Bill passed to penalise officials for delaying citizen services

Designated officers of the Delhi Government will pay penalties of Rs 249 per day, upto a total of Rs 5,000, if found responsible for delaying or unreasonably rejecting applications for time-bound delivery of services, according to the Delhi (Right of Citizen to Time-Bound and Ease of Delivery of Services) Bill, 2026, passed by the Assembly on Tuesday.

Replying to a discussion on the Bill in the Assembly, Delhi’s IT Minister Pankaj Kumar Singh said that those who governed Delhi for 11 years and failed to resolve basic civic and administrative problems have no moral right to question the present government’s efforts to reform the system.

He said the Opposition had a record of neither doing the work itself nor allowing others to work and was now attempting to divert attention from its own failures by making political allegations against the present Government. Taking a direct swipe at the Opposition, Singh said that those who had contributed to Delhi’s problems should first introspect before pointing fingers at others. He questioned the Opposition’s attempt to raise political arguments without addressing the failures of its own tenure and said that repeatedly making allegations does not erase the record of governance.

As per the proposal of the Bill, time-bound delivery of services will be treated as a legal right of the people. The government will constitute a Delhi Right to Service Commission, while senior officers will be deputed as citizen grievance redressal authority at department level to deal with complaints of the people.

In case of breach of stipulated timelines for delivery of various services, an appeal will be automatically lodged before the authority. In case of rejection of an application, the applicant will be required to file an online appeal before the authority concerned.

If the authority finds that the default in providing a service is wrong and unreasonable, it will direct the designated officer to provide it within seven days. The appeals will be decided by the authority within 30 days. The authority will also issue a show cause notice to the designated officer seeking his reply why a penalty should not be imposed against him.

The designated officer will submit his reply within seven days and if it is found “unsatisfactory”, the authority may, through an order, impose a penalty against him. No penalty will be imposed on any designated officer without giving them a reasonable opportunity of being heard.

The penalty will be recovered from the salary of the designated officer, according to the legislation. The penalty amount will be Rs 250 per day, subject to a maximum of Rs 5,000. In case the authority itself fails to follow the stipulated timeline in dealing with the appeals, the applicant may appeal before the Delhi Right to Service Commission.

The Commission may confirm, modify or set aside the orders passed by the Authority. The order of the Commission will be final and binding.

The Public Grievance Commission will discharge the functions of the Right to Service Commission till it is set up by the Government.

It will have a chairman and three members. Implementation of the time-bound delivery of service Act will be duty of the Commission. It will also be authorised to impose penalties on designated officers or any other officials involved in the process. The Bill passed by the Assembly will replace the Delhi (Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services) Act, 2011.

It was found that the Act was inadequate to enforce stipulated timelines due to the absence of effective monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.