Services rendered by the Secretariat will be brought under the purview of the Karnataka Sakala Services Act, 2011, at the earliest, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told the Legislative Council on Thursday.
Responding to a question by Kota Srinivas Pujari, the Chief Minister said 21 services under the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms and six services of the Department of Finance are already under Sakala. While 447 services relating to 46 departments are under Sakala, another 1,000 services have to be brought under the Sakala purview and it would be done in a phased manner.
Mr. Pujari said non-implementation of Sakala at the Secretariat has been creating numerous problems not only to citizens, but also to elected representatives. In fact, legislators do not get responses to their queries even after a fortnight, he said.
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Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council D.V. Sadananda Gowda made a passionate appeal to the Chief Minister to spell out the timeframe for bringing services of the Secretariat under Sakala. He told the Chief Minister: “You as the Leader of the Opposition in the previous government had urged the then government to take Sakala to the highest level in administration. Time-bound delivery of government services under Sakala helps curb corruption by 75 per cent.”
He added: “You might face obstacles from the bureaucracy to extend Sakala in the Secretariat, which I too had faced. Please spell out the timeframe and I would be happy to note it down in my diary.” Responding to Mr. Siddaramaiah’s statement on phased extension, Mr. Gowda said the initial hiccups in the implementation of the scheme have been addressed and what has remained is only extending this time-tested mechanism to other departments.
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Mr. Siddaramaiah said he is committed to extend the scheme to all departments.