The disposal rate of applications under the Right to Service (RTS) framework has been steadily declining over the years, even as the number of applications received have gone up, a report released by administrator Gulab Chand Kataria on Thursday released. This comes at a time when the administration is looking to bring more services under the framework for the benefit of residents.
The RTS, extended to Chandigarh through a Ministry of Home Affairs notification dated August 14, 2017, is aimed at providing residents a time-bound mechanism to obtain notified government services, and reduce uncertainty and repeated visits to government offices. Over 556 public services across more than 35 departments, ranging from issuance of birth and death certificates to no-objection certificates for property transfer and even permits for film shoots are covered under this. In case, the service isn’t delivered within the stipulated time, a resident can file a first appeal within 30 days. If the service is still not delivered, the second appellate authority can impose a penalty ranging from ₹ 500 to ₹ 5,000 on the responsible official and recommend disciplinary action.
The police, registering and licensing authority (RLA), Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU), municipal corporation (MC) and deputy commissioner (DC)’s office made for the top five departments in terms of the volume of applications received in 2025-26, according to the latest data. Together, they received 65% of the total RTS applications received in the year. Kataria, while releasing the report, stressed the need to strengthen the RTS mechanism and directed departments to bring the remaining 124 offline services online. The health & family welfare department has the most offline services – 37 out of 48 notified ones. It is followed by police (15), MC (14), DC office(10), directorate of school education(8), estate office(7), among others.
