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Kerala passes Bill to ensure public services delivery within time limit
The Kerala Assembly on Thursday passed the Kerala Right to Public Service Bill, 2025, a legislation intended to ensure timely delivery of public services for eligible persons
The Kerala Assembly on Thursday passed the Kerala Right to Public Service Bill, 2025, a legislation intended to ensure timely delivery of public services for eligible persons.
The Bill was passed in the absence of the Opposition UDF MLAs who had boycotted House proceedings demanding the resignation of the temple affairs minister VN Vasavan over the Sabarimala gold row.
The Bill was introduced in the House by Law and Justice Minister P Rajeev in the absence of CM Pinarayi Vijayan who was in Delhi on Thursday to hold talks with various ministers of the Union government.
In a post on social platform ‘X’, the CM said that the legislation ‘strengthens citizens’ right to timely, transparent and accountable service delivery.’
“If a requested service isn’t provided within 30 days, it will be deemed served. The Bill also ensures a robust platform for addressing grievances, marking another step in people-centric governance,” he said.
Law Minister P Rajeev said in the Assembly that the current Bill was a newer, reformed version of an earlier bill passed in 2012 by the then UDF government to ensure timely delivery of public services and intends to repeal the existing Act.
“The earlier Bill was passed in 2012, but it remained on paper. A study found that 18 of the 83 government departments did not even notify any public services. The current Bill that we have introduced has a provision to punish the head of a department who fails to notify any public services. The earlier Bill had provisions to impose fines ranging from ₹500 to ₹5000. But till today, under that Act, not a single rupee of fine was ever collected,” said Rajeev.
The Bill provides that the State designate different officers for different public services at village, taluk, district, department or other appropriate level to be responsible to provide essential services to the public. The stipulated time limit starts from the date when an application is submitted to the designated officer.
