UP Public Interest Guarantee Act yet to be enforced after 4 years
21 May, 2015In reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, it was informed that the Citizens’ Charter has been enforced in just 17 out of 150 state departments and statutory bodies of Uttar Pradesh (UP). The UP Public Interest Guarantee Act or the Uttar Pradesh Janhit Guarantee Law also commonly known as Citizens’ Charter, was introduced in 2011. It was meant to empower the people of the state in getting identified services within a defined time frame with a provision for imposing penalty on the responsible officer in case of delay or non-delivery of services.
The 17 departments where the Citizens' Charter has been enforced are labour section, sugar commissioner, cane commissioner, science and technology, irrigation and water resources, land development and water resources, appointment section, civil aviation, youth welfare, women and child welfare, UP reorganization and coordination department, rural development, mineral and mining, urban employment and poverty alleviation, language section, sports section and minor irrigation.
The state government claims that the Citizens’ Charter has been enforced in 37 departments; however, as per the list provided to the RTI applicant, only 17 departments have implemented the charter. RTI applicant Pradeep Kumar has pointed out that important departments like revenue, police, health and civil supply are yet to implement the charter. He has demanded that statutory bodies like the municipal corporation, the UP Board and Roadways, all the other 150 departments and statutory bodies in the state should enforce the Public Interest Guarantee Act or the Citizens Charter.