Not much has changed in the UT departments despite Right to Service Act

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A day after The Indian Express reported the story of 84-year-old Sukhdev Singh, who had filed a request to convert his shop-cum-flat (SCF) into a shop-cum-office (SCO) in 2009, the estate office assured the request will be processed in a day and moved the file on Monday, after a wait of 14 years. The Right to Service Commission, taking suo moto cognisance of the issue, also sought an explanation from the department for the delay. The case at hand is one of defiance of the RSC, also resulting from the lack of awareness of the fact that the RSC in Chandigarh allows only a set number of days to a government department to process a citizen’s application. It is notable that action would be taken against the official and penalty would be imposed, in case of inexplicable delays.
However, even as the commission is going to complete five years this month, nothing much has changed in the functioning of the government departments in UT.
The law clearly states that if a person fails to get a service from the designated officer in a time bound manner or is denied a service without any justifiable reason, accountability of the employee is fixed.
There are a list of 486 services from 28 departments in which officials are required to perform in a time-bound manner, but the present case clearly showed how the law is being defied by the officials.
RK Garg, president of Second Innings Association, a senior citizen body said, “There is corruption at the core of these issues. If the administration adhered to the set time limit, then such cases of delay could be avoided and people could get their work done as per rules framed. Everywhere, we find cases where matters are hanging for years. Rarely does the RCS issue notice and work is done. I don’t think the commission has taken action against the employee.”
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