The government on Monday tabled a bill to provide for guarantee of services to its citizens within a stipulated time limit.
The proposed bill, tabled in the Assembly by Urban Development Minister S Suresh Kumar, provides for a two-tier appeal for aggrieved persons to a competent officer and the appellate authority. A provision has also been made for payment of compensatory cost to the citizens whose applications are delayed and to recover the same from the defaulting public servant and also for disciplinary action against such public servants.
According to the Karnataka Guarantee of Services to Citizens Bill, 2011, citizens shall be entitled to seek compensatory cost in case of delay or default in delivery of services beyond the stipulated time.
Every designated officer or his subordinate public servant who fails to deliver citizen-related services within a stipulated time shall be liable to pay compensatory cost at the rate of Rs 20 per day for the period of delay, subject to a maximum of Rs 500 per application, in aggregate, if there is no ban or restriction from government to provide the same.
Within 15 days of payment of compensatory cost, the competent officer after conducting a preliminary enquiry, shall issue a notice against the public servant found responsible for the delay, seeking an explanation on why the cost paid to the citizen may not be recovered from him.
The public servant against whom such notice is issued may represent within seven days from the date of receipt of such notice. If no such representation is received by the competent officer in the prescribed period the amount would be debited from the salary of the public servant.
There would be an approximate expenditure of Rs 5 crore and recurring expenditure of Rs 2 crore per annum by the proposed legislative measure.
