PESHAWAR: The provincial government has selected five services to be declared as essential public services under the recently enacted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Public Services Act, according to official sources.

The administration department, said an official, identified five services to begin with the practical implementation of the concept, aiming to improve services delivery and governance in the province.

“The homework has been done, timeframes determined for each of the services as a result the administration department will issue the notification in due course of time,” said an official privy to the development.

The provincial government promulgated the right to public services ordinance on December 19, 2013 in line with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s decision to improve services delivery in the province by binding the public sector employees to provide services in due course of time. Later, the draft bill was tabled in the provincial assembly in its January session during which it was enacted.

PTI, the majority party in power in the province, attaches extra significant to the new law, declaring it as its major achievement towards the fulfillment of its pre-election promise of improving governance if voted to power.

Accordingly, the administration department, said an official, decided to declare the provision of domicile, ferd (a document with land ownership details), building plan, a copy of the first information report (FIR), and birth/death certificate as essential public services in accordance with the section 4 of the law.A knowledgeable official said that after due diligence it was decided that the domicile would be provided in maximum seven days, ferd in one week, building plan in maximum 24 days, FIR in 24 hours, and birth/death certificate in 24 hours.

After notifying the five services, the departments concerned would notify officers, from among their employees in the province, who would be responsible to provide the services within the stipulated period of time.

However, the authorities concerned, said the official, were sceptical about the provision of birth/death certificate within 24 hours because the process also involved the National Database Registration Authority that was a federal entity.

Another official concerned, when contacted, said the five services, after being notified under section 4 of the law, would address the general public grievances against the government departments.

“The five services selected form small administrative acts separately, but the people undergo a lot of hardships in getting the required documents from the authorities concerned,” said the official. He said that provision of ferd (by the land revenue staff) within a week would be big achievement as the measure would break the patwaris’ hegemony.

In line with the newly enacted law, the failure to provide the public services within the stipulated period of time would render the officers concerned liable to face disciplinary proceedings and punishment, which would also include fine.

In an effort to bring in a system of check and balance, any person found involved in filing a wrong complaint would be penalised, facing punishment.

The members of the general public would move their complaints to an independent commission that would be set up in accordance with the new law.

The administration department, said an official, had undertaken a move to set up the commission. The department, he said, initiated a summary for decision by chief minister and after his approval the commission would be put in place.

According to officials, the process to issue the government notification has been negatively affected by a lingering row between chief minister and provincial chief secretary. The chief minister, according to officials, has moved a written request to the federal government for replacing the chief secretary. In this respect, the chief minister has personally spoken to the prime minister during a recent meeting between the two.