The new Right to Public Services Act empowers people in Bihar to get government officials to act in a time-bound manner. Will public servants finally wake up to the tasks-at-hand?
But on the whole, the Act seems to be showing its effect on the progress of work in the state. Tirhut Commissioner S.M. Raju claims that work is being delivered in accordance with the time frame of the Act. “Of course there are some corrupt officers who indulge in malpractices,” he admitted, adding that 6-8 officers in the district have been deputed to monitor and ensure that work follows the Act. A Deputy Director posted in the state secretariat told B&E that the RTPSA had created panic amongst officials who are either corrupt or are passive in delivering their duties. “The applicants have now begun confronting these officials in the Secretariat after the implementation of the Act,” he says.
For the RTPSA, there is a long road ahead and such occurrences in the very initial stages should be nothing less than encouraging. Here is a look at how the Bihar RTPSA works. The Act covers 50 services provided by the 10 key departments of Health, Transport, Education, Food & Civil Supplies, Registration and Social Welfare. It was a conscious decision to narrow down the Act to 50 services, instead of “going for random services”, which is what sets apart the law from that in Madhya Pradesh, says Deepak Kumar, Principal Secretary of Bihar’s General Administration Department (GAD). A devoted team of 1,948 people, besides the existing set-up, has to ensure that the services sought are delivered within the stipulated time – varying from 7 to 30 days – with a provision of right to appeal in case of delays before two layers of appellate authorities. An officer is to pay a fine of Rs.250 for delay per day, with maximum penalty not exceeding Rs.5,000.
With Bihar now set to enter an era of this much-needed reform, the government has also decided to monitor the implementation of the RTPSA online. Bihar Prashasnik Sudhar Mission (BPSM), a joint venture of England’s Department for International Development and the government of Bihar, would play the role of the watchdog. Under the proposed system, BPSM would set up a monitoring and analysis wing in Patna. It would receive reports from all the officers appointed to deliver services to people under the new Act. The same would be the case with appellate authorities entertaining complaints if an officer fails to deliver a service, which falls under the purview of the act, in stipulated time. Officials at both these levels would have to send reports with details – like the number of applications received, the number of applications disposed of and the number of applications in which services could not be delivered.
Though the primary responsibility for work disposal rests with the designated officers (BDO/SDO/DM/SP), all employees involved in the process till the lowest level are given a fixed time to dispose work. An Information Technology manager (who has to be a software engineer) in each district, is to coordinate with respective District Magistrates. The 10 selected departments also have an IT manager each to coordinate with respective Principal Secretaries. This works out to two IT managers at the Bihar Prashasnik Sudhar Mission Society, besides 729 IT assistants across the state. “To avoid crowding, each block counter has to put up a disposal list for the next working day,” says Principal Secretary Kumar. Speaking of checks and balances, Kumar further adds that action would be initiated against a block counter in case of reports of a massive jump in serial numbers of applications disposed of, indicating the involvement of middlemen.
A unique feature of the Act is that not only the designated officers who are supposed to deliver services to people would be bound to act in time-bound manner, there would be a fixed time-frame for appellate as well as the reviewing authorities for disposing off the applications received at their level. Under the Act, even lower level employees have the right to appeal in case of vindictive behaviour by their seniors in government departments. Another crucial element is that the poor performance of officers would be visible in their Annual Confidential Report (ACR), a crucial record for future promotions. The reviewing authorities, who would be at the highest level of implementation of the Act, would also have to submit detailed reports to the cell to be set up at BPSM through e-mails. The cell would be manned by 4 programmers and an IT manager, whose task would be to generate reports on the basis of inputs provided by government offices. Senior BPSM officials would analyse the reports for assessing the performance of the officers.
The effective use of technology in monitoring the progress of this ambitious legislation will be crucial to how far it goes and how impacting it becomes in the long run. The move has already created quite a flutter in the power corridors of Bihar. For corrupt officials, it is panic time. Some may contest that this ‘hanging a sword over your head’ mechanism is not the right way to bring about the desired reforms. However, one must not forget that Bihar is that state which has suffered from maladministration, corruption and a general public perception that the government machinery just doesn’t work for far too long. For the Bihar government, this is best step forward to usher-in an era of much-needed accountability in the state machinery.
