Government bodies duck RTI queries

Deccan Chronicle;October 12th, 2010

Hyderabad, Oct. 11: Custodians of the Constitution like the Raj Bhavan, the Chief Minister’s Office and the State Legislative Assembly are guilty of withholding information even as the country celebrates one year of receiving applications under the Right to Information Act.

There have been instances when these institutions have not followed the basic rule of responding to a query within the stipulated 30 days. In some cases, the public information officers have been directed to keep the files in cold.

The Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, himself ordered for the “lie over” of a file relating to an application seeking copies of the concession agreements on the Kakinada Port, changes made to them and the note filings of YSR.

In another case, The PIO of Raj Bhavan did not bother to respond to an application seeking copies of reports sent by the governor to the PMO and Union ministry of home affairs. “The PIO did not respond in the first 30 days and on appeal, the first appellate authority and the PIO turned down the request citing security concerns,” says an RTI activist, Mr T. Gangadhar.

Meanwhile, the AP Assembly asked the applicant to pay `20 when the case reached the first appellate authority. “Information should be provided for free as the PIO failed to respond in 30 days,” says Mr Gangadhar.