In a landmark development, the Madhya Pradesh Assembly unanimously passed Public Service Guarantee Bill, 2010 that seeks to provide various services to the people in a time-bound manner and penalises officers in case of delay.

As per the Bill, different public services like providing birth and caste certificates, copy of land records among several others would be given to the applicants within a specified time limit.

If the concerned government employee\officer fails to provide the services in time, he would be made to pay a fine of Rs 250 for a day’s delay and the amount could go upto a maximum of Rs 5,000.

The money received towards fine will go to the applicant for the inconvenience caused to him.

The bill provides for constituting a two-stage Appellate Authority to hear appellant’s grievances.

If not satisfied by the ruling given by the first Appellate Authority, the aggrieved person can petition the second Appellate Officer who has the power to impose a fine of Rs 500 to Rs 5000 on erring officials and can also recommend disciplinary action.

It was a historical day for Madhya Pradesh, the state Chief Minister Shivraj, Singh told the house before the bill was passed on Friday.

He said that though the Citizen Charter Act was in place, it did not fix the accountability of the officer concerned if he failed to perform duties on time.

Later Chouhan told reporters that the notification in this regard will be issued within 15 days.

The Chief Minister Chouhan said that Madhya Pradesh was striving hard to give good governance, adding that it was continuously working for the poorest of the poor.

He dismissed the main opposition Congress Party’s charge that the bill was brought in a haste in the assembly, adding that he and his cabinet colleagues had discussed the issue in October last year.