- IT Department Undertakes Surprise Inspections of Common Service Centres
JAMMU, Dec 9: In response to directives from the Minister for Information Technology, Satish Sharma, the IT Department has executed surprise inspections of various Common Service Centres (CSCs) operating in Jammu and Kashmir.
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The Minister has mandated the relevant authorities to take strict action against any CSCs that are overcharging the public. Notably, the J&K administration is implementing a robust monitoring and regulatory framework to ensure CSCs comply with the set tariffs. Regular audits and inspections are being conducted by specialized Divisional Level Inspection teams from the IT Department to identify and penalize instances of overcharging.
In this effort, Principal Secretary of Information Technology, Santosh Vaidya, has instructed Deputy Commissioners, who also chair District e-Governance Societies (DeGs), to strictly enforce the stated rates in their districts, preventing inconvenience to the public.
A series of surprise inspections were carried out across Jammu and Kashmir to verify compliance with government-mandated rates. Inspection teams, supervised by Aijaz Qaiser, Additional Secretary of the IT Department, focused on the districts of Rajouri and Poonch in the Jammu division, as well as Baramulla and Kupwara in Kashmir.
During these inspections, 15 CSCs in Rajouri and 16 in Poonch were assessed in the Jammu division, while 55 in Baramulla and 50 in Kupwara were examined in the Kashmir division.
To advance the Digital India initiative and ensure seamless online service delivery to the public, new CSC access points are being set up in various government offices, including Deputy Commissioner offices, Block Development offices, Tehsil offices, Social Welfare offices, ARTO offices, Colleges, and Universities. All Deputy Commissioners have been instructed to allocate space in these offices for the establishment of new access points. Additionally, Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) have been appointed as nodal officers to facilitate the swift establishment of these new locations.
Currently, a total of 664 new CSC access points have been established, with 17,878 CSCs actively providing services via the Digi-Seva Portal in J&K.
The IT Department has set service rates at Rs. 50 per government-to-citizen transaction and Rs. 75 for government-to-business services. Following reports of overcharging, 661 CSC licenses have been revoked over the past year (627 in the financial year 2023-24 and 53 in the current financial year 2024-25). Furthermore, the Vice President of CSC-SPV J&K has been tasked with ensuring that the notified rates are displayed prominently in each CSC to inform all village-level entrepreneurs (VLEs) of the approved pricing. Clear guidelines have also been established to ensure VLE availability, thereby allowing the public to access online services effortlessly.
