Bengal RTI record among worst

Times of India: Kolkata: Wednesday, May 29, 2013.

The submission of wrong data for finance minister AmitMitra's budget isn't the only embarrassment for the state information commission. Studies by some people's organizations suggests that the mess at WBIC has been getting worse over seven long years.

The panel, headed by Sujit Sarkar, who was appointed state chief information commissioner on December 1, 2010, is one of the worst-run in the country, says a study by anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal.

Kejriwal's Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF) says that disposal of cases in the WBIC "is very low despite huge pendency". According to the RTI Act, failure to provide information within 30 days (40, in special cases ) is considered a refusal.

Another study by citizen's group Indian People's Right for Information and Democracy (IPRID) shows that among the six states in the eastern region, Bengal's performance is the worst. Bengal takes more than six months between the date of filing and the first hearing, while Arunachal takes only a month and Bihar two months.

The study also found that Bengal is placed at the bottom of the table on overall public satisfaction in terms of implementation of the RTI Act. Karnataka tops the list with a satisfaction rating of 55%, followed by Left-ruled Kerala at 52%, Punjab at 47%, and Orissa and Assam at 37% each. West Bengal's rating is a measly 6%. WBIC is hearing petitions filed in 2008 right now.

A day after TOI reported how WBIC misinformed the assembly on the number of its pending cases, RTI activist Anindo Kishor said, "Applications are not even heard in a chronological order at WBIC. No wonder the commission has failed to file annual reports for 2010, 2011 and 2012. Seven years into its inception, the panel has still not managed to audit their expenditure incurred so far." Kishor found this out a year ago through an RTI application.

"Things were bad enough but after 2011, not a single advertisement has been published for inviting applications from the public," he said. State public authorities are also upset as they are required to file the reports again and again, say sources.

RTI applicant Umashankar Sharma said, "I have applications pending before the WBIC since 2012. They didn't even acknowledge the applications and wrote to me that they couldn't do it because of staff shortage. I had submitted an RTI query on December 7 seeking to know about the backlog of cases and they replied on January 8, saying everything was available on the website."

Sharma added, "Their letter to the Bengal government contradicts this reply. So, they must have lied deliberately about the pending cases."

Set up in January 2006 under the RTI Act, WBIC has also drawn flak for abandoning an IT infrastructure development project, funded by the department of personnel and training (DoPT), Government of India, in 2008.

"Only a few computers were bought with the Rs 29.50 lakh sanctioned for the project," said an officer of the state personnel and administrative reforms (P&AR) department.

The project was conceived to track appeals and complaints filed by the RTI applicants, generate reports of disposal in a chronological order and file a host relevant data on the website for public knowledge. The scheme also envisaged the applications being made online.

With the project ending midway, the commission's website has no information on number of the petitions filed. What's more, there's no list of pending cases with the commission despite seven years of its existence.

The mess at the West Bengal Information Commission (WBIC) has mounted over the years. The panel headed by Sujit Sarkar, who was appointed state chief information commissioner on 1 December 2010, has become one of the worst-run in the country, as a study by IRS officer-turned-anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal reveals.

Findings by Kejriwal's Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF) reveal that "Disposal of cases in the West Bengal Information Commission is very low despite huge pendency." As per the RTI Act, failure to provide information within 30 days (in special cases it's 40) is deemed as refusal.

Another study by citizen's group Indian People's Right for Information and Democracy (IPRID) reveals that among the six states in the eastern region, Bengal's performance is the worst. According to the study, Bengal takes more than six months between the date of filing and the first hearing. Arunachal takes only a month and Bihar two months. The study also found that Bengal is placed at the bottom of the table on overall public satisfaction in terms of implementation of the RTI Act. Karnataka tops the list of performing states with satisfaction rating of 55 per cent, followed by the Left-ruled Kerala at 52 per cent, Punjab (47 per cent), Orissa and Assam (each 37 per cent). West Bengal's rating stood at 6 per cent. WBIC is hearing petitions filed in 2008 right now.

A day after TOI reported how WBIC misinformed the state Assembly on number of cases pending with it, RTI activist Anindo Kishor said, "Applications are not even heard in a chronological order at WBIC. No wonder the commission has failed to file annual reports for 2010, 2011 and 2012. Seven years into its inception, the panel has still not managed to audit their expenditure incurred so far." Kishor found this out on filing an RTI application a year ago.

"Things were bad enough already, but after 2011, not a single advertisement has been published for inviting applications from the public," he said. State public authorities are also very upset with the commission as they are required to file the reports again and again.

RTI applicant Umashankar Sharma said, "I have applications pending before the WBIC since 2012. They didn't even acknowledge the applications and wrote to me that they couldn't do it for staff shortage. I had submitted an RTI query on December 7 seeking to know about the backlog of cases and they replied on January 8, saying everything was available on the website."

Sharma added, "Their letter to the Bengal government contradicts with this reply. So they must have lied about the pending cases deliberately."

Set up in January 2006, under the RTI Act, WBIC has also drawn flak for abandoning an IT infrastructure development project funded by the department of personnel and training (DoPT), Government of India in 2008. "Only a few computers were bought from the Rs 29.50 lakhs sanctioned for the project," revealed an officer of the state personnel and administrative reforms (P & AR) department, which deals with matters related to WBIC.

The project was meant to track appeals and complaints filed by the RTI applicants, generate reports of disposal in a chronological order and to file a host relevant data on the website for public knowledge. The scheme also envisaged the applications being made online.

With the project ending midway, the commission's website has no information on number of the petitions filed. What's more, there's no list of pending cases with the commission despite seven years of its existence.