Monitor the public service delivery!

The report that the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Dr Raghav Langer conducted an administrative inspection of the Office of Deputy Commissioner Jammu and took stock of the functioning of various sections there is important indeed especially in the backdrop of dissatisfaction of common citizens when it comes to service delivery. Too many procedures, unnecessary formalities and NOCs, staff missing on their seats and numerous visits by the commoner to get his issue addressed at the Deputy Commissioner's office often causes disappointment.

Interestingly, most of the public services fall under Public Service Guarantee law and the government has been all along claiming that the public services delivery system in its offices is in order. The act gave citizens the legal right to public services, and provided for sanctions against officials who did not comply with the required procedures and deadlines. However, the timeline for the service delivery is never kept by the officials of government offices and the claims remain on the papers and official reports. .

It is reported that the Div Com took a round of each section of the DC office and enquired about the functioning, staff strength and disposal mechanism for public issues and different cases.

He also interacted with the staff present and enquired about the nature of work in each section including Personal Section, SQ section, Establishment, Judicial, Accounts, CPO office, ADC office, ACR Office, ACG Office, Tehsildar Headquarters, Tehsildar Jammu Khas, Tehsildar Recovery etc and passed instructions for improvements in the functioning.

But everyone knows what happens after a senior functionary's visit. Mere routine visits will not bring material change in the situation. Only a couple of months back the Divisional Commissioner found the vital revenue records of the fast commercial area missing and he had directed the concerned Tehsildar to file an FIR in the serious lapse on the part of revenue officers.

While inspecting the office of Tehsildar Jammu Khas, the Div Com directed him to make an inventory of all the revenue records, including intkals. He also instructed him to scan all the data available for permanency and easy accessibility. The Div Com also inquired about the number of Domiciles issues and status of pending applications.

What is required most is the monitoring of the movements of applications/requests of the public from the date of entry in the receipt register to the final disposal of the matter. The delays should be explained and accountability fixed and action taken. Only this approach will work and bring desired improvement in public services guarantee provisions.

The staff members of revenue sections should be directed to keep all data updated including received files, those disposed of and pending to streamline the working for the convenience of the public.

Sincere initiatives need to be taken by the district administration for timely disposal of various applications, files.