Strengthen right to service commission: Uttarakhand BJP to CM

Dehradun: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has urged Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat to strengthen the state right to service commission by bringing in more departments under its ambit and empower it to take penal action against errant officials.

In a letter to the CM, state BJP president Ajay Bhatt said only 160 services of 18 departments come under the commission's purview in Uttarakhand, whereas, in states like

Karnataka, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh the number of services coming under the commission's ambit goes beyond 860.

He urged Rawat to convene a meeting of the state Cabinet to clear a proposal for necessary amendments to Uttarakhand Right to Services Act, 2011 to strengthen the commission bywidening its ambit, and empower it to act against errant departments or officials as it was directly linked to public interest and welfare.

As per current provisions the commission can register complaints but cannot act against the departments which fail to deliver the services coming under them in a time-bound manner.

"If the commission is empowered to take penal action against erring departments or officials it can more easily achieve its objective of time-bound delivery of services," Bhatt said in his letter.

He also asked the CM to link all departments with the citizen's charter to further strengthen the service delivery mechanism in the state.

The state BJP chief had yesterday held a meeting with the head of the Right to Service Commission Alok Kumar Jain, a retired IAS officer.

Bhatt also asked the Chief Minister to make the commission online as it will help people in remote areas to register their complaints with the commission more easily.