Kerala follows Bihar model in weeding out corruption

Kerala may become the second state in India after Bihar to bring in a law to make officials punishable for flawed services at the government offices, with the Congress-led state government giving the proposal serious consideration.
“The services that the citizens should get from the government should be provided in time and we are seriously considering the proposal to make it their legal right,” Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told a meeting of the secretaries and district collectors held here yesterday.
According to the Right to Service Act of Bihar, it is mandatory for the state government and its agencies to extend services to people within the stipulated timeframe, failing which the officials concerned could be penalized.
The law covers 30 services including issuance of driving license, passport enquiries, banking services, farmer credit cards and ration card. It comes as an extension of India’s powerful Right to Information Act. The public servants will be fined Rs250 for a day’s delay or the maximum of Rs5,000.
“We have outlined our vision on the governance in the 100-day agenda of my government. The government’s hallmark is transparency and speed. The citizens should get the services that they need today itself, not tomorrow. Every officer has the responsibility to implement the government’s policy,” said Chandy.
He also directed the officers to take a lenient approach to the people who vacate their land for infrastructure projects.
They should get the actual market value of the land, evict them only after paying compensation, provide the deserved with housing, ensure employment in the government and public sector u it’s and consider them as the first beneficiary of the projects that they vacate their land for.
He reminded the officers that his government was completing its first 100 days on September 12 and all the promised that he made to citizens should be kept.