book setup 2069 nijamati.indd

Public Service Delivery
(With some examples of best practices)**
Shyam Prasad Mainali*
Abstract
The ci!zen's percep!on of the state and its func!onaries is primarily based on its role as
a service provider, law enforcer and regulator. Improving the quality of administra!on
and providing a responsive interface between the ci!zens and the public service requires
a number of ini!a!ves. Perhaps the most important is the introduc!on of greater
transparency in the func!oning of government department and public bodies. A number
of a"empts have been made to make the administra!on much more transparent but
with li"le success. To a large measure the system of governance that we have inherited
does not allow transparency to the desired extent.
The rules, regula!ons and procedures s!pulate unnecessary restric!on on free access of
the public to informa!on. Perhaps this is more of an a#tudinal problem. Even though
everyone agrees that to a large extent the problem is a#tudinal but in prac!ce one
expects the other person to change this a#tude. Similar is the case of transparency
where everyone expects transparency is decision making at the other end. Whatsoever,
there is a demand for introducing greater transparency in the func!oning of Government
departments and public bodies.
For Governments to be e$ec!ve, they must have the trust and con%dence of the people
they are meant to serve. Public ins!tu!ons must operate free of bias and establish a
fair, predictable set of rules around which people can organize economic and social
enterprise. This trust is manifested through ins!tu!ons such as court, the civil service,
the provision of public services, and the design of public policies. A threat to this process
is corrup!on is le& unchecked, public resources are diverted to those with power, and
polices designed to help the poor and support economic ac!vi!es cannot succeed.
Likewise, for the good governance, the healthy environment for open interac!on among
government, non-government and private sector plays a vital role. Decentraliza!on
enables this short of interac!on. In addi!on, public awareness and people's ac!veness
is also very much signi%cant. Presently, some countries have been successful to provide
exemplary public services which can be inspiring example for other countries.
* Secretary, Public Service Commission, Nepal.
** The paper was presented at EROPA Seminar, 2011 (at Bangkok 19-23 February, 2012).
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