The Hindu: Visakhapatnam: Sunday,
May 08, 2016.
The Right to
Information Act must not be misused and it is important to see its proper
implementation rather than spreading awareness, Central Information
Commissioner Madabhushi Sridhar Acharya said here on Saturday.
To question
is the base of the Act and information is needed to raise a question. An
enlightened citizen should start questioning to make society aware of its
rights, Mr. Sridhar said while participating in a seminar on RTI Act attended
by RTI activists from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
He quoted
cases while explaining several points of the Act and how it should be used.
Privacy limit might be crossed while getting details of a spouse’s income and
assets but it should stop there and no personal details should be sought, he
said and also wanted the activists to read the RTI Act along with court’s
judgments and the Constitution while the advocates are required to give the
correct information to their clients.
Documentary
evidence was important to nail down an errant professional, businessman or
organisation, the Central Commissioner said.
He explained
how a 16-year-old girl in America has preserved a newspaper advertisement of a
cigarette company assuring smoking of its brand of cigarettes would not cause
cancer, and also receipts of purchase of cigarettes for more than 40 years to
file a case against the manufacturer when she contracted cancer. She received
$26 billion as compensation.
Thanks to the
RTI Act, doctors and advocates are now afraid of being pulled up for their
faults, he said.
State
convener Kandregula Venkata Ramana of the Public Forum, which organised the
seminar, presided. CEO of Zilla Praja Parishad R. Jayaprakash Narayan, Director
of GITAM School of Law Y. Satyanarayana, and others spoke on different aspects.
RTI activists
from AP and Telangana explained their success stories.
Sridhar says
documentary evidence is important to nail down an errant professional,
businessman or organisation.
.JPG)
.JPG)
