Nagaland Post: Kohima: Thursday, July 05, 2018.
Deputy
director (trg) ATI, Kohima Hovithal N. Sothu said the RTI act does not permit
any excuse to deny the information
sought through an RTI. He said that even if the PIO and his team were
penalised, the penalty should be paid along with the information sought.
He said this
as the resource person of the one day sensitization workshop on RTI for joint
directors, deputy directors, assistant directors, PIOs, APIOs, superintendents
and assistant superintendents of the directorate of school education.
Speaking on
the role of PIO, APIO and DA, Sothu said the information sought should be
provided within 30 days, provided the prescribed fees were paid. The RTI may
also be rejected only on reasons mentioned in Sec 8 & 9 od the Act.
He added that
if any cost was involved, the PIO shall intimate the applicant and if a request
is rejected, the PIO should intimate the requestor mentioning the reason for
rejection, the time frame to appeal the rejection and details of the appellate
authority.
Sothu added
that the PIO should refer appeals within 30 days of receipt of such decisions
to the IDEA and then transfer the request to that third party within 5 days of receipt
of the request in a written notice. The resource person maintained that the
third party shall be given an opportunity to make a representation within 10
days against the provisions of information verbally or in written form.
Sothu further
said that the PIO shall take the decision if the information should be
disclosed and communicate the same to the requestor within 4 days of receipt of
such request. The resource person also gave an overview of the RTI Act and how
to handle RTI applications. Principal director school education Smita Sarangi
in her keynote address mentioned the importance of the RTI Act saying that it
fell under the fundamental rights and so information could not be denied.
.JPG)
.JPG)
