CIC suggests help desks to cut number of RTI petitions

Times of India: Chennai: Friday, October 07, 2016.

Though the Right to Information Act (RTI) is a powerful law, in Tamil Nadu it is being used more to address grievances than to ask for information, said chief information commissioner K Ramanujam on Thursday. He suggested that all government departments set up help desk in their offices to reduce the huge number of such RTI queries. "Another option can be to list the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on your website."

Speaking at a workshop organised by the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission (TNSIC) at the Anna Institute of Management (AIM), Ramanujam said, "There is a vast difference in perception between information seekers and givers about what constitutes information. This creates a dissatisfaction or disaffection among RTI applicants. In my opinion, the Act should have been named the Right to Copies and Records Act,"

Ramanujam produced statistics collected from government departments which showed that between 2010 and 2014, 16.25 lakh RTI applications were filed. Of these, 32 per cent were filed with the revenue department, 17 per cent with the home department, seven per cent with the rural development department six per cent with schools.

"Fifty per cent of the RTI applications filed with the revenue and home departments are not only because people want to expose corruption. It's also because here people use the RTI more to redress grievances," Ramanujam said.

For probably the first time, a large number of RTI applicants, public information officers (PIOs) from state government departments and members of civil society like advocates were invited for the day-long session. Retired Madras high court judge Justice K Chandru and vice-chancellor of TN Ambedkar Law University P Vanangamudi participated in the sessions.

Apart from presentations on case studies, there were talks by RTI activists like R Natarajan and Sai Yashodharan and PIOs like S Rajendran from the AIM and K Razeeya from the commercial taxes department. Each person spoke about the challenges with respect to the RTI Act from their perspective; Ramanujam offered the SIC's perspective.