Ahmedabad
Mirror: Ahmedabad: Saturday, 02 January 2016.
Right to
Information Act was instituted in 2005 as a powerful tool in the hands of
average citizens. However, reality is quite different as the empowered body
Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) lacks power to pull up errant officials of
various government departments or government-instituted entities like
universities. The nodal body has the right to impose fine on Public Information
Officials (PIOs) or grant compensation to the aggrieved party but no right to
recover penalty imposed. A finding by Mirror shows that a majority of penalised
PIOs have not paid fines to GIC till date. Fine imposed on the official is
collected by GIC and goes to the government treasury while compensation is
payable to the aggrieved party by the official.
ONLY 149
PAY FINES
Mirror has
found that out of 367 cases, where PIOs were penalised or compensation granted,
from RTI's inception till December 18, 2015, only 149 have paid the fines. In
other words, only Rs 13 lakh has been recovered as fine or compensation out of
total dues of Rs 42 lakh.
WHAT RTI
ALLOWS
RTI Bill was
passed by Parliament on June 15, 2005 and it became a law on October 12, 2005.
Gujarat government set up GIC in October 2005, under the RTI Act. Under the
Act, any citizen may request information from a "public authority" (a
body of Government or "instrumentality of State") which is required
to reply expeditiously or within thirty days. The Act also requires every
public authority to computerise records for wide dissemination, proactively in
certain categories, so that citizens need minimum recourse to request for
information formally. RTI Act has also made provisions for penalising those
officers who fail to provide information till the deadline or who do not
provide proper information despite repeated directives.
A GIC
official said, "Commission has powers to issue orders in certain cases
imposing fines under Section 20 (1) of Right to Information Act, 2005. These
fines are imposed on officers who fail to provide proper and timely information
to applicants. The fines range from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000."
"Applicant has to appeal in the court when compensation is not paid. Many
a time the compensation amount is lesser than the cost of appeal. Gujarat
University (GU) has not paid Rs 25,000 fine imposed on it in five cases as
there's no guideline for recovery. GU also has not paid Rs 5,000 compensation
to me."
HOW RTI
WORKS
An applicant
seeking information from a particular state government department or an
organisation instituted by the government files the RTI application before the
public information officer (PIO). If not satisfied, the applicant can approach
the appeal officer, who is usually the head of the concerned department. If
still not satisfied with the information then the applicant can approach GIC,
the nodal body to address all RTI related queries. GIC has powers to issue
directives to the head of the department or levy fine on PIO or grant
compensation to the applicant.
FACTFILES
· In 2013-14 GIC disposed of 11,149 cases. Out of them
penalties were imposed in 26 cases totaling Rs 4.45 lakh. Of these 26 cases, 19
were appeals while 7 were complaint- related cases." Majority of fine
remains uncollected.
· As per existing provisions of RTI Act, GIC can only issue
orders to give information, levy fine or order compensation. GIC has no right
to pursue it and ensure its implementation. Besides, as per recent High Court
order GIC cannot carry out re-hearing or re-appeal.
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