Kohima, November 6 (MExN): Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation (NVCO) officially launched Public Services Delivery campaign in the state capital Kohima during the Vigilance Awareness Week 2016.
A press release from Press & Media Cell, NVCO lamented that the Nagaland State Government is yet to enact the Right to Public Services Act /law “which is found to be very much applicable to the state and to clean up the system to ensure smooth delivery of services to the people and crack down on erring officials.”
As one of the resource persons in the one month training on social audit capacity building under MGNREGA for State/District/Block Resource Persons conducted by SIRD, Govt. of Nagaland, Advocate Kezhokhoto Savi, NVCO president also presented on Public Service Delivery Act. He said that Right to Service legislation ensures delivery of time bound services to the public. If the officer concerned fails to provide the service in time, he will have to pay a fine. Thus, it is aimed to reduce corruption among the government officials and to increase transparency and public accountability, he noted.
The release further informed that ‘Model Public Service Law’ is to cover functionaries providing important social services like education, health, rural development, etc., and commit them to their duties and for that purpose, legislative Department has attempted a tentative Bill titled the Public Services (Protection and regulation) Bill. Enacted by the Parliament, the Public Services (Protection and Regulation) Act, 2009 shall come into force on such date as the Central Government/State Government may, by notification, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act. The Act is to secure right to all citizens in the matter of public services provided by public authorities, facilitate transparency in the delivery of such services and to protect their interests by specifying Public Service Performance Standards, establish a Central/ State Authority for effective management of such public services and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, it was added.
