Delhi Right to Service: CM Rekha Gupta Promises Action on Delays, Here’s What Citizens Need to Know

Delhi CM Rekha Gupta stresses time-bound government services, transparency and accountability. Here’s how Delhi’s Right to Service framework and e-SLA system track applications and service deadlines.

Delhi is all set to give more importance to timeliness in delivering government services and accountability in the process. According to Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, “the Delhi government is trying to strengthen the Right to Service framework to ensure citizens get the services effectively and transparently.”

Further, she emphasized that negligence would not be tolerated where responsibility can be fixed for delay in delivery of service.

Delhi Right to Service: Emphasis on Timely Government Services

Delhi already has a legal framework for delivering time-bound services to the citizens under the Delhi (Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services) Act, 2011. The act makes provision for delivering notified services within specified timelines.

This framework pertains to citizen related services like certificates, licenses, and other government services so that unnecessary delay in the process is avoided. In light of this background, the recent statement of Gupta emphasizes on delivering services in a timely manner.

e-SLA System Monitors Service Delivery

In addition to that, Delhi also has the e-SLA Delhi Monitoring System, which is a computerized application used for monitoring services offered under the framework of time-bound delivery. As per the information available on the website of the Delhi government, the system monitors applications and officers concerned along with their relevant service-level timelines.

The portal contains information about 567 services from 46 departments and talks about more than 36 lakh applications. The data available on the portal indicates that 65.02% applications have been disposed of within the prescribed time frame.

Thus, there is an existing mechanism of monitoring digitally. The issue here would be that the departments adhere to timelines and take appropriate measures if there are any delays in service delivery.

What If There Is Any Delay In Services Offered By Government?

As pointed out by Gupta, negligence cannot be a normal phenomenon within the scope of the government. This means that in case of any delay in application processing, the focus can go beyond tracking and reach the extent of finding out responsibility at relevant levels. There is already an appeal process under the Right to Service framework.

How Can Things Improve for Delhi Citizens?

It can become easier for people to know about the time it should take to provide a particular service, how to track their application and the authority responsible for the same. But all depends on the extent to which the departments strictly adhere to timelines and action taken in case of any negligence.

Rekha Gupta Government’s Emphasis on Accountability

The message of the Chief Minister is related to timely service being delivered in terms of transparency, dignity and accountability. The Administrative Reforms department in the Delhi Government also covers process improvements, grievance redressal, Citizen Charters and administrative reforms as part of its mandate. All that will depend on how effective the current system is made and how complaints are tackled.