SAKALA
- Sakala
Karnataka Sakala Services Act was passed in 2011 to provide guarantee of services to citizens in the Indian state of Karnataka with a stipulated time limiting to citizen related services. The act came to be known as Sakala act since November 2012. Karnataka is the tenth state to incorporate an act under Right to Public Services Legislation. The Sakala program is backed by a comprehensive information technology network, developed by the National Information Centre (NIC) to provide solutions and services and to monitor the services.
In case the application is rejected or if the service is not provided within the stipulated time, citizens can file an appeal before the competent officer (CO) to redress their grievance quoting the GSC number. The competent officer will hear the appeal and redress the grievance within the specified time. Citizens can claim in cash the compensatory cost of Rs. 20 per day for the delayed period subject to a maximum of Rs. 500 from the CO, upfront. The same shall be deducted from the salary of the designated officer or his subordinate responsible for delay or default, written 30 days.
Sakala is a scheme which assures timely delivery of government services to citizens. In all, Sakala offers 375 services under various departments which are sought after by the citizens. In Short, It is an Act to empower the citizens in getting what they want in the time defined.
Whenever the request for the service is made, the citizen receives an acknowledgement slip with a unique 15 digit number called the Guarantee of Services to Citizen (GSC) number.
With the help of the GSC number, a citizen can monitor the status of his application on the web-site: