Public_Service_Delivery_System_in_Orissa__India

A BRIEF FEEDBACK ON THE PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS FOR IMPROVING PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM PERTAINING TO REVENUE AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT IN ORISSA: INDIA ************* Revenue and Disaster Management Department regulates the land and relief administration in the State of Orissa in India. In the process the department is involved in providing and improving the following public service delivery systems: - 1. Collection of Revenue – Revenue collection in the State includes rent and cess, water rate, compulsory basic water rate, registration fees and stamp duties, conversion charges, premium for lease of land, penalties for encroachment, collection of certificate dues, and other miscellaneous collections. Presently, all these collections are made manually. Most of the collections are made by the Revenue Inspector concerned. Either R.I has to run to different villages or a number of households to collect the revenues or the people have to run to the office of R.I to deposit the same. Either of the cases involves huge wastage of time and effort and while the implementation cost is high, at times the returns are considerably low. The system also causes great inconvenience to poor people. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a system where the payer can pay the revenue dues online so that collection becomes convenient, less costly and time saving. This objective can be achieved in two ways. One way is to computerize the R.I offices and link them with Tehsil offices so that R.Is can receive payments online, grant receipts online, and deposit the collected amounts at Tehsils online. The other and perhaps the more convenient method would be to open an online collection centre at the Tehsil itself so that collections to be done at R.I offices, in the Registration Offices, and in the Tehsil Offices itself (dues to be collected in certificate cases, for issue of misc. certificates, for effecting conversion and mutation etc) could be synchronized and collected in a single window at the respective Tehsil Offices. A system therefore, is required to be developed where the person required paying any revenue dues can apply online and is given an intimation to submit dues online. And finally he can deposit the dues online and obtain an authenticated receipt online. This will also reduce scope of corruption and revenue leakage. 2. Issue and correction of record of rights, certificates, documents, and mutation of deeds, effecting partition, and issue of land pass books: At present a computer cell has been opened in each Tehsil in the State. Record-of-rights have been recorded in a computer database created village wise. Users are allowed to deposit prescribed fees and collect the computerized copies of record-of-rights from the computer cell of the Tehsil. One officer in the rank of Assistant Settlement Officer/Additional Tehsildar is kept in charge of the cell. However, this does not fulfill the objective of either computerization of land records or providing online support to landholders. The desired system is that a land holder may be able to apply for issue and correction of record of rights, any of the certificates under Miscellaneous Certificates Rules, mutation and partition of records, land pass books etc online on payment of prescribed fees. He should be communicated online about the fate of his application, i.e, whether it is accepted or rejected, with reasons. Finally, he should be able to download copies of all documents, orders online and if required deposit any additional charges online. Achieving the above target requires online linking of Registration Officer, Tehsil Office and also preferably the R.I office. Online linking of R.I offices may take some time taking into consideration the cost and creation of infrastructure involved. But linking of Registration offices and Tehsils may not be a major problem since Tehsils have been provided with basic infrastructure for computerization and this process in respect of Registration Offices is under progress. 3. Determination and payment of compensation for lands acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. When land is acquired for any upcoming development project, the process involves determination and payment of compensation for the land acquired. It further involves filing of objections by the land losers and passing of award by the Collector under the provisions of the Act. All these processes are carrying on manually at present causing delay and discontentment. Moreover, the Department is also hard pressed due to non-availability of adequate manpower with the introduction of the system of reduction of base level posts. Computerization of the process so that user can apply for and receive compensation online, file objections and get awards online, thus reducing the time and cost involved and scope of discrimination, corruption and leakage of revenue. Updated records from Tehsil can be transmitted online to computerized cell of Land Acquisition Office and remaining processes will automatically follow. 4. Setting up an effective system in Tehsil, Registration, and Land Acquisition Offices for providing information to and redressing grievances of common people. While computerization would be an effective solution for a major portion of the problems relating to Revenue Public Service Delivery System, it may not succeed without adequate human support. The manpower provided to each of these units under Revenue Administration remains highly inadequate to effectively manage the huge and ever-growing requirements of common people. Introduction of people oriented schemes like Land Pass Book, Vasundhara, Bhoomi, Resettlement and Rehabilitation process, and the objective of identifying and providing cultivable land and homestead land to all land less and homestead less families in the State within next three years have multiplied the task of Revenue Administration both at the top as well as grass root levels. Revenue offices working at the grass root levels often find the task beyond their capability due to shortage of manpower specifically and to some extent also due to shortage of necessary infrastructure and accessories. To address this problem effectively, it is necessary to strengthen the human resource base as well as infrastructure at the grass root level units of Revenue Administration like the Tehsil, Registration, and Land Acquisition Offices. And last but not least, with the coming up of the Right to Information Act, 2005, each of these units require an effective public relation wing. *******************