The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) on Monday carried out raids at the Corporation office, its three zonal offices and Eloor muncipal office as part of state-wide checking on the implementation of the Kerala State Right to Service Act.
According to Muhammad Faizal, Superintendent, VACB, Kochi, raids were conducted as per the directive of VACB Director Mahesh Kumar Singla.
“Raids were conducted at the main office of the Kochi Corporation, its zonal offices at Mattanchery, Palluruthy, Vytilla and Eloor Municipality office. A report in this regard will be sent to the Directorate in Thiruvananthapuram. We have not received any instruction to register case or to take any kind of action for not providing various services on time,” Muhammad Faizal said.
As per the Kerala State Right to Service Act, a person applying for the service under it has to be rendered service within seven days. People can use it for getting documents, including birth certificate, caste certificates, income certificates, location certificates and death certificates, within seven days. The Act was brought in for punishing errant public servants, who fail to provide the service stipulated under the statute, to curb corruption among government officials, increase transparency and public accountability.
However, the Act has not been implemented by all departments yet. In the Corporation, it was introduced a month ago. The Act was first implemented by Kerala Police under which people get receipt of complaints files, FIR copy and copy of post-mortem.
An official who took part in the raid said even after implementing the Right to Service Act, one-month-old applications are still pending within certain departments. “The Corporation has implemented it just for the sake of doing it. We hope that the Corporation will start implementing it after the raids,” a VACB official said.