Indian Express: Pune: Monday,
October 31, 2016.
The Right to
Information (RTI) Act is often hailed as the most important piece of
legislation for empowering the common citizen, but its very existence in
Maharashtra seems to be under threat.
According to
the 10th annual report of the State Information Commission (SIC), a major
challenge facing the implementation of the RTI Act is “ignorance” about the
landmark legislation among public information officers (PIOs) and Appellate
Authorities (AAs).
The
recently-released report, which analyses the RTI trends in the state, slams the
government agencies in no uncertain manner about the level of knowledge of
these officials.
“It is
observed that majority of the PIOs and AAs are ignorant on how to deal with RTI
applications or how to provide information. Also, the orders of the AA are
often ignored,” stated the report.
Both PIOs and
the AAs play a crucial role in implementing the RTI Act. The PIO is the first
line of contact with the common man, and the officer has to deal with RTI
applications seeking information on numerous issues.
In case the
PIO fails to provide information on time or the applicant is not satisfied with
the information provided, the AA often a senior officer in the department steps
in.
The Appellate
Authority can conduct hearings on the matter and give directions which have to
be followed. If the applicant is still dissatisfied, he/she can move the State
Information Commission for a second appeal hearing. But due to the high rate of
pendency, it is a time-consuming process and it often takes two or more years for
hearings to take place.
Currently,
there are 38,441 cases pending before the seven benches of the SIC in
Maharashtra. RTI users in the state have often complained about denial of
information on frivolous grounds.
The main
cause of the problem is the increasing number of PIOs and AAs in the government
offices, said RTI activist Vivek Velankar.
“When the Act
was first introduced, there were fewer PIOs and AAs, and most of them were
senior officers who implemented the Act seriously. Now, the number of PIOs and
AAs has increased, which has taken a toll on the quality of implementation of
the Act,” he said.
The state
government had 78,297 PIOs and 24,274 AAs, according to the 10th annual report.
.JPG)
.JPG)
