New Delhi, Nov 2: Buoyed by peoples' response, Delhi Government on Tuesday brought 12 more public services under the purview of a new law that makes babus liable to pay penalty to citizens for delay in delivering desired services within the prescribed time limit.
With addition of the services to be provided by Delhi Police, NDMC, Excise department and Delhi Pharmacy Council, the total number of services brought under Delhi Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services Act have gone up to 44.
Officials said a staggering 1.42 lakh applicants sought various services from Delhi Government in the first one month of coming into force of the new law on September one. Out of the 12 services brought under the ambit of the law today, six are related to civic agency NDMC.
As per a government notification, the civic agency will now have to grant new electricity and water connection within 35 days, give approval to building plan within 60 days, take decision on booking community halls within one day and settle application for booking of parks for social functions within 15 days.
“The citizens will be able to file application online to get these services which are being provided under eSLA (electronic Service Level Agreement),” said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
Under eSLA, all departments, which were brought under the ambit of the legislation, have put in place a service delivery mechanism for the citizens for processing of their applications.
The Delhi Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services Act which had come into effect in the city on September 15 and initially 32 services provided by 14 departments were brought under the ambit of the law. The legislation fixes financial penalty of Rs 10 per day for delay in delivery of services and the maximum penalty could be Rs 200.
According to the notification, Delhi Police will have to complete title verification and authentication of declaration regarding registration of newspapers, magazines and journals within 45 days.
Similarly, the Excise department will have to provide luxury tax registration certificate to applicants within 25 days. The registration certificate to cable operators will also have to be issued within 25 days.
The Delhi Pharmacy Council will have to issue registration and renewal of registration certificates to chemist shops within seven days of filing of the application. Dikshit said performance of the departments providing services as per provision of the law have been “extremely encouraging” as 99 per cent of the applicants were satisfied with the services provided to them.
“The figures between September 15 and October 17 has been extremely encouraging,” said Dikshit.
Officials said the applicants made maximum use of eSLA to get their desired services from Revenue and Transport departments.
There were 24,175 applications seeking services from Revenue department while 53,954 applications were received for services related to Transport Department. Almost all the government departments including Revenue, Food and Civil Supplies, Transport and Trade and Taxes as well as civic agencies MCD and NDMC have been brought under the legislation.
