Chief Secretary Orders Crackdown on Overcharging at CSCs

Chief Secretary Orders Crackdown on Overcharging at CSCs

Srinagar, July 8: To achieve the goal of Digital India and provide seamless online services to the general public, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo has issued directions to set up new touchpoints for Common Service Centres (CSCs) in various government offices. These offices include Deputy Commissioner offices, Block Development offices, Tehsil offices, Social Welfare offices, ARTO offices, colleges, and universities.

All Deputy Commissioners have been directed to allocate spaces in these offices for the new touchpoints. Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) in all districts have been appointed as nodal officers to facilitate and accelerate the establishment of these touchpoints. Currently, 625 new CSCs have been established, bringing the total number to 13,081 active CSCs, including 537 PACs and 2,160 FPS, providing services on the Digi-Seva Portal in Jammu and Kashmir.

The UT administration is implementing strict monitoring and regulatory mechanisms to ensure CSCs adhere to notified rates. Regular audits and inspections are being conducted by Divisional Level Inspection teams from the IT Department to identify and penalize those engaged in overcharging.

Deputy Commissioners, as Chairpersons of District e-Governance Societies (DeGs), have been tasked with ensuring strict enforcement of notified rates in their districts to prevent public inconvenience. Acting on complaints of overcharging, Commissioner Secretary IT Department, Prerna Puri, has initiated regular surprise inspections of CSCs across Jammu and Kashmir to verify adherence to government-notified rates.

Inspection teams supervised by Aijaz Qaiser, Additional Secretary IT Department, inspected 31 CSCs in Rajouri district (Jammu Division) and 49 CSCs in Pulwama (Kashmir Division). They recommended the cancellation of licenses for seven CSCs (three in Jammu Division and four in Kashmir Division).

The IT Department has notified rates of Rs. 50 per service for government-to-citizen services and Rs. 75 for government-to-business services. In response to complaints of overcharging, 664 CSC licenses have been cancelled in the past year (624 in FY 2023-24 and 40 in FY 2024-25).

Additionally, the Vice President CSC-SPV J&K has been directed to ensure that the notified rates are prominently displayed in each CSC and to develop a certified mechanism to ensure VLEs are available to provide seamless online services to the public.