Indian
Express: Kochi: Monday, 05 October 2015.
The Right to
Information (RTI) Prosecutors’ Assembly and the RTI Knowledge Meet held here on
Sunday underscored the need to use the Act more effectively to ensure
transparency, and also called for measures to widen scope of the 10-year-old
landmark legislation for the benefit of the public.
“Currently,
most of the government departments and those which indirectly control the
government are out of the purview of the RTI Act. I do not subscribe to the view
that certain departments should be kept out of the purview of the RTI Act,”
said Minister for Forests Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, who inaugurated the RTI
Prosecutors’ Meet.
“As in the
case of direct control over the government, indirect control is also of great
importance, and the citizens have the right to know about them as well,” the
Minister said, while supporting the argument that political parties should be
brought within the ambit of the Act. He also called for constructive debates to
further strengthen the RTI Act and to widen its scope.
Addressing
the meet, former bureaucrat Dr Nivedita P Haran said a change of mindset among
administrators and empowerment of the people were needed to make the most of
the RTI Act, which envisages proactive disclosure of information.
“Government
departments are supposed to post all the latest information on their respective
websites, frequently. Unfortunately, it is not happening. The administrators
have evolved a strategy of evading RTI queries, rather than providing
information to the public,” said the the former Additional Chief Secretary.
“The Right to
Service Act introduced by the State Government three years ago is also in an
unenviable position. As many as 77 departments have been notified under the
Right to Service Act. Yet, nobody has been penalised under the Act ever since
it came into force. It does not mean that people are getting services without
delay, but the officials have evolved a method to bypass enforcement of the
legislation. The Right to Service is more important and closer to the common
man. Unfortunately, it has become almost a dead Act,” Nivedita said, and
suggested that RTI training be made compulsory in officers’ training
programmes.
The RTI
Knowledge Meet and Prosecutors’ Assembly were organised jointly by the
Directorate of Prosecutions and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CWHRI),
New Delhi. Director General of Prosecution T Asaf Ali, Director of Prosecution
V C Ismail and Venkatesh Naik of the CWHRI, among others, addressed the meet.
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