Law on time-bound service delivery takes effect from Thursday

The reforms in delivery of services like issuance of driving licence, ration card and registration of births and deaths in a time-bound manner has been initiated by the city government as per provision of Delhi Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services Act, passed by Assembly in March.

The new law along with RTI Act will become an extremely powerful tool to ensure efficient and effective public service delivery in the capital city, Dikshit said addressing a workshop on RTI and Citizens' Charter.

As per provision of the new law, government officials will have to pay financial penalty to applicants if they fail to deliver services within a time-frame, she said.

Noting that her government is committed to ensure more and more transparency in governance, she said the initiative will put an end to the modus operandi of the touts in government offices.

She said all major departments were in the process of making Citizens' Charter which will also be put on the website of the city government.

On the new law, she said currently 32 services concerning general public have been brought under its coverage. Another 40 services will be included in a month or so.

The Act fixes financial penalty in the range of Rs 10 to Rs 200 per day for failing to deliver services while making it a right of every citizen to obtain time-bound delivery of services from certain government agencies.

The Act requires the selected departments to commit to service-level agreements (SLAs) declaring time-frame required to deliver services to the citizens.

According to the new law, a maximum penalty of Rs 5,000 can be imposed on officials for failing to deliver services. For deciding financial penalty, it also provides for setting up "competent authority".

"This will bring a positive change in work culture and eliminate corruption. It is also essential to change the mindset in order to overcome corruption," Dikshit said, adding people will be able to track the status of their applications electronically.

The law says it should not take authorities concerned more than 45 days to issue ration cards, while MCD and NDMC should not take more than seven working days for issuance of registration of birth and death certificates.

The Transport Department should not take more than one day to renew permanent driving license while learner's driving license should be issued on the same day of filing of the application.