Open house: What steps should the Estate Office take to improve its services?

Efficiency is technology and management-dependent. If online services are user-friendly and the back-end team is managed efficiently, then the delivery of service will improve.

Sapna Sharda, Chandigarh

Single-window clearance system

People have to run from pillar to post to get their freehold properties transferred. Getting an NOC for property tax, building violations, insurance completion/occupation certificate, etc, takes a lot of time. The UT Estate Office should come up with the single-window clearance system where such works are done within a stipulated time.

Col TBS Bedi (retd), Mohali

Start online issuance of certificates

There is a famous saying, “Change is the law of nature”. Therefore, the UT Estate Office should start the online issuance of all certificates, so as to clear the backlog of work. This online service will reduce public rush in the office, thereby indirectly helping in adherence to the Covid-appropriate behaviour. The other way of reducing the workload is recruitment of new employees. Owing to a shortage of manpower, the backlog of work at the Estate Office is piling up. The setting up of temporary sub-offices will also help.

Bir Devinder Singh Bedi, Chandigarh

Allocate services to e-Sampark centres

The Estate Office should increases its staff strength, make provisions for accepting and delivering certificates manually also. It can hire staff on a temporary basis. The online work is sometimes hampered when servers are down or overloaded. The office can allocate the work of receiving applications to e-Sampark centres besides other works such as issuance of no dues certificates to leasehold property holders.

NPS Sohal, Chandigarh

Give proper training to employees

While the UT Estate Office has launched five online services through its official portal and will start 13 more in the next two phases, the effort of the office is not up to the mark. Response time to serve a customer is very poor and most of the staff are not tech-savvy. They should be given proper training. Accountability of officers should be fixed for delayed services. The Estate Office should be completely rid of touts.

Vineet Gandhi, Mani Majra

Make officers accountable

To improve services provided by the Estate Office, the Administration should fix the accountability of the officers concerned for delayed services. The services such as issuance of NOC for leasehold properties, transfer certificate for properties, etc, should be time-bound, so that no person faces harassment.

Adish Sood, Amloh

Vigilance officers look the other way

It’s not that things do not move fast enough in the UT Estate Office. They do, if an applicant takes the help of a middleman. There should be frequent shuffling of the staff concerned with instructions to clear files within a stipulated time and to avoid raising objections on flimsy grounds.

SC Luthra, Chandigarh

Hold staff concerned accountable

Once the owner of a property submits his/her application, there should not be any delay in the delivery of service. The Estate Office staff are duty-bound to work sincerely because the owner gets stuck due to incomplete documents of his property. The senior officers should keep an eye on the staff and ensure that no applicant is harassed. If necessary, disciplinary action may be initiated against erring employees.

MR Bhateja, Nayagaon

corruption, Staff crunch to blame

There are mainly two reasons for the delay in Estate Office services. First, there is a shortage of working staff owing to the Covid guidelines. Second, it is a known fact that hardly any file moves without bribe, and works are deliberately delayed by corrupt personnel. To curb this corruption, strict monitoring is needed. CCTV cameras in offices and frequent checking by anti-corruption agencies might deter wrongdoers. There should be a time limit for the issuance of various certificates.

Bubby Soin, Chandigarh

Rotate public-dealing counter staff

All property records must be available online with changes. There should be regular rotation of staff put up on the public-dealing counters. The responsibility of officers should be fixed. Multiple services of the Estate Office should be tied up with the SBI for online payments. Sincere efforts should be made to prevent the unusual delay in delivery of services.

Anita K Tandon, Kharar

Hold camps to take up objections

Only digitisation of files won’t help rein in corruption in the Estate Office. A weekly camp by senior officers be held to take up objections raised by lower-rung officials in the building branch that aren’t justified. The merger of the Chandigarh Housing Board and the Estate Office will lead to increased staff strength and accordingly, division of work. The responsibility of SDOs or JEs concerned should be fixed for not acting on cases or raising objections that are not justified. The Chandigarh RTS Commission should take suo motu cognisance of cases published in the media so that the delivery of service is further improved.

Sanjay Chopra, Mohali

Set time frame for various services

There should be a time frame for completion of works in various departments. Its compliance should be monitored and officials found wanting taken to task. The procedures should be made easy for applicants. There should be provision for physical as well as online services as many people are not tech-savvy. Single-desk clearance should be made available.

Bharat Bhushan Sharma, Chandigarh

Punctuality key to better service

The UT Estate Office should make its employees work efficiently. Lunchtime can be reduced and Saturday made a working day. Digitisation can help a lot. Most important is punctuality and productivity that contribute to the completion of works on time in any department. The Administration should rethink the leave policy for ensuring smooth and hassle-free services. There should be a deadline for completion of various tasks.

Abhilasha Gupta, Mohali

Don’t put trivial objections

Nowadays when a time limit is fixed for various services under the right to service, the Estate Office should not ask the public to come again and again by putting trivial objections. The office should coordinate well with the MC and the Electricity Department to calculate the dues before issuing a no objection certificate. With regard to he issuance of NOCs for leasehold properties and occupation or the completion certificate, the office should clearly display the documents required on its website.