Read more....
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
But on the whole, the Act seems to be showing its effect on the progress of work in the state. Tirhut Commissioner S.M. Raju claims that work is being delivered in accordance with the time frame of the Act. “Of course there are some corrupt officers who indulge in malpractices,” he admitted, adding that 6-8 officers in the district have been deputed to monitor and ensure that work follows the Act. A Deputy Director posted in the state secretariat told B&E that the RTPSA had created panic amongst officials who are either corrupt or are passive in delivering their duties. “The applicants have now begun confronting these officials in the Secretariat after the implementation of the Act,” he says.
For the RTPSA, there is a long road ahead and such occurrences in the very initial stages should be nothing less than encouraging. Here is a look at how the Bihar RTPSA works. The Act covers 50 services provided by the 10 key departments of Health, Transport, Education, Food & Civil Supplies, Registration and Social Welfare. It was a conscious decision to narrow down the Act to 50 services, instead of “going for random services”, which is what sets apart the law from that in Madhya Pradesh, says Deepak Kumar, Principal Secretary of Bihar’s General Administration Department (GAD). A devoted team of 1,948 people, besides the existing set-up, has to ensure that the services sought are delivered within the stipulated time – varying from 7 to 30 days – with a provision of right to appeal in case of delays before two layers of appellate authorities. An officer is to pay a fine of Rs.250 for delay per day, with maximum penalty not exceeding Rs.5,000.
With Bihar now set to enter an era of this much-needed reform, the government has also decided to monitor the implementation of the RTPSA online. Bihar Prashasnik Sudhar Mission (BPSM), a joint venture of England’s Department for International Development and the government of Bihar, would play the role of the watchdog. Under the proposed system, BPSM would set up a monitoring and analysis wing in Patna. It would receive reports from all the officers appointed to deliver services to people under the new Act. The same would be the case with appellate authorities entertaining complaints if an officer fails to deliver a service, which falls under the purview of the act, in stipulated time. Officials at both these levels would have to send reports with details – like the number of applications received, the number of applications disposed of and the number of applications in which services could not be delivered.
Though the primary responsibility for work disposal rests with the designated officers (BDO/SDO/DM/SP), all employees involved in the process till the lowest level are given a fixed time to dispose work. An Information Technology manager (who has to be a software engineer) in each district, is to coordinate with respective District Magistrates. The 10 selected departments also have an IT manager each to coordinate with respective Principal Secretaries. This works out to two IT managers at the Bihar Prashasnik Sudhar Mission Society, besides 729 IT assistants across the state. “To avoid crowding, each block counter has to put up a disposal list for the next working day,” says Principal Secretary Kumar. Speaking of checks and balances, Kumar further adds that action would be initiated against a block counter in case of reports of a massive jump in serial numbers of applications disposed of, indicating the involvement of middlemen.
A unique feature of the Act is that not only the designated officers who are supposed to deliver services to people would be bound to act in time-bound manner, there would be a fixed time-frame for appellate as well as the reviewing authorities for disposing off the applications received at their level. Under the Act, even lower level employees have the right to appeal in case of vindictive behaviour by their seniors in government departments. Another crucial element is that the poor performance of officers would be visible in their Annual Confidential Report (ACR), a crucial record for future promotions. The reviewing authorities, who would be at the highest level of implementation of the Act, would also have to submit detailed reports to the cell to be set up at BPSM through e-mails. The cell would be manned by 4 programmers and an IT manager, whose task would be to generate reports on the basis of inputs provided by government offices. Senior BPSM officials would analyse the reports for assessing the performance of the officers.
The effective use of technology in monitoring the progress of this ambitious legislation will be crucial to how far it goes and how impacting it becomes in the long run. The move has already created quite a flutter in the power corridors of Bihar. For corrupt officials, it is panic time. Some may contest that this ‘hanging a sword over your head’ mechanism is not the right way to bring about the desired reforms. However, one must not forget that Bihar is that state which has suffered from maladministration, corruption and a general public perception that the government machinery just doesn’t work for far too long. For the Bihar government, this is best step forward to usher-in an era of much-needed accountability in the state machinery.
Read more....
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
