Free Press Journal: Bhopal: Thursday,
October 13, 2016.
Parliament in
June 2005 passed the Right to Information (RTI) Act and it came fully into
force on October 12. More than a decade has passed now but the number of filed
RTI applications has not shown much increase. When it comes to filing an RTI,
we see mostly RTI activists making use of this essential tool. Even after being
one of the most effective tools, which has been the base of bringing out many
major scams, why RTI is still not being used widely by the people?.
Colonel
Shriraj Singh, who filed an RTI to find the allocation and distribution of a
private property by Police department of Rewa district, said, “I had to file 24
RTI application for getting the basic information about the distribution of a
private property. If you ask me why there is so less number of common man
filing RTI applications, I can tell you numerous reasons for that through my
experience. When you file an RTI, you are asked so many clarifications and
resubmissions that it is very likely that you will drop the idea. I myself had filed
24 RTI for a single cause. After you file an RTI, the replies given are
ambiguous and unsatisfactory. Also, the time consumed and the amount of money
spent becomes unbearable for the common man. It took 2 years for the judgment
by chief information commissioner (CIC) at Bhopal and I had to travel from
Kashmir, where I was posted, for my hearing since I was defending my own case.
In Madhya Pradesh, there is a huge shortage of staff at CIC. A single hearing
takes 5-6 months and obviously, you can very easily sense the biased behaviour
of the CIC, when you question the government.”
RTI activist
Rolly Shivhare, says that she receives 2-3 calls per day from people seeking
information about filing RTI. “I would not say that people are not filing RTI
pleas, I would rather agree to the fact that people are not aware about the
format of filing RTI application. Drafting an RTI application is a very
technical task and offices reject RTI on the basis of minor mistakes at RTI.
Also, recently High Court ordered that you cannot ask question in RTI. A common
man who is trying to get his pension, can only ask why he is not being given
his pension. The government is trying to weaken this tool by bringing such
loopholes in the Act, which we are opposing. Since, it is for the common man,
it shouldn’t be in a format which the common man cannot understand”, said
Rolly.
Mahesh
Bhamore, an MPhill student, said that it does not matters how many RTIs you
file, the officials know how to waste your time, money and future. “I filed
more than 30 RTIs at Makhanlal University and wrote many letters to PM, CM,
CIC, SIC but nothing happened. I have written 24 letters requesting replies to
my RTI but as usual, no one bothers about the law. The one replied by, are so
not the exact answers demanded in RTI and this probably is the main reason why
people are not using this tool. I am using it because I have no other option”,
said Mahesh.
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