RTI cases pile up, state yet to panel vacancies

Deccan Chronicle; Monday November 01, 2010

Chennai: Seven posts of state information commissioner are vacant in the Tamil Nadu Information Commission despite a large backlog of RTI applications.

With the passing away of T.R. Ramasamy and retirement of S. Ramakrishnan, the commission has only three commissioners in R. Perumalsamy, T. Srinivasan and Sarada Nambi Arooran. State chief information commissioner K.S. Sripathy heads the commission.

Of the 10 sanctioned posts of information commissioner, only five have been filled since the creation of the commission.

The government has not filled the seven other posts, despite large pendency of RTI appeals with the commission.

RTI activist R. Gopalakrishnan said that with the increasing pendency of the cases, the work burden of the commissioners increases and it also affects their performance. He said the government should immediately take steps to fill up the vacant posts without any further delay. “Rather than filling up the post with retired bureaucrats, the government should give opportunities to RTI activists,” he said. FACT India general secretary T. Retna Pandian said that with appointment of bureaucrats as commissioners, RTI applicants are being denied information by the commission.

He said that now the commission has become defunct with the cases taking years to be heard by the commissioners.