ANDHRA
PRADESH PUBLIC SERVICES DELIVERY GUARANTEE ACT, 2017 THE ANDHRA PRADESH PUBLIC SERVICES DELIVERY
GUARANTEE ACT, 2017 [Act No. 06 of 2018] [02nd January, 2018] An act to provide for delivery of transparent, efficient
and timely public services to the eligible persons in the state of andhra
pradesh and for matters connected therewith are incidental thereto. Be it
enacted by the Legislature of the state of Andhra Pradesh in the Sixty-eighth
year of the Republic of India as follows,- (1)
This Act may be called the Andhra Pradesh
Public Services Delivery Guarantee Act, 2017. (2)
It extends to the whole of the State of Andhra
Pradesh. (3)
It shall be deemed to have come into force
with effect on and from the 18th October, 2017. In
this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- (a)
"Applicant" means a person who is
eligible for obtaining a public service including a legal person; (b)
"Government" means the Government
of Andhra Pradesh; (c)
"Local Authority" means any
authority, Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council, Nagar Panchayat,
Industrial township, Zilla Praja Parishad, Mandal Praja Parishad, Gram
Panchayat and other local self Government constituted by law and also includes
development authorities; (d)
"Notification" means a notification
published in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette and the word "Notified" shall
be construed accordingly; (e)
"Person" shall include any company,
or association or body of individuals, whether incorporated or not; (f)
"Prescribed" means prescribed by
rules made under this Act; (g)
"Public Authority" means,- (i) ???any
Department or authorities of the Government; (ii)?? ?any organisation or authority or body or
corporation or institution or a local authority, established or constituted; (a)
by or under the Constitution of India in the
State; (b)
by any other law made by the State
Legislature; (c)
by notification issued by the Government. (iii)? ?and includes, an institution, a co-operative
society, a Government Company or an authority owned, controlled or financed by
the State Government. (h)
"Service" means services, including
functions, obligations, responsibility or duty, to be provided or rendered by a
public authority; (i)
"Stipulated time" means the maximum
time to provide the service by the public authority; Every person
shall have the right to obtain delivery of services within the stipulated time. The
Public Services delivered by the public authority shall be made available
online as notified by the Government from time to time. The
Government may prescribe the services to which this Act, shall apply and the
stipulated time within which the services shall be provided. The
Public Authority shall designate Officer/Officers for providing public services
under this Act. (1)
A person may apply for delivery of service
online in the prescribed form with necessary particulars and supporting
documents. (2)
Every application received, shall be given a
number by the designated officer to enable the applicant to monitor the status
of the application online in accordance with such procedure as may be
prescribed. (1)
The designated officer, on receipt of the
application, shall dispose of the same within the stipulated time. (2)
The stipulated time shall start from the date
of application for delivery of public service is submitted to the designated
officer. (3)
The Designated Officer shall ensure that
there is no physical interface between the applicant and the officers for
delivery of public services. (4)
The Designated Officer shall give reasons in
the order, in case the application is rejected. Every
Designated Officer who fails to deliver the public service to a person within
the stipulated time shall be liable to pay compensation to the applicant at such
rates as may be prescribed. Any
person whose application is rejected under sub-section (4) of section 8 or who
is not provided the service within the stipulated time, may file an appeal
before such authority, within such time and in such form as may be prescribed. The
Appellate Authority and the Government may at any time for the purposes of
satisfying itself or themselves as to the correctness, legality, propriety or
regularity of proceeding or order passed by the Designated Officer or
Designated Officer and Appellate Authority, as the case may be, either suo motu
or on an application made to it or them, call for and examine the records and
pass such orders with reference thereto as it or they think fit. (1)
The Designated Officer and Appellate
Authority shall, for the purposes of its functions under this Act, have the
same powers as are vested in a Civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure,
1908 in respect of the following matters, namely,- (i) ????discovery and production of any document or
other material object producible as evidence; (ii)? ?receiving evidence on affidavits; (iii) ?such other
matter which may be prescribed. (2)
The Authority shall not be bound by the
procedure laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 but shall be guided by
the principles of natural justice and subject to the other provisions of this
Act and of any rules made there under, the Authority shall have the power to
regulate its own procedure. (1)
A Committee with the District Collector and
Magistrate as Chairman and General Manager, District Industries Centre as one
of the Member along with other Members for Industries and Business and another
Committee consisting of such number of Members at the District Level, and (2)
two State Level Committees consisting of such
number of Members at different Levels. as may
be prescribed shall monitor the deliver)' of public services to the applicants/persons
within the stipulated time. No
court shall entertain any suit, application or other proceeding in respect of
any order made under this Act and no such order shall be called in question
otherwise than by way of an appeal or revision under this Act. No
suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against an employee of
public Authority for anything which is done is purported to have been done in
good faith in pursuance of the provisions of this Act or the rules made there
under. (1)
The defaults on the part of designate officer/appellate
authority in the time bound delivery of public services as defined in this Act
shall not be counted towards misconduct as the purpose and object is to enhance
and imbibe a culture to deliver time bound public services. (2)
In case of any competent authority who is a
habitual and wilful defaulter, without any reasonable cause and persistently
fails to receive an application or has failed to provide the public service
within the stipulated time or intentionally denied the request for the public
service or delayed inordinately, the committee at State Level, as notified,
shall be competent to recommend appropriate action to the competent
disciplinary authority after recording a finding to this effect. The competent
disciplinary authority shall dispose such recommendations within ninety days
and inform the action taken to the recommending authority. In
relation to the services notified under this Act and its implementation, the
provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent
therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any
rules having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act. The
Government may issue to the Public Authority such general or special directions
in writing for the purpose of effective implementation of this Act and the
Public Authority shall be bound to follow and act upon such directions. (1)
If any difficulty arises in giving effect to
the provisions of this Act, the Government, as occasion arises, by an order
published in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette, do anything not inconsistent with the
provisions of this Act, which appears to it to be necessary or expedient for
the purpose of removing the difficulty. (2)
Every order made under sub-section (1) shall
be laid, as soon as may be, after it is made, before each House of the State
Legislature. (1)
The Government may, by notification, make
rules to carry out the provisions of this Act. (2)
Every rule made by the State Government,
under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each
House of State Legislature, while it is in session, for a total period of
fourteen days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more
successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately
following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree
in making my modification in the rule or both Houses agree that the rule should
not be made, the rule, shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form
or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification
or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously
done under that rule. The
Andhra Pradesh Public Services Delivery Guarantee Ordinance, 2017 is hereby
repealed.
Preamble - ANDHRA PRADESH PUBLIC SERVICES
DELIVERY GUARANTEE ACT, 2017PREAMBLE