Times of India: Mysuru: Saturday, July 07, 2018.
State
information commissioner KM Chandregowda on Friday disposed of as many as 16
Right To Information (RTI) applications – a figure that was set in stark relief
when he announced that there were more than 66,000 RTI applications pending
clearance across the state. Bengaluru has the highest number of pending RTI
queries.
As many as
1,88,386 RTI queries have been made since the implementation of the Act in the
state in 2005. Of these 1,21,772 are yet to be cleared. In Mysuru, of the 4,174
RTI applications submitted, 3,543 have been disposed of, said Chandregowda on
Friday.
The senior
bureaucrat was on Mysuru on Friday to clear a few RTI queries that were pending
for more than a year. As many as 29 RTI applicants had complained to the state
information commissioner about the protracted delay in clearing their files.
Chandregowda on Friday issued notices to officials of various departments for
failing to furnish information sought by the applicants, and scheduled a date
to hear a few cases. On Friday, he heard petitions that had been submitted
earlier, while 14 of them were adjourned to a later date.
One of the
institutions charged with withholding information is Sharada Vilas College,
which has received grants from the government to the tune of Rs 100 crore. An
advocate, Bangar Nayak had sought information pertaining to the college’s
roster system, and a breakdown of the number of students admitted under all the
categories. “Sharada Vilas College is a government-aided institution. Even the
salaries of teachers are paid by the government, and so the college is covered
by RTI,” said Nayak.
He pointed to
the case of a student from a backward category being denied admission at the
college despite scoring 68% in II PUC. “The college has not provided
information on category-wise admission, or the fees levied by the management.
They have also not furnished details on how they have spent the grants,” Nayak
added.
On the other
hand, another advocate had sought information on an inspection conducted by an
official of a corner site in Krishnamurthypuram. The advocate said that Mysuru
Urban Development Authority (Muda) had claimed not to be in possession of the
records. However, Chandregowda directed Muda officials to furnish the required
information before Friday evening.
Chandregowda
said that a few officials deliberately delayed providing information to RTI
applicants, while in a few cases, records could not be found. “We have been
receiving a lot of RTI applications from across Karnataka, and we have been
receiving many petitions in Bengaluru city,” he added.
Chandrgowda
said that a few departments had not followed rules while appointing public
information officers. “I have directed these departments to address this
problem,” he said.