Karnataka administrative reforms panel pushes for easier, faster delivery of services

The Karnataka Administrative Reforms Commission-II on Saturday gave the government its first report, recommending sweeping reforms that include passport-like Tatkal for faster citizen services, home delivery of ration, paperless offices and issuance of income certificates based on self-declaration.

In all, there are 856 recommendations for the Revenue, Food & Civil Supplies and Transport departments that the Commission headed by former chief secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar has made in its 269-page report to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

According to the report, a system of Tatkal services can be introduced for select offerings of the Revenue department. “Some part of the higher fees that are charged for Tatkal services can be given to the office staff as a team, and not individually, as an incentive for working faster and harder,” it said.

The Commission has recommended doing away with population, residence, crop and agriculturist certificates as they have “outlived their usefulness”. It also pitched for the abolition of all four regional commissioners, putting a state-level revenue commissionerate in their place.

The Commission said the registration or discharge of mortgages on immovable properties and issuance of encumbrance certificates should be “simplified and made fully online with no need for parties to come to the sub-registrar’s office”.

Besides providing the option of home-delivery of ration for a fee, the Commission said births and deaths should be linked with the ration card database so that the list can be automatically updated.

To make life easier for citizens, the Commission has recommended that all services of the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) be made paperless. “Citizens should be given the option of going to any RTO office in Bengaluru city to avail services, as in the case of registration of documents in sub-registrar offices,” it also said.

It has further asked the government to introduce QR code-based and card-based payment in RTO offices “to reduce the time taken for payments and to reduce the cash component of payment”.

The Commission was constituted in January 2021. Its objectives include reviewing the recommendations made by its predecessor headed by H Ramaswamy, reorganization of departments, redistribution of staff, adoption of technology and so on.