Times of India: Belagavi: Friday, November 16,
2018.
Government officials should not deny
information to applicants citing unavailability of related files, said SL
Patil, commissioner of Karnataka State Information Commission.
If information is denied citing such
reasons, there is a provision to initiate legal action against such officers,
he added. He was speaking at a workshop on RTI Act organized for information
officers and first appellate authority at the ZP Hall here on Thursday.
Patil said every government office is
supposed to preserve files for a prescribed duration. Even though files are
damaged, they can be regenerated. Protection of government documents is the
responsibility of officials, he said.
“Providing information to applicants will
become easy if officers study five-six sections of the RTI Act. The penalty
will increase if applications are neglected. Embarrassment to senior officers
can be avoided if junior officers do work efficiently,” the commissioner said.
Patil said officers can also give
information about private institutions if it is available in the office.
However, they can’t provide personal information about anybody including
government officials.
Officers can provide a list of
beneficiaries of government schemes with permission of the beneficiaries
concerned since it’s an information of a third party, he added.
Provide data online
Patil suggested officers to upload all
information related to their department on the website voluntarily, which can
reduce RTI applications up to 70%. Patil said there is no need of providing
information in a manual form if it is available online.
Provision to penalize applicants
Patil said penalties in the RTI Act
applies to applicants too. The information commission won’t tolerate the misuse
of the Act. There are provisions in the Act to penalize the applicant if the
asked information is not for public use, he said.
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