Jammu: Change of land use; issuance of domicile, character and marriage certificates; obtaining water connections; transfer of leasehold rights; merger of (industrial) units and services under wood based industries will now be the public services guaranteed within a fixed timeline.
These are among 43 services of eight departments which the J&K government on Tuesday brought under the purview of Jammu and Kashmir Public Services Guarantee Act (PSGA), 2011 and notified their timelines, the designated officers and appellate authorities. Among them fourteen services of Industries and Commerce (I&C) department; nine services of Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) department; six services of Revenue; seven services of Forest, Ecology and Environment; three services of Jal Shakti; one service each of Health and Medical Education and Information & Technology departments and two services of Labour and Employment departments have been notified under PSGA.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 4 read with section 8 of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Services Guarantee Act, 2011 (Act No. IX of 2011), the government hereby notifies these services, timelines and the Designated Officers/Appellate Authorities for the departments,” read a notification issued by GAD Secretary Dr Piyush Singla.
In case of the Revenue department, for ‘Change of land use’ service, the 30-day timeline has been fixed with District Collector as its designated officer while the Divisional Commissioner and Financial Commissioner Revenue will be its first and second Appellate authorities respectively.
For the services of issuance of Domicile certificate; Character certificate; Income certificate for Economically Weaker Section (EWS); Legal Heir certificate and Marriage certificate (The Special Marriages Act, 1954), the timelines of 15 days; 20 days; 45 days, 15 days and 30 days respectively have been notified.
The designated officer for all these services will be Tehsildar except in case of issuance of Marriage certificate wherein the Assistant Commissioner (General) in the office of DC Jammu/Srinagar (Marriage Officer vide S O 421 dated December 15, 2021 of Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs) will be the designated officer.
However, the first and second appellate authority will be the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) and Deputy Commissioner (DC) respectively in case of all these services. In case of Marriage certificates, ADC Jammu and Srinagar and DC Jammu and Srinagar will be the first and second appellate authorities respectively.
In case of the Industries & Commerce Department, among its 14 services brought under PSGA, for the services of transfer of leasehold rights and merger of units, a timeline of 30 days has been fixed.
For services under Wood based industry as per SO 321 of 2022 including relocation of a unit and transfer of licence to legal heirs, the timelines of 30 to 120 days have been notified.
Under the Jal Shakti department, the timelines of 15 days and 30 days have been fixed for obtaining water connections – domestic and commercial respectively. For the generation of Ayushman card service of the Health and Medical Education Department, a timeline of 14 days has been notified.