DNA: Mumbai: Thursday, February 01, 2018.
After the
State Information Commission (SIC) passed a landmark order bringing slum rehab
societies under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, a society has written to
the commission to reconsider it. The society goes is claiming that the
commission should ensure that the order does not affect those who do society
work in an honorary capacity.
The SIC in a
landmark order passed on December 19, 2017 declared that slum rehab cooperative
housing societies are public authorities. It directed that public information
officers be appointed and their names be put up on the website.
Nitin Padave,
secretary of Ghatkopar-based Shri Omkar SRA Cooperative Housing Society, in a
letter to the information commissioner, has asked if the commission has
considered the harassment that could be meted out to the public information
officers thus appointed. The letter is written by the secretary of the society.
Among the
other issues that have been raised are: only those members be allowed to make
RTI applications who clear their dues, and
the others should be allowed to file queries only after they have been
punished for not making timely payments; the commission should clarify what it
will do if an RTI application is filed even after the commission has denied
their application and if people who use the tool to harass other members.
“If these
issues are not addressed, people will not come ahead to take up the honorary
job of the society and the system will collapse,” states the letter.
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