Shadow Correspondent
Srinagar, Sep 11:
Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today chaired a high-level review meeting of the ambitious Citizen Centric Services initiative of the Department of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs. The meeting focused on evaluating the progress made so far and ensuring its timely launch for the benefit of people across Jammu & Kashmir.
Secretary, Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs, Achal Sethi, presented a detailed update on the development of the digital platform, comprising both a web portal and mobile application.
The meeting was also attended by Secretary IT, Dr. Piyush Singla; CEO JAKEGA, Mahima Madan; senior officers of the Law Department; and representatives of BISAG-N.
The Chief Secretary expressed satisfaction over the ongoing work and underlined the need for an early launch of the services within the stipulated timelines. He observed that the initiative holds immense potential to enhance transparency, accessibility, and efficiency in legal service
CS reviews ‘Citizen
delivery while simplifying citizens’ access to essential services such as legal aid and advice.
He observed that the platform is a reflection of the government’s commitment to legal empowerment, inclusive governance, and citizen-centric service delivery. Adding that it has the potential to serve as a model for other regions of the country to replicate.
Underscoring the importance of inclusivity, the Chief Secretary directed the Department to seek valuable inputs from legal experts, especially from the High Court of J&K and Ladakh, and incorporate their suggestions to make the services more comprehensive and beneficial for all stakeholders.
The Citizen Centric Services initiative encompasses ten integrated modules designed to simplify public access to legal services. Key features include a Legal Aid/Advice module that connects citizens with Legal Aid Counsels and Pro Bono Counsels, access to Central and UT Acts, Rules, Notifications, and landmark judgments, and information on court locations and real-time case status.
Other services on the platform include facilities related to notaries, oath commissioners, documents, and marriage registration. The portal also provides details of MLAs, legislative business, and enables public feedback on draft laws. Additionally, it offers legal education guidance and career support for aspiring legal professionals, an AI-powered chatbot for basic legal assistance, and a grievance redressal and feedback mechanism.
The Chief Secretary asked all stakeholders to work in close coordination to address any pending technical or administrative issues and ensure readiness of the platform as per schedule. He further emphasized the need for widespread awareness campaigns to maximize citizen outreach and effective utilization of the services by them post-launch.
The Department assured that necessary steps are being taken to meet the launch timeline and to operationalize the platform in a citizen-friendly and efficient manner.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today chaired a high-level meeting to review the progress made on the implementation of the Cyber Security Action Plan across J&K.
The meeting was attended by Administrative Secretaries of all departments; Inspector General, (Crime); Commissioner, Jammu/Srinagar Municipal Corporation; CEO, JaKeGA; SIO, NIC, and other concerned officers.
At the outset, the Chief Secretary took a comprehensive review of the initiatives undertaken to strengthen the cyber security framework of the UT.
He noted with satisfaction the progress made in the security audit of departmental websites, installation of Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) solutions in the Civil Secretariat, and other measures designed to safeguard government systems from cyber threats.
He also reviewed steps being taken for the augmentation of State Data Centre (SDC), operationalization of a Mini Security Operations Centre (SOC), and capacity building of officers to promote cyber hygiene across departments.
Stressing on the importance of holistic protection of IT assets, the Chief Secretary directed for the early roll-out of the e-SAM portal in J&K. The system will ensure comprehensive inventorization of all IT assets and strengthen their security and monitoring.
During the meeting, Secretary, IT Department, Dr. Piyush Singla, briefed that out of 250 websites, security audit of 175 has been completed and are live, while the remaining 40 are under vulnerability testing. He added that 1–2 websites are being cleared daily and the entire process will be completed within the ensuing month.
It was also informed that of the 53 portals hosted by JaKeGA, 50 have already been secured and made live, with just 3 pending. Further, 19 redundant websites have been decommissioned after consultation with the concerned departments.
Dr.Singla apprised that EDR and UEM have been successfully deployed across the Civil Secretariat complexes in Jammu and Srinagar, covering around 5,100 devices. The process is now being extended to Head of Department (HoD) offices.
The meeting was further informed that the census of IT assets had been completed by 23 departments, and the J&K instance of the e-SAM portal is in the testing phase. Once operational, it will provide a unified, end-to-end inventory of IT assets to strengthen cyber resilience.
The Chief Secretary also reviewed the status of Cyber Crisis Management Plans (CCMPs) submitted by departments, the adoption of official government email IDs (which now stands at 1.61 lakh users), and the growing use of Gov Drive for secure storage. The meeting further discussed measures regarding whitelisting/disabling of USB/pen drive usage, which has largely been restricted with whitelisting allowed only in exceptional cases.
Other key discussions included the migration of certain applications to the national Meghraj cloud, amalgamation of SICOP and JPDCL data into the State Data Centre, and operationalization of the Single Window System, which is expected to go live by the end of this month. The augmentation of SDC, operationalization of Mini SOC at Jammu which eventually is going to be upgraded into a full-fledged SOC, and phased migration of websites from IPv4 to IPv6 by year-end were also deliberated upon.
The Chief Secretary emphasized the importance of a proactive approach to cyber security, underlining that robust digital safety measures are integral for ensuring efficiency and reliability in governance. He directed all departments to work in close coordination with the IT Department to plug gaps, adopt best practices, and complete all pending tasks within stipulated timelines.
