MARCH

the timelines. A whopping 98% of
applications were cleared in the time
frame prescribed.
No wonder ‘Sakala’ scheme bagged
the national award under the category
“outstanding performance in citizen
centric service delivery” for the year
2013-14. Under the system, the penalty
would be imposed on officials for delay
in the delivery of services covered
under the Sakala. A bureaucrat who
fails to deliver service within the time
frame is penalized Rs 20 per day , going
to a maximum of Rs 500 and is also
supposed to reply to the showcause
notice issued. Interestingly while the
District Commissioner is appointed the
Nodal Officer of each state , the Sakala
centres are run by NGO’s , spirited
citizens and tech savvy professionals
appointed for the Sakala mission.
Karnataka law minister, whose
ministry oversees the Sakala feels
success of the scheme is due to friendly
approach of the project. Simplifications
being the key, documents to be
submitted by citizens for various
services have been reduced and thought
process is initiated about doing away
with affidavits. This considerably
reduces the middlemen menace and
unnecessary financial expenses of the
citizens. Creating a citizen friendly
government being our goal Sakala
counters eliminate the role of touts. A
person applying for a ration card or a
driving license can do so from a sakala
centre even without visiting the Civil
Supplies department or the Transport
Office for a driving license till such time
the application is under process.
While the Karnataka government
has improved upon the bill, Union
government lacks the teeth to push
them through. Dubbed as “Rahul’s
Ordinances,” they are actually policies
that would mitigate sufferings of
common man and help them from
bureaucratic delays. Among them
Citizen Charters Bill, that gives a
time-frame for service delivery at
government offices has been among the
most awaited one. But, it appears the
common man will now have to wait till
the formation of new government to get
the bill if it is passed. While government
has been swift enough to take ordinance
route on several trivial or insignificant
issues, it could not muster the courage
to go through the ordinance way on this
issue.
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Change begins in karnataka after sakala
Congress MP Shantaram Naik,
Chairman, Standing Committee of
Personnel, Public Grievances, Law
and Justice had urged Prime Minister
Dr Manmohan Singh to recommend
to the President to issue an ordinance
on Citizen Charters Bill but the effort
failed. The Union Cabinet failed to
40 million applications under the
Sakala have been cleared. A mere
4% of people’s applications were
rejected on various grounds. The key
success being delay rate is a mere
2% beyond the timelines. A whopping
98% of applications were cleared in
the time frame prescribed.
take the Ordnance route on “Citizen
Charters Bill” a time tested method for
giving relief to the common man from
bureaucratic delays.
As opposition parties cried hoarse
on the motive and intent of Rahul
Gandhi, even BJP which to its credit
has launched one of the first and
finely executed “Karnataka Guarantee
of Services to Citizens Act 2011 –
SAKALA” popularly called ‘Sakala’,
opposed the move to prevent Congress
walk away with credit ahead of the
forthcoming polls.
The contribution of the Karnataka
Sakala team to designing the Citizens
Charter Bill of the Union government
is a key element. But sadly enough for
the officials in the state , the hard work
they put in to bring accountability and
transparency across the country may be
implemented earlier in neighbouring
Pakistan than in our own country.