Right to service: India
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Liquor permit
Nagpur division’s Bhandara district/ 2025
Shishir Arya, April 6, 2025: The Times of India
Nagpur: Made to wait for two months to get a permit to consume liquor, a man from Bhandara approached the state commissioner of right to service (RTS) with an appeal. His plea that the excise department is bound to issue a permit in two days was heard. The commissioner's notice to the excise department got him the permit.
Excise department officials who were summoned for a hearing, in turn, got a rap for delaying the service beyond the stipulated two days. The commissioner's order stressed that getting a permit to consume alcohol is a right to service for citizens and that the excise department staff must be sensitised on meeting deadlines.
Each day, outside an office at the administrative block 2 near the divisional commissioner's office, a staffer stands with application forms, informing passers-by about the mechanism to ensure their right to service. It's part of the efforts to sensitise people, say officials. Established in 2021, the RTS office has remained a lesser-known establishment amid a maze of state govt offices in the building. Those who are aware, get their work done. However, more people need to know so that they can avail themselves of the right to service if their work is delayed, say officials here.
Like the govt is bound to reply to a Right to Information (RTI) query, departments are also supposed to respond to an RTS summon, said officials here. In a bid to create awareness about RTS, the state govt is holding RTS fortnight from April 28. A number of activities to create awareness will be taken up, said sources.
A liquor permit is just a minor matter. However, since it's a service notified under RTS law, an aggrieved person can even get a trivial task like getting a permit by filing an appeal, said a source. In 2024-25, 93 cases were taken up and orders issued. The numbers could have been more if people were aware, sources added. These appeals include a one filed by a student about not getting a caste certificate, another was about an individual's land missing from govt records and one about being denied compensation for damage to crops by wildlife, said officials.
The RTS commissioner's office at Nagpur also writes suo motu letters to the concerned departments seeking action based on newspaper reports. After cracks developed in Butibori flyover struts closing it for traffic, letters were sent to concerned officials including the NHAI. The agencies have been asked to examine the condition of bridges across the state and ensure no heavy vehicles traverse any flyover in the state, an official said. Almost 70% of such communications receive acknowledgement, said a source.
The right to service Act has 536 services of the state govt notified under it. If an appeal concerns any such services, it can be filed, and designated officials are summoned for a hearing. These include services like obtaining caste certificates, land records, birth and death registry, or compensation and many more. If not a notified service, the commissioner simply writes to the concerned authority, getting a response most of the time. A complainant need not visit an office. Even an email at crtsnagpur@maharashtra.gov.in receives acknowledgement, said an official.
The RTS came into force in 2015. Earlier, there was only a single commissioner office in Mumbai. Other units headed by officers of chief secretary's rank were opened in the remaining divisions of the state including Nagpur in 2021, said the officials here. Lately, it has also written to the airport authorities about the presence of meat shops near the airport, suggesting that these pose a risk for bird hits to aircraft. The shops cannot operate in the open, says the letter.
