The Hindu: Vishakhapatanam: Saturday, June 16, 2018.
Govt. not following HC orders’
The delay in the appointment of Information Commissioners by the State government came in for condemnation by the speakers at a roundtable on “Issue of appointment of RTI Commissioners-responsibility of RTI Activists”, organised by the Public Forum and Samalochana here on Friday. RTI activists from Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, East Godavari and Kadapa districts attended the meeting.
Periodic reviews
Public Forum president Kandregula Venkataramana condemned the utter disregard of the State government to the directions of the High Court passed in September last year, asking it to appoint Information Commissioners. He alleged that even the contempt petition had met the same fate. It was unfortunate that the governments, which were spending huge amounts of money for self promotion, were allocating peanuts for implementation of the RTI Act. The District Collectors should organise periodic reviews to monitor RTI implementation in their role as District Coordinators.
NCPRI Working Committee member Chakradhar Buddha alleged that the RTI applicants were being ill-treated by the officials and they were not responding to RTI applications as Information Commission was non-functional. He said it was unfortunate that the State, which was number 1 in the implementation of RTI in 2013 had slipped to the last place.
The meeting decided to organise post cards campaigns, signature campaigns, visit to Information Commission and public hearing to exert pressure on the government for appointment of Information Commissioners. BM Naidu of the Help to Help Foundation was present.
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