Greater Kashmir: Srinagar:
Saturday, April 30, 2016.
As more and
more people are seeking details from various government departments under Right
to Information (RTI) Act-2009, the rejection of RTI applications is going down
with each passing year.
In 2009-2010,
nine percent of applications were rejected by the authorities under various
provisions of the transparency law.
The official
data reveals that in 2010-2011, four percent applications were rejected, in
2011-2012 the percentage remained 1.37 and in 2012-2013, the number of rejected
application remained 1.54 percent.
“The RTI Act
has started showing up signs of change from a confidentiality mindset to
openness and is replacing reluctance in sharing information by willingness for
dissemination of information. There appears a discernible change in the
attitude of government functionaries towards providing information to the
citizens,” said an official.
“Plagued by
very low level of awareness at the outset, the Act needed aggressive
campaigning to make people and public authorities aware of its provisions,” he
added.
Dr Raja
Muzaffar, a known RTI activist, told Greater Kashmir that better awareness,
both among the information seekers and information providers, is essential
prerequisite for ensuring effective implementation of the Act.
“Earlier, the
information seekers had less knowledge about the drafting of RTI application.
Using words Why, What, How etc may lead to the rejection of RTI application,”
he said.
Dr Muzaffar
added that with the passage of time and with the efforts of RTI activist
organizations, the information seekers are using appropriate words and content
to seek information. “It is also one of the reasons that the rejection rate has
gone down,” he said.
Dr Arshid,
another RTI activist, said State Information Commission should also take upon
itself the task of promoting the awareness among common people in general and
the public authorities in particular.
“The
awareness about filing RTI application in proper way is encouraging. The SIC
and other organizations, NGOs and RTI activists can also achieve it through
interactive sessions with the civil society groups,” he added.
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