It has prescribed a timeframe for drug shop licences too.

“We are open to suggestions and willing to brought under the purview of the Act government services and agencies left out in the draft,” deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi told a meet of the trade and industry recently.

According to the draft Bill, erring officials would be fined and the penalty would be deducted from their salary. “If the second appellate authority is of the opinion that the designated officer has failed to provide the service in question without sufficient and reasonable cause, he may impose a penalty at the rate of Rs 250 per day with a cap on Rs 5,000 on the designated officer,” the draft Bill says.

The draft Bill further says that the state government may, through a ga-zette notification, constitute a Public Service Delivery Commission and assign to it functions for achieving the objectives of the proposed Act.

Read more: Domicile, caste papers in 15 days! – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Domicile-caste-papers-in-15-days/articleshow/7120899.cms#ixzz18UujASh0

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