Touts at work,Punjab puts own ‘facilitators’ on job for RTS Act

Till that happens,suvidha kendras in some districts are also offering services of formal facilitators. “The Act is silent on facilitators. We have received complaints about informal facilitators who are exploiting the system. We have alerted our district officers. The application process has also been redesigned to make the forms easier to fill. Some DCs have taken the initiative of having formal facilitators at the suvidha kendras. The government employees can be paid for working as facilitators,” said Chief Commissioner,Punjab Right to Service Commission,SC Agrawal.

He said,“In a year or two after the entire process — from application to delivery of services — will be online,we forsee growth of internet zones offering facilitation services.” The state has also awarded contracts for gram suvidha kendras — one in cluster of six villages.

Nawanshahr,one of the districts which started having formal facilitators at the suvidha kendras,is now accepting applications for documents only from family members and in case of NRIs,from those authorised. “To rule out possibility of touts,as a rule only applications filled at the suvidha kendras are being accepted after scanning the necessary documents. Since Nawanshahr has a large population of NRIs,we are accepting their applications being filed on their behalf,” Nawanshahr Deputy Commissioner (DC) Tanu Kashyap said.

However,though districts such as Nawanshahr and Kapurthala have deputed formal facilitators,suvidha and sanjh kendras in other districts may not be able to do so owing to staff and funds crunch.

Another “malpractice” detected by the commission is officers sitting on the applications by not putting a date,defeating the very purpose of the RTS. Up to March,the commission imposed fine in five cases against seven officers where “harassment” was found. It took suo motu action in 60 cases,of which 58 applications have been cleared.

The pendency,as on April 31,stood at 52,641 applications. These too,claims the commission,are within the given time limit. “The overall time-bound delivery rate is more than 99 per cent. Of the 99.18 lakh applications received till April,98.66 lakh have been disposed of,” said Agrawal.

The pendency is less than one per cent as an overwhelming 80 per cent of the applications are coming for birth certificates,SC certificates,copy of FIR and revenue records. The pendency is long in case of renewal of arms licences and demarcation of land for approving building plans.

“So far,the focus was on generation of awareness. But there are some areas of concern where the performance is not up to the mark. We have sought the intervention of Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh to speak to department facing delays. May onwards,the commission has also started inspection visits to field offices,mainly those where the pendency is unduly high. This will act as a deterrent,” Agrawal added.