The UT Estate office has failed to introduce ‘citizens’ charter’ consisting of 14 essential services for the residents of Chandigarh to increase transparency and improve responsiveness in governance. The ambitious project is lingering for the last three months and nothing concrete could be done by the concerned authorities in this direction.
According to the sources, UT Deputy Commissioner office had in the month of March issued a circular to all its departments to prepare a design for all the chalked out 14 services for the public. But even as three months have passed, the concerned authorities are yet to take up the matter on priority basis.
The Estate Office in its ‘citizen charter’ had decided to introduce 14 services included acknowledgment of Pay Order and DD’s within (11 days), No Objection Certificate for sale (31 days), Transfer on the basis of Sale deed(14 days), Transfer on the basis of Unregistered Will (29 days), Transfer on the basis of Registered Will outside Family(29 days), Transfer of property on the basis of Registered Will outside Family Part B (11days) Permission to mortgage (26 days), Grant of DPC certificate (11 days), Execution of lease deed/ Deed of conveyance (22 days), Sanction of Fresh Building Plans (32 days), occupation Certificate (Residential) (20days) and occupation Certificate (Commercial) (32days), Extension Time limit for construction (19 days) and Transfer on the basis of registered Will (31 days).
If the ‘citizen charter’ is implemented, the officials working in Estate Office (EO) would be accountable for the work under a specified time limit.
It is worth mentioning here that earlier, Estate office had included 17 services in its ‘citizen charter’, but later the EO curtailed it to 14 services. The EO had removed services from the list of ‘citizen charter’ included Payment of dues by bank draft(11 days), Conversion from lease hold to freehold (60 days), Handing over the possession of site, and it also changed the Revised building Plans. (32 days), to sanction of Fresh building plans (32 days).
When contacted UT Deputy Commissioner SB Deepak, he said that the Department is seriously working on it and the same would be implemented soon.