The Haryana Right to Service Commission, set up in 2014 to ensure timely delivery of various services notified under the law, has received only seven complaints in as many years.
It was revealed by the Commission’s newly appointed Chairperson T.C. Gupta, a retd. IAS officer, at a meeting with the representatives of the Residents’ Welfare Associations, NGOs and municipal councillors at Apparel House auditorium in Sector 44 here.
Mr. Gupta said he had held six meetings across the State to create awareness on Haryana Right to Service Act within three months of his appointment.
Lack of awareness
Mr. Gupta said that 546 routine services were notified under the Act and 277 of these were available online through Antodaya Saral portal. He said the commission had sent notices to 250 officials for not providing the notified services in the time-bound manner, but regretted that there was lack of awareness among the masses to report the delays to the commission.
The Commission can impose penalty on the designated officers or any other official involved in the process of providing such services up to a sum of ₹20,000 and can also allow compensation up to ₹5,000 to be paid to the eligible person by the defaulter. Where the commission is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to enquire into a matter arising out of the provisions of this Act, it may also, suo moto, initiate an enquiry for better implementation of this Act.
The Commission under Section 17 of the Act can take suo moto notice of failure to deliver services in accordance with this Act and refer such cases for decision to the First or the Second Grievance Redressal Authority and pass appropriate orders.
Giving details of the notified services, Mr. Gupta said as per the Act the power supply in the city must be restored within four hours. Similarly, the municipal waste must also be picked up in a time-bound manner, and the commission can impose ₹20,000 fine on Chief Sanitary Inspector in case of a delay. The official concerned can also be penalised for not transferring the benefit of government schemes such as “Laadli Yojana” in the time-bound manner.
