RTPS Act- A tool for enhancing public service delivery

"Mere good governance is not enough; it has to be pro-people and pro-active. Good governance is putting people at the centre of development process."

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

Lily Choudhury

(The author of this article is a retired ACS)

The Government of India as well as all the State Governments celebrated the "Good Governance Week from 20th December to 26th December 2021. This was a nationwide campaign launched by the Prime Minister of India with the objective to bring the governance to the grassroots level and it is "pro people" and guided by "citizen-first" approach. This can be achieved in the true terms only when the system of public service delivery is responsive and transparent. All these initiatives by the government will finally improve the quality of life of the people. As rightly put in the words of Pearl Zhu "Good governance is less about structure and rules than being focused, effective and accountable." It is based on this motto that the Right to Public Service Act, commonly known as RTPS Act came into force

The RTPS Act guarantees time-bound delivery of public services to citizens. The RTPS Act is perhaps the best approach to reduce corruption, improve quick delivery of public services and ensures accountability. Citizens' interaction with government offices in most cases are not fulfilling; issues like corruption, delayed administration and lack of cooperation from government offices are most commonly heard of. In order to tackle these issues, a legal instrument that could handle such exercises -the RTPS Act- was enacted in 2012 by the Government of Assam. The Act was later amended in 2019. Under the Act, the Public Authority i.e., the service delivery department or any authority of the State Government is required to notify public services, Designated Public Servant, Appellate Authority, User charges and the stipulated time period for services.

Under the Act, the Public Authority has to deliver services within the specified period as per the notification issued by the department concerned. In case of refusal of services, citizen can take the assistance by filing first appeal before the First Appellate Authority for availing notified services under the Act. The appellant can also go for second appeal to the Assam Administrative Tribunal if aggrieved with the order of the Appellate Authority. In both the appeal proceedings, the onus to prove that the denial of service will be on the Designated Public Servant. The Second Appellate Authority can impose penalty on the Designated Public Servant or suggest disciplinary action under the service rules in cases where it is of the opinion the service was denied/delayed. Under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 the Appellate Authority has been given power that a civil court would have when deciding a case, such as the disclosure of documents, reports and issuance of summons to the designated officers.

To ensure time bound delivery of public services, electronic delivery of services is most important. Hence, a web portal, www.rtps.assam.gov.in was launched in the month of October, 2021. The main features of the web portal are online application of services, acknowledgement receipt on application submission, online tracking of status of application, online appeal provision against non-delivery/delay in providing services, online grievances, dashboard for real time monitoring etc. At present 55 services are available in the Portal. Some of the important services that are presently delivered through the RTPS Portal are revenue services, employment services, vehicle registration, driving licence, migration certificate, registration of marriages etc. More and more services will be added so that citizens do not have to face problems and delivery of services to the citizens become easy and transparent.

For ease of application and service delivery, 325 Public Facilitation Centres (PFC), particularly at the circle, block and GP levels, have been set up in all the districts through which citizen can apply for the RTPS notified services that are presently available in the Portal. The services will also be provided through Common Service Centres (CSCs) soon. There is a dedicated call centre, which provides services in 7 languages, all days from 8 am to 8 pm.

Even though the Act came into force in 2012, it is still to achieve its target to solve the problem of corruption in the government offices. Due to lack of awareness and knowledge about the provisions of the Act, not everyone is aware of the facilities and services available under the Act. The government should hold awareness campaign, seminars in public place, colleges, schools and other institutions which will increase knowledge among the citizens. This will also reduce corruptions and public authorities will be bound to deliver services which are notified under the Act. Improvement in the public service delivery mechanism as well as more and more involvement of citizen availing online services will be the yardstick of successful implementation of the project by the state government.

Finally, there is a growing recognition among decision makers and service providers that measuring inputs and outputs alone is not enough to understand how service delivery works in practice. Here, governance also plays an important role. Better governance is an essential ingredient of reforms targeted at improving service delivery outcomes. The regular citizen feedback on the quality and efficiency of public service delivery also plays an important role which can help governments to improve satisfaction with service delivery. In this regard, the Prime Minister of India has rightly put it as "Good governance depends on ability to take responsibility by both administration as well as people."

It is the need of the time that a defined framework for analyzing the accountability relationship between a triangle of decision makers, service providers and citizens is necessary and also a route through which citizens may directly influence, participate in and/or supervise service delivery by service providers. The involvement of s in public service delivery system will also help in building a strong relationship among policy-makers, service providers and citizens which will transform the economy and welfare of the state.