Times
of India: Chennai: Thursday, 07 August 2014.
From giving
winding replies that evade logic to leaving gaping spaces against several
questions or just resorting to their favourite tactic -pretending the envelopes
never landed on their table-state government officials are notorious for
evading questions under the Right to Information Act. Just when one thought it
couldn't get worse, RTI activists say several departments have muffled
officials even more during the ongoing assembly session.
"I filed
at least 10 RTI petitions in June to the revenue department, civil supplies
department and Chennai Corporation. I am yet to hear from them. Every time I
call the public information officers, they say they are busy collating data for
the assembly session," said Chennai-based activist V Gopalakrishnan. He
said there was no provision under the RTI Act which says information can be
delayed or denied during the assembly session. "It is part of their du ty.
Do police stop patrolling just because the assembly is in progress," asked
Gopalakrishnan, who has been filing RTI petitions since 2007. During elections
and the Assembly session, RTI replies are often delayed as the government
doesn't want to give ammunition to the Opposition, he said.
A recent RTI
application filed by TOI with Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage
Board is a case in point. An official who replied to a query on the city's
desalination plants without it being vetted by seniors came under fire. Another
official said they were instructed to delay replies to RTI applications till
August 1, when water was scheduled to be discussed in the assembly. "We
collect data for the minister to make announcements in the assembly. If the
media plays up an RTI response, we may not have answers to questions raised by
the Opposition," said the official.
Another RTI
filed by TOI in the transport department came a day after the topic of
transport was debated in the assembly. Activists say this is no coincidence.
"The gag
on junior officials doesn't surprise me. Our bureaucracy has been tuned to not
respond to RTIs," said Vijay Anand, co-founder of 5th Pillar, an NGO. He
said departments at the secretariat level were more reluctant to reply to RTIs.
Siva Elango
of Satta Panchayat Iyyakkam said an RTI he filed in June on the number of
ration card beneficiaries and those still waiting for it is pending.
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