Catch News: New Delhi: Thursday,
August 04, 2016.
For quite
some time, successive governments have been complaining that people have been
misusing the Right to Information Act either on frivolous grounds or to settle
petty grudges.
They argue
that people also file RTI applications against VIPs, such as the Prime
Minister's Office, or even the President just for the sake of gaining cheap
publicity rather than public.
Now, the
Chief Information Commission, headed by Prof Madhabushi Sridhar Acharayulu, has
passed an order which could stem this rot. Take the case of Dr RS Gupta, a
teacher of English who had been seeking permanent employment in a government
school in Delhi.
Gupta had
filed successive RTI applications with the office of the Lieutenant Governor of
Delhi, whereas he ought to have approached the Directorate of Education
instead. The LG's office kept transferring the applications to the education
department, but Gupta went on pestering the LG's office.
Reprimanding
Gupta for wasting public money - it costs Rs 50 to transfer each application from
one department to another - the CIC also hauled him up for making government
officials squander time which could be used for more productive purposes.
Moreover, it
observed that "Thanks to deliberate and improper use of the Right to
Information Act applications by literate persons, high offices such as those of
the Prime Minister, President and Vice-President have become mere
post-offices.'
In addition,
Prof Acharyulu also directed the Department of Personnel and Training - the
nodal agency for implementing the RTI Act - to frame necessary and appropriate
guidelines to "tackle" the RTI applications filed by those hailing
from BPL (Below Poverty Line) backgrounds and those who are illiterate.