GOVT TO PUNISH OFFICIALS FOR DELAYING YOUR ONLINE SERVICES

NEW DELHI: Soon, when you face a delay in online services — such as obtaining a marriage certificate or setting up an appointment for a driving licence — any employee responsible will be punished for it.

So far, according to the draft electronic services delivery bill, 2011, punishment was prescribed only for government officials responsible for the delay. Now, the government has agreed to make changes to bill to ensure private players are also held accountable.

The bill was introduced in Parliament in 2011 after Anna Hazare’s agitation against corruption. It prescribed levying a fine of up to Rs5,000 for the first violation and Rs20,000 for persistent failures, but only on government officials.

However, a Parliamentary standing committee found that since most online services were “outsourced” by the government, public officials would often blame private employees, who could not be punished, for delays.

Now, the department of information technology has agreed to make changes in the draft bill to cover employees of private agencies providing online services to citizens. Some states such as Delhi, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh have their own rules that penalise only government officials. The new law, when enacted, would supersede all existing rules and cover the entire country.

In 2011, 77 million online transactions were made in India. However, internet penetration in the country was only 1.4%.