THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Police Department will do away with the age-old practice of issuing No Objection Certificates, employee verification and mike permission by hand from the stations by December 31. From next year, the applications for various services can only be submitted via THUNA, the official portal of the police created to provide such services, and certificates and permits can be downloaded by the applicants from the portal itself.
It has been reliably learnt a rule in this regard was issued by State Police Chief Loknath Behera on Thursday. The police sources said the move to make e-filing of applications for various services, which can be availed from stations, mandatory was taken to ease the procedural delays. “A lot of complaints come up regarding the local station officers delaying up things,” a senior police officer told Express. “Mostly it’s being done to demand bribe from the applicants and in certain cases out of personal vendetta. Hence, we have taken a decision not to continue with physical submission of applications at the stations. The applicants can now put their requests on the portal and check its status,” said the officer.
Another key aspect is the district police chiefs and even the State Police Chief will be kept in the loop so they can easily detect any inordinate delay in issuing the permits and certificates.“If the documents/services are not provided within four days, then the district chiefs will be alerted. A compiled report of such delays will also be delivered to the state chief. This will act as a deterrent to the erring officers in the local stations,” the officer said.
The police top brass felt the move could also help to get rid of corruption in the grassroots level and bring in much-needed transparency in the police functioning. However, police insiders point to another reason for this decision. They say the decision to make e-filing of applications compulsory was taken to enhance the number of people using the police apps and portals.
Less than 5,000 people only have so far submitted their applications online in Kerala, while the number of people from Tamil Nadu who availed the service of the Tamil Nadu police exceeded one lakh.
“We boast of cent per cent literacy rate and online penetration. But still we are not even remotely close to Tamil Nadu when it comes to utilising available platforms. That situation needs to change,” an officer with the State Crime Records Bureau said.