Goa Public Services Act to come into force in toto from April

A Goa act guaranteeing delivery of government services to citizens in a time-bound manner would come into force in entirety from April 1 this year.

The government had fixed between three to 30 days within which various state authorities have to provide citizens with the services they request.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today announced that the legislation, commonly known as the Public Service Guarantee Act, would be fully implemented in the government services fromApril 1 onwards.

The Goa (Right of Citizens to Time-Bound Delivery ofPublicServices)Act, 2013, was passed by the Assembly on May 2, 2013, and assented to by the governor on June 19, 2013.
 

While issuing a notification in the same year, the government had clarified that the Act would come into force only after the rules and other institutional mechanisms are in place.

"Directions are given to all heads of departments to provide necessary workforce for the implementation of the Act. The Act will be notified in toto across all the departments fromApril 1 onwards as currently it is partially operational," he said.

The government had brought around 497publicservices from 40 different departments under the ambitof theAct.

PublicGrievances department had mentioned various publicservices which are mostly related to the common people like issuance of various certificates, granting permissions, disbursement of claims and compensations, NOCs etc, which will now have to be provided in a time-bound manner.

Services like issuing construction licences, giving consent for operating red, green and orange category industries have also been brought under the purview of the Act.