Times
of India: Meerut: Sunday, 23 November 2014.
State
Information Commissioner (SIC)Rajkeshvar Singh, on a visit to Meerut on
Saturday, instructed the district magistrate to penalise 55 information
officers from different departments with a penalty of Rs 25,000 each. The SIC
was in the city to address a meeting of officials on the Right to Information
(RTI) Act 2005.
On getting to
know that there were as many as 832 RTI applications pending in Meerut, the
official said those responsible for the large pendency - and Meerut has the
dubious distinction of being the district with the largest pendency of RTI
applications in the state - should be penalised. Chaudhary Charan Singh
University accounts for 116 of the pending RTI applications.
The SIC asked
the district magistrate to recover Rs 13,75,000 from the 55 information officers
who showed laxity in responding to RTI applicants. He directed all departments
to dispose of pending applications in a period of one or two months.
Addressing
the media, he said, "Awareness of RTI Act is a big reason of the
increasing pendency. Information officers are not intentionally showing laxity.
This is the system. It is not so perfect. Under the law, information must be
provided in 30 days."
The SIC
explained that departments that have the largest public dealings also have the
highest pendency. "Following the CCSU, the revenue department is at second
position, having 100 pending cases. Power Corporation and Meerut Development
Authority have 60 and 54 pending applications respectively."
Asked about
threats to RTI applicants, the SIC said, "The protection of RTI activists
is not in the hands of the Information Commission. It is the responsibility of
police and district administration."
He urged
citizens to refrain from misusing the RTI Act. If bizarre information is
sought, it takes up time and energy that could be better spent elsewhere, he
said. "Information on a private person cannot be provided. Information
that affects business interests is also not given. There is a provision to
consider the needs of secrecy," the SIC explained.
A special
hearing of RTI applications is scheduled in Lucknow on December 27. RTI
applications that pertain to the Meerut Development Authority and the city
municipal corporation will be heard on January 17 next year.