The
Times of India: New Delhi: Friday, October 12, 2012.
Around three
years ago Sanno Devi's husband died, leaving her as the sole bread winner.
Sanno Devi is deaf and mute and has a twelve-year-old son to look after. To
make matters worse, the local authorities discontinued her ration supply last
year, making it impossible for her to make ends meet.
"I was
getting subsidized ration on my card. In November last year, the authorities
stopped issuing ration without giving any reason. We filed an RTI with the food
department, along with 13 such similar cases, and were informed that our card
number was wrong," said Ashok Kumar of Satark Nagrik Sangathan who had
filed Sanno Devi's application and interprets for her.
"We had
asked for further information but there was no response. A second appeal was
made in March this year but to no use. Sanno Devi continues to buy her ration
in black," added Kumar.
While Sanno
Devi awaits the resumption of her ration, another person awaits justice for his
mother. Even before the information commissioners could address the problem of
Ghanshyam's mother, the woman died. Ghanshyam had applied an RTI to know why
his mother's pension had been discontinued by the municipal agencies.
These were
some of the many cases that were discussed at a public hearing organized by
the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) on Thursday.
The meet, held a day before the annual convention of state and central
information commissioners, was attended by around 400 RTI users from 16 states.
The basic idea was to discuss the various vices plaguing the system and
recommend a resolution for better functioning.
The primary
problem highlighted was the number of applications and cases pending with the
information commissioners. "The RTI was one of the celebrated laws to have
been passed. But now the implementation has caused various road blocks. The
number of cases with the information commissioners continues to rise. Even
though the commissioners, in an internal order, had decided to clear 3,200
cases per commissioner annually, the implementation hasn't been up to the
mark," said Anjali Bhardwaj, co-convener of NCPRI.
According to
an RTI application that Bhardwaj had filed, the replies had clearly shown that
the commission has not kept proper records. "Through an RTI we tried to
find out how many cases had commissioners disposed off in a year. And the
commission gave us three sets of figures for some they did not have the break
up of appeals and cases disposed, while for some the figures changed on
re-application," Bhardwaj added.
Emphasizing
the problems of appointment of commissioners, attack on activists, non
imposition of penalties etc, the activists decided on a resolution for better
functioning of the information commission. Some of the recommendations are having a time-bound mechanism for disposing off cases, publish the status of
cases on websites and to be objective in the appointment of commissioners.
Former CIC
Wajahat Habibullah, however, said that a time-bound mechanism can help root out
problems. "The only way one can ensure the effective implementation of law
is by properly implementing Section 4 of the law. This will reduce the burden
on commissioners as fewer RTI applications will come in," he said.
Section 4 of
RTI Act talks about proactive dissemination of information that is accessible
to public. The present CIC, Deepak Sandhu, invited the activists for a ten-day
meet in December to discuss the compliance of Section 4 of the Act.
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