Punjab Congress legislature Party (ClP) leader Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday demanded that the state’s Right to Service Commission should be “scrapped immediately” due to huge burden on the public exchequer.
“The cash-strapped Badal Government has recently appointed seven more Commissioners with already five in place. Moreover, these new appointments didn’t have my consent for which now public interest litigation is pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Commission’s output is negligible as compared to the financial inputs involved,” he said.
Channi said that his criticism was based upon the information received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by party’s RTI cell in-charge Dr Jasdeepak Singh.
“Ever since this Commission was constituted in 2012-13, it has received a total of 29,019 complaints out of which 28,978 were disposed of. There were 666 complaints not under the RTS Act, 2011, all of which taken care of. These complaints were till September 6, 2016,” he pointed.
He said that the Commission had a big set up with one chief commissioner, five commissioners, one secretary and 54 supporting staff. “The budgetary allocation for this Commission was Rs 82 lakh in 2011-12, Rs 258 lakh in 2012-13, Rs 269 lakh in 2013-14, 241 lakh in 2014-15,
Rs 274 lakh in 2015-16 and Rs 88 lakh in 2016-17 till July 2016,” he stated.
Channi said that despite this huge establishment, the working of the Sewa and Suvidha centres was far from satisfactory. The system was implemented as part of the governance reforms to end corruption at the cutting edge level of the government but the very purpose had been defeated, he alleged.
Channi urged the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal to talk to the people waiting outside these centres to get documents to know the harassment they face. “There might be nothing wrong with the system but it is the functioning that had come under question,” he said.
He said that the role of the RTS Commission would have to be assessed in the context of the rampant corruption in the centres and the harassment to people. He said that there was no purpose in maintaining a big establishment that had failed in its objective.
Channi said that such Commissions should
not be turned into dumping grounds for the favourites of the ruling party.