Early Times Report
JAMMU, Oct 4: As the state dispensation on Thursday approved the inclusion of 88 new services under the Jammu & Kashmir Public Services Guarantee Act (J&K PSGA), a million dollar question would be whether the administration would be able to make this Act workable.
There are already reports saying that the departments in which the PSGA was enacted give damn to its directions, with peoples' pleas gathering dust and officials least concerned over it.
The state government enacted JKPSGA-2011 which came into force on August 10, 2011. The Act was ought to provide delivery to the people of the state within the stipulated time limit and relate to the matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.
On Thursday, the Governor's administration announced that the services brought under the ambit of J&K PSGA are 03 in Tourism Department, 13 in Industries & Commerce Department, 12 in Handicrafts Department, 04 in Geology & Mining Department, 27 in Labour & Employment Department, 02 in Forest, 01 in State Pollution Control Board, 02 in Fire & Emergency Services, 01 in PW(R&B) Department, 04 in Food Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Department, 01 in Finance Department, 04 in Agriculture Production Department, 01 in Revenue Department, 03 in J&K Employees Provident Fund Organization and 10 in Housing & Urban Development Department.
However, reports are coming to fore that various departments are keeping no records of the public delivery system, hence leaving the Act limited to the rule books only and absent on ground.
It was informed that several Designated Offices (DOs) in government departments least bother about maintaining a register in a prescribed form wherein necessary details such as name and address of the applicant, service for which the application is given, last date of the stipulated time limit, application allowed or disallowed and date/ details of the order passed are to be recorded.
The officials, as per the Act, have to mention the necessary time limit for every application they receive under the guidelines of the Act. However, it has been found during the initial investigations by the government that most of the offices do not adhere to the guidelines laid down by the JKPSGA and that the heads of several departments are reluctant to issue acknowledgments to the applicants. Furthermore, the Act at the time of its inception made it mandatory for the government departments to display all the relevant information related to the services provided on the notice board installed at a prominent place in the government office for public knowledge and also in the public domain.
Also, the necessary documents to be attached with the application for obtaining notified services are also to be displayed on the notice board so that people would come to know about the procedure of seeking services under the Act. However, there are also handful of departments who have adhered to the guidelines of the Act while others preferred to keep the routine order in vogue. Ironically, no action is being taken against the departments who haven't displayed the required information related to the Act on their respective notice boards. This is happening despite the fact that under the guidelines of the Act, event of non-display of such information in the public domain appropriate action is to be initiated against the department by the competent authority. However, there has not been even a single action against any department that hasn't adhered to the guidelines of the Act. |