Savita Kuthiala, Chandigarh

Need for enhanced monitoring

There is anguish among residents due to the casual attitude of the Estate office towards delayed services. As a matter of fact, ignoring public problems has become a tendency. There is a need to review the existing working system. The office should employ more public-friendly technologies. There is a need for monitoring the implementation of orders. Dealing officials should be judged by their performance, not by the states from they come. Fix the responsibility of officials. All agencies should work in tandem. There should be zero tolerance for the casual attitude of officials. Residents must raise their voice against corrupt officials.

Vidya Sagar Garg, Panchkula

Increase public meeting hours

At present, public meetings are held from 12 noon to 1 pm on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. The meeting timings should be from 11 am to 1 pm daily. The staff concerned should be present at the public meetings so that aggrieved persons directly meet the former and get their issues resolved.

Kritika Gupta, Chandigarh

Promote online services

It’s a tendency in not only the UT office but also other offices to delay the issuance of necessary documents. In most offices, persons having links get their works done within hours but those sans such links have to wait for a long time. The Estate Office should make more services online and allocate some to e-Sampark centres to ease its burden. The amount of penalty under RTI and RTS should be increased and there should be provision for imprisonment if an employee wilfully delays information. The office working can improve by fixing the responsibility of officials.

Avinash Goyal, Chandigarh

First-In, first-out method for files

Issuing a no dues certificate and an NOC for leasehold properties should be a simultaneous process, not one after another, as is being done at present. Even after the issuance of an NOC, the Estate Office puts objections at the time of transfer of property. There should be no reason for any objection to transfer a property after an NOC has been issued. The first-in-first-out (FIFO) method should be strictly implemented for clearing files which have no official objection.

Jatin Kukreja, Chandigarh

Make delivery of papers time-bound

It takes a long time to get any certificate from the Estate Office. They blame Covid for the delay, but that is a lame excuse. Officials concerned intentionally put an objection or the other. Most staff are not found on their seats during the duty hours. The Estate Officer should make the delivery of necessary documents time-bound. Officers concerned should be made accountable for the delay.

Sukhwant Bhullar, Chandigarh

Make process encumbrance-free

The need of the hour is stick to the deadline. Steps should be taken to make process encumbrance-free. Not adhering to rules and regulations should be an offence. The authorities need to keep a strict vigil on staff and ensure the latter do their work adhering to the rules. Strict action should be taken against erring officers.

Charu Malhotra, Mohali

Internal control mechanism

There should be an internal control mechanism to ensure a smooth delivery of services. If any bottlenecks are there, those should immediately be removed. Officials should be pulled up for negligent and indifferent attitude towards citizens. The UT Estate Office should put in use more technologies to make delivery of service fast. E-governance can be expanded to improve various services. There should be a “Citizens’ Charter” so that all of us get to know the timeline for the delivery of services. There should be an effective customer grievance-redressal mechanism.

Dr Anil Kumar Yadav, Chandigarh

Implement Right to Service Act

While the Right to Service Act has been implemented at the Chandigarh Housing Board and the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, it is yet to come into force at the Estate Office. It should be immediately implemented at the Estate Office so that officers concerned can be penalised for the delay in services. Objections, if any, should be allowed only once and repeated objections should be discouraged.

Glory Pathak, Chandigarh

Improve internet service in office

The previous Deputy Commissioner had worked hard to put all services of the Estate Office online. But the Internet service at the office is very slow and seldom works. First of all, the Estate Office needs to have a high-speed and dedicated Internet connection that works round the clock like a hotline. The staff need to be given proper training on how to use the Internet as well as operate computers.

Yatin Gupta, Chandigarh

Employees must work according to time frame

There should a link for paying property tax online the same as electricity and water bills. There should be a time frame for the completion of works. If any employee is not able to do work on time, he or she might be punished or slapped a penalty. Employees must be efficient enough to finish work on time. If everything is online, why do people have to submit a hard copy at the office. The behaviour of the staff must be polite with visitors.

Vijay Malia, Chandigarh

Instructions remain on paper only

Corruption in most offices is rampant. Instructions are issued for doing works in a time frame, but these remain on paper only. In every department, there is slackness and the senior officers have failed to keep a check on unscrupulous elements. The Administration is not taking any serious view of the matter as bureaucrats are posted here for a fixed tenure. There is a need to imbibe the spirit of work culture and dedication at the highest hierarchy in the Administration.

SK Khosla, Chandigarh

QUESTION

While the UT Administration has decided to repatriate doctors who have overstayed their deputation period to their parent states in a phased manner, there are other departments as well, including the MC and the Education Department, where officers have overstayed their deputation period. What steps should the UT take to curb this irregularity?

Suggestions in not more than 70 words can be sent to o[email protected]

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