Times of India: Ranchi: Thursday,
April 07, 2016.
The Right to
Information activists alleged that public information officers (PIO) stonewall
against their legitimate queries and delay replies to their applications for
unreasonable length of time at the open session of a state-level workshop
organized on Right to Information Act in Sri Krishna Institute of Public
Administration (SKIPA) on Tuesday. The workshop was organized by SKIPA in
association with the department of personnel and training, government of India
for ensuring greater transparency and effective implementation of the RTI act.
"The
PIOs routinely try to stonewall information sought by applicants under the RTI
act. They either delay in parting with the information or give wrong
information. The first appellate officers also routinely delay in disposing off
the application. Only 5% of RTI requests are answered on time in the
state," alleged Deepesh Nirala, an RTI activist and advocate in Jharkhand
high court during the session.
Taking
cognizance of the issue, Aditya Swaroop, chief information commissioner,
Jharkhand assured action against the erring first appellate officers. "The
Jharkhand State Information Commission (JSIC) is empowered to take punitive
action against the first appellate authorities under section 20 (subsection 1
& 2) who fail to dispose off complaints in the time stipulated in the RTI
act. We will write to initiate disciplinary proceedings against such officers
in cases which will come to our notice from now on," said Aditya Swaroop.
Acknowledging
the the problem, Himanshu Shekhar Chaudhary, information commissioner, said
that even officers as high as from IAS cadre are forced to to resort to RTI to
derive information from various departments. "This, in itself, is a naked
example of how bureaucracy is working in Jharkhand," Chaudhary added.
Noted RTI
activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal called on PIOs, first appellate officers and
RTI activists to use act to root out corruption from the system at the
workshop. "While everyone feels that RTI act is a great tool to eliminate
corruption, most of the people are still hesitant to use the power of RTI. The
act, when used correctly, is a great measure to ensure greater transparency in
the working of the governmentThe onus for the same is also on PIOs and
appellate authorities to ensure timely disposal of the applications,"
Subhash said.
During a
state level workshop on RTI act organised at ATI on Tuesday. The participants,
including RTI activists and PIOs cleared their misconceptions and called for
speedy disposal of pending requests with various departments.
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