Times of India: Navi
Mumbai: Friday, April 18, 2014.
The Konkan
division RTI office, situated at Konkan Bhavan, Belapur, has to hear a total of
4,265 cases that are pending in Konkan division since March due to government's
failure to appoint an State Information Commissioner (SIC).
Thousands of
pending RTI applications, filed since 2011, are finally coming up for hearing
after the new full-time SIC T F Thekkekara took charge from March 4.
"The new
commissioner has been conducting the hearings of the pending cases. On an
average, 10 cases are being heard and the number may go up to 15," said an
official from the RTI office.
"SICs
are approached when the applicant is not satisfied with the response given by
Public Information Officer (PIO). So the urgency with which the applicants have
asked for the second appeal by paying the court fee is evident. In absence of
the commissioner, the very purpose of RTI act is defeated and the applicant's
Constitutional rights are being denied," said an RTI activist and Kharghar
resident, Santosh Shukla.
Shukla had
posted several reminders on the RTI website about appointing a full-time
commissioner.
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