Tarun Gogoi

Guwahati, April 18: The much-awaited Assam Right to Public Services Act, 2012, aimed at improving the government’s service delivery mechanism, will come into effect tomorrow in 21 of the state’s 27 districts.

Principal secretary, administrative reforms, Rajiv Kumar Bora, told The Telegraph that as many as 55 services under 14 departments would come under the purview of the act — up from the 47 announced by Dispur last year. He said the move would ensure that these 55 government services were delivered in a time-bound manner and that the officials handling the services would be penalised if they failed to respond in time after an applicant had submitted all required documents.

Along with service delivery, the act, if implemented in letter and spirit, will also lead to overall improvement in efficiency, transparency and accountability — qualities found missing in most government employees and officials, causing widespread resentment among the masses.

The Tarun Gogoi government, sources said, would give a big push to the act’s proper implementation because it could prove to be a game changer in an election year. “The common man finds availing even the simplest of government services cumbersome, resulting in antipathy towards the incumbent government. Time-bound delivery can fan goodwill in favour of the government, which has been floundering of late because of infighting between the pro and anti-Gogoi camps within the CLP,” a source said.

The services covered by the act include issuing of jamabandi copy, office mutation, marriage certificates, certified copies of land mutation, registration and partition, duplicate mark sheets and pass certificates of board exams, migration, birth and death certificates. The other services included permission for buildings (G+2), issuing of trade licences, municipal holding certificates, driver licences, vehicle registration, caste and disability certificates and employment exchange name registration.

Five officials from each district have been trained in states such as Bihar, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, which had launched the services earlier, and they will now train other trainers in the state. “We will continue to add more services and fix glitches whenever these appear. It will be a continuous exercise. The act will be implemented in the Sixth Schedule districts under BTAD along with Karbi Anglong and NC Hills once we get their consent,” Bora said.