Haryana RTS panel slaps ₹20,000 penalty on MSME dept official

HE WAS FINED FOR NOT ENSURING DELIVERY OF SERVICE AS PER THE GIVEN TIMELINE

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Right to Service (RTS) Commission has imposed a penalty of Rs 20,000 on an additional director of the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) department for not ensuring delivery of service as per the given timeline.

As per a March 30 order of RTS commission chief commissioner TC Gupta, the issue was pending for almost one-and-ahalf-years.

The order said one Narender Kapoor had applied for energy audit assistance scheme to the MSME directorate for his unit in Faridabad on September 4, 2020.

The application remained pending for almost one-and-ahalf-years and no satisfactory reply was furnished by the department. Kapoor submitted a complaint to the commission.

Consequently, a suo moto notice was issued to the director, MSME to conduct an inquiry and fix responsibility for the delay.

Following this, a committee was formed by the director, MSME for inquiry and cited generic reasons for the delay. The committee said no officers can be singularly held accountable for the delay.

“After finding the report to be simply an eye wash, the commission directed the director, MSME to depute additional director concerned to appear before the commission with a record of the case on March 25, 2022.

Additional director, MSME,

Shashi Kant appeared before the commission. During the hearing, he was unable to correctly cite even the RTS timeline for the service in question which confirmed negligence on his part,” the order said.

The order said during the inquiry, Kant revealed that a committee was formed on July 1, 2021 and the report was furnished, after a long delay, on November 7, 2021.

He also conceded that being the designated officer for the service, he should have followed up to ensure timely reporting by the committee.

It was also observed that another committee was formed on December 23, 2021 by the director, MSME, to carry out the same verification again, leading to further delay in the case.

After the inquiry, the commission held Kant responsible for the delay in delivery of services to the applicant and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000.

Show-cause notice issued to MSME director The Commission also awarded compensation of Rs 5,000 to the complainant. Director, MSME has also been issued a show-cause notice to explain the need for re-verification ordered by her.