Times of India: Gandhinagar: Friday,
June 24, 2016.
Government
officials in Gujarat tasked with finding answers to Right To Information Act
(RTI) queries filed by their fellow citizens, say they are struggling to deal
with some of the questions they're getting.
Here's an
example:
How does the
government send greetings? Is there a fixed format for such messages? How much
does the government spend on such messages?
It is the
sort of question that rarely ever crosses people's minds, but Gujarat's
"RTI-activists" many of whom submit applications through Below
Poverty Line (BPL) card holders are harassing government officers by making
such unusually pedantic queries. Here are more examples:
1.
If a Hindu government officer has a beard, and dresses
like a Muslim, can any action be taken against him? What are the rules for
transferring such a person?
2.
Is there any rule for transferring a woman government
employee who puts on a lot of sindoor?
3.
How many people visit the Secretariat every day?
It can be
rather challenging for officials to answer such questions, not least because
they need to do so within a fixed time limit to avoid a fine. Transfer rules,
and codes of conduct in particular, are hard to research, for there are many of
them. And in many cases, officials have had to find and deliver information
spanning a decade or more.
Government
departments receive 10 RTI applications a day on average - and thousands every
month - and staff shortages mean that those who are duty-bound to field these
questions must spend many valuable hours researching them.
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