DNA: Mumbai: Friday, January 23, 2015.
Implementation
of the much talked about Right to Services (RTS) Act that chief minister
Devendra Fadnavis announced on Day 1 in office is likely to be the
responsibility of the state information commission. A draft of the Act is said
to be ready and will be put up online soon.
The idea of
it being with the commission was communicated by none other than Fadnavis in a
meeting he had with information commissioners on January 16. In the meeting,
the commissioners had sought various measures to strengthen the functioning of the
commission.
"His
response to our demands was positive and said the government too was keen on
strengthening the commission because it was looking to give the implementation
of the RTS Act to the commission instead of instituting another authority. He
said soon a meeting will be held to work on the modalities," said Ratnakar
Gaikwad, state chief information commissioner.
While
Fadnavis was not available for comment, a senior officer present in the meeting
gave some reasons. "Most people are filing RTI for information because
they need redressal and delivery of services. Information as such does not give
them food to eat or home to live. In some cases it does help but in most
services are not given to them. That's why we are looking to give the implementation
of the RTS to the commission because a lot of it pertains to information and
services," said the senior officer.
However, the
decision (of handing over RTS implementation to the commission) which the
government is contemplating lacks sufficient details on how the state will make
it possible.
"Except
for Mumbai, the waiting period for second appeals is over a year. I am not sure
that by giving the RTS to the commission it will work effectively. RTI may get
worse and this too may become problematic. It may not be a bad idea to have
secretaries of each department as second appellate authority of sorts for RTS
with time limit fixed on hearing of such appeals," said Shailesh Gandhi,
former central information commissioner who has been pushing for an effective
implementation of RTS.