Deccan
Chronicle: Bangalore: Tuesday, 14 October 2014.
Activists
against corruption and Right To Information (RTI) are staging a protest in
front of the Town Hall on October 15, citing the dismal performance of the
Karnataka Information Commission, particularly its chief A.K.M. Naik.
As per the
RTI Act, the applicant should be provided with necessary details for queries
within 30 days. If not, an RTI applicant is eligible to approach the KIC under
Section 18 of the Act with a complaint and under Section 19(3) of the Act
through Second Appeal under Section 19(1) of RTI Act 2005 for justice, said RTI
activist B.H. Veeresh.
“It is highly regrettable that complaints or
appeals filed before the KIC is being taken up for first hearing after a period
of eight months to one year, depending on the Information Commissioner. This is
against the letter and spirit of RTI Act 2005 and defeats its purpose. The Act
was passed by Parliament to bring in public probity and to curb corruption at
all levels,” he said.
The
commissioners are following their own procedures for hearing the complaints and
to adjourn cases to the next date of hearing. The period of adjournments vary
from one month to six months depending on the Information Commissioner. This
attitude is hurting the RTI activism in the state, he said.
This is grave
injustice both to the RTI Act and RTI applicants. There is enormous delay in
receiving orders as they are being sent to parties only after two to three
months by some commissioners. At least 12,000 cases are pending before the KIC
and the number of complaints filed is more than those disposed of, he said.
No uniformity
is maintained in hearing cases in a particular day. Although Saturday is a
working day, no cases are heard by the commissioners on that day, he said.
Recently, the
Central Information Commission fixed a target of 3200 cases to be disposed of
by a commissioner per year.
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