Haryana RTS issued a show cause notice of Rs. 5,00,000/- to three officers of Welfare of Scheduled Caste & Backward Classes Department

IEP Chandigarh, November 29

Haryana Right to Service Commission issued a show cause notice of Rs. 5,00,000/- to three officers of Welfare of Scheduled Caste & Backward Classes Department (WSCBC), Smt. Amita Goel, Chief Accounts Officer, Sh. Bishan, Statistical Officer and Sh. Om Prakash, Deputy Superintendent, in delaying the delivery of notified services of ‘Mukhya Mantri Samajik Samrasta Antarjatiya Vivah Shagun Yojana’ in 1500 cases.The said scheme is a notified scheme of the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Class (WSCBC) Department. The scheme provides a financial assistance of Rs 2,50,000/- to a couple when a non-Scheduled Caste girl/boy marries a Scheduled Caste girl/boy. The amount is deposited in the joint account of the couple for 3 years of lock in period. The RTS timeline of the service is 20 days.Giving more information in this regard an official spokesperson of the commission stated a complaint was received from Ms. Kiran Rani, Sirsa regarding delay of over a year in availing the benefit of Mukhya Mantri Samajik Samrasta Antarjatiya Vivah Shagun Yojana.The Haryana Right to Service Commission immediately took cognizance of the complaint and sought an immediate report from the District Welfare Officer, Sirsa regarding the matter.He said that an inquiry was conducted in the matter and it was found the concerned application was sanctioned in time but the benefit was not disbursed to the beneficiary and the same is still pending with the Department.On further investigation, it was found that over 1500 such sanctioned applications are pending in only one scheme i.e. Mukhya Mantri Samajik Samrasta Antarjatiya Vivah Shagun Yojana.A meeting was conducted in this regard in the presence of representatives of Additional Chief Secretary to Government of Haryana, Finance and Planning Department and the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Department, Haryana along with his departmental officers.He further informed that through the submission of the Accounts Branch of the Department it was clear that additional demand so as to disburse the pending benefits had been sent to the Finance Department, Haryana from the WSCBC Department since July 2022. Hence, the Commission observed that due to prima facie inaction on the part of the concerned Department officers numerous beneficiaries across the State of Haryana are still awaiting the disbursal of their pending benefits, way beyond the RTS timelines.Consequently, in exercise of the powers conferred on the Commission under section 17(2) of the Haryana Right to Service Act, 2014 a show cause was issued to Smt. Amita Goel, Chief Accounts Officer, WSCBC Department, Haryana, Sh. Bishan, Statistical Officer, WSCBC Department and Sh. Om Prakash, Deputy Superintendent, WSCBC Department to explain why a token penalty of Rs. 5,00,000/- as against Rs 20,000 in each case which runs into crores of rupees, should not be imposed upon them for the delay in delivery of notified services in the Department. Spokesperson informed that currently 632 services/schemes have been notified under the Haryana Right to Service Act, 2014.