Thiruvananthapuram:
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday said his government has stepped up efforts to implement within three months the Right to Services law which seeks to ensure delivery of specified services by authorities within a stipulated time.
"It was the assembly that passed the law last month and even though we have six months' time to implement it, we want to do it in three months. We have appointed a cabinet sub-committee and another one under the chief secretary," Mr Chandy told reporters after a cabinet meeting here.
The law guarantees delivery of specified services within a stipulated time period and if this does not happen, a penalty will be imposed on the official concerned.
Thirteen specified government services come under the ambit of the new law.
These include issue of certificates of birth and death, denomination of caste, income and domicile, electricity connection to households and commercial shops, domestic water connections and issue of ration cards.
The other services are receipts to complaints filed with the police, issue of a copy of the First Information Report, police intervention in grievous crimes, and time-bound verification of passport and employment status, among others.
"In a month's time, the committee under the chief secretary will have to submit their recommendations on the number of services that have to be included and also the penalty to be fixed if there is a delay in providing the services," said Mr Chandy.
He also added that the cabinet sub-committee after it gets the report from the chief secretary will hold talks with the representatives of the service organisations who will be actually doing the job of providing the service to the people.
"The appellate authorities who will function as the watch dogs would be drawn either from the government officials or even from the judiciary," added Mr Chandy.
People can now avail these services at offices of concerned government departments, local self-government institutions besides public sector undertakings.