Lucknow Development Authority has maximum pending complaints under RTI

The Times of India: Lucknow: Friday, June 29, 2012.

The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) has earned a dubious distinction, as far as providing information under the RTI Act is concerned. The state information commissioner Brijesh Kumar Mishra has directed the secretary, LDA, to appear personally before the commission, on Thursday, and explain why LDA does not dispose off first appeals.

The commissioner ordered the secretary to personally appear on June 21, the day there were 27 complaints registered against LDA for hearing. The commission, in fact, has disposed off thousands of other complaints against LDA in the past. "It clearly indicates that the first appeals authority of LDA is not functional," said information commissioner Brijesk Kumar Mishra.

The commissioner had directed the official to appear before the commission on Tuesday. But, the official did not appear, after which the commissioner re-ordered for him to appear on Thursday.

As per the rule, the first appeals authority, which is the senior-level official of the department, has to dispose off the first appeals within 30 days of getting it. Under special circumstances, the time of disposal can be extended to 45 days. But, in most of the government departments, first appeal authority is almost redundant which is the reason why commission receives lot of complaints.

As laid down in the RTI Act, the applicant files the first appeal with the appellate authority of the department when he does not get the information from the public information officer. In case, the appellate authority does not respond, the applicant is required to file the complaint with the commission.

The commission receives lots of complaints against LDA. The commissioner, therefore, directed the official to appear before the commission and inform about the pending first appeals with him. The official, who is also the first appeals authority of LDA, will have to inform about the duration since when the first appeals are pending and how many such appeals have been disposed off by him.