RTI: Crack the whip on state officials, SIC tells chief secretary

DNA: Mumbai: Saturday, July 04, 2015.

Days after the civic chief instructed corporation officials not to harass citizens seeking information under the Right to Information Act, the state information commissioner (SIC) has directed the chief secretary to take similar action for all government departments.

If followed in letter in spirit, the move may bring smiles on the face of thousands of information seekers from all over Maharashtra who are often made to run from pillar to post while a pursuing an RTI query.

As per the latest communication from SIC Ratnakar Gaikwad to chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya, a compliance of the former's order, which was issued on Thursday, will have be replied by July 31.

The SIC's order was issued after a letter by former central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi to Gaikwad stated that the attitude of other public information officers (PIOs) of the state was no different from BMC babus and there was an urgent need to correct it.

In a terse warning to the civic staffers, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta had warned his staff of not harassing RTI applicants. Over a period of time, civic officials had made it a feature of sorts to not provide information or instead ask applicants to inspect the records at BMC offices.

The trouble did not end there. When applicants turned up for inspection, officials would be either missing or provide them with a pile of papers with no indexation for applicants to find relevant information from. In its circular, Mehta had directed them to not ask applicants to come and inspect files if they have not specifically asked for inspection and give the information in writing.

Where information is voluminous, Mehta's missive added, the applicant should be given a file with an index of pages marked for his perusal. Other directives like giving three days of option for citizens to choose for file inspection and handing over responsibility to some other officer if the PIO has to go out for some work were stated in the circular.

"I congratulate the information chief for taking this step. Citizens and public information officers should be aware of this. Citizens should carry this circular with them and have it implemented," said Gandhi. Kshatriya did not respond to message sent by dna.