Pune, April 25: The domicile certificate, mandatory for getting admission to colleges, seems to be a mirage for Puneites. The domicile certificate office at the Pune district collectorate, having jurisdiction over Pune city and haveli taluka of the district, has no answer to an RTI query on quarterly pendency of applications.
The office caters to over 20 applications a day on an average and between 200 to 250 per day in June and July. However, there has no permanent staff to man the office.
The PIO, in his reply to the query, has said, “As the office does not take calculate the receipt of applications after every week, 15 days and month-end, it is not possible to give information on the quarterly pendency of applications. The applications remain pending due to incomplete submission by the applicants.”
The inefficiency of the domicile certificate office came to light after Right to Information (RTI) activist Vihar Durve sought information on the quarterly pendency, time taken for procuring a domicile certificate, major reasons for pendency, remedial measures taken for removing pendency and action against the erring staff officials.
The domicile department has replied that it had received 12,125 applications in 2006 and said that the department had no permanent staff and the workers were borrowed from 19 government offices for sale of forms, affidavits and typing applications with 48 workers from Niranjan Vividh Sahakari Sanstha. For scrutiny of the applications there were government officials.
According to Durve, the domicile department do not want to accept blame and are concealing information as there is a huge quarterly pendency. A lot of people come from far off places like Hadpsar and Kothrud and return empty-handed and dejected owing to non-display of information at the office. As there are no government staff at the office, touts are raking in the moolah without any fear of getting caught, Durve stated.
