Soon, govt to introduce ‘Right to Service’ Bill

The Delhi government is all set to table an Amendment Bill “Right to Service” to provide delivery of services to the citizens of the National Capital Territory of Delhi within the stipulated time limit, including liabilities of the government servants in case of default and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

This Bill is likely to be known as the “Delhi (Right of Citizens to time bound delivery of the services) Amendment Bill, 2015”. 

On this regard, a meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday afternoon. The meeting was attended by the CEO of the Delhi Jal Board and Principal Secretary (Law) among others.

This Bill will be applicable to government servants appointed substantively to any civil service post in connection with the affairs of the Delhi government and to the servants of local bodies and authorities which are owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Delhi government.

The Bill encapsulates time bound delivery of services. According to the Amendment Act 2015, every government servant shall be duty-bound to deliver citizen-related services at the specified period stipulated.

The Amendment Bill stated that if there is a delay in providing a citizen related service, it shall be the duty of the concerned competent officer to ensure that the compensation as per Section 7 is paid to the complainant within 15 days. 

If on the given date there is a failure to provide service to the citizens then the recipient shall be paid double the fixed amount and it shall be deducted from the salary of the competent official. The Bill further stated that a deputy secretary or its equivalent rank officer will act as the competent officer.

According to the Bill, if any citizen, aggrieved by the unlawful rejection of an application made for a citizen-related service, the citizen could prefer an objection to the competent officer. 

If found guilty in the rejection process, the competent officer shall pass a clear order and remit the application for a fresh consideration to the concerned officer and could impose penalty on the officer as prescribed by the law.