The Wire: Ahmedabad: Wednesday, May 02, 2018.
From West
Bengal taking an average of 43 years to dispose an appeal filed under the Right
to Information Act and Kerala functioning with a single information
commissioner to the Centre not filling four vacant posts in the Central
Information Commission (CIC), several attempts by the powers that be to scuttle
the transparency movement were highlighted at a recent public hearing.
Organised by
Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) and the National Campaign for People’s Right to
Information, the meet noted that information commissions were set up at the
central level and in the states “to safeguard and facilitate people’s
fundamental right to information”, but RTI users are finding it increasingly
difficult to access information through them for a variety of reasons.
The speakers
pointed out that while between 40-60 lakh RTI applications are filed each year
across the country as people seek information ranging from accountability in
basic entitlements to conduct of the high ranking officials the functioning of
information commissions remains a major bottleneck in the effective
implementation of the Act.
In addition
to a large number of RTI activists, the meet was also attended by chief
information commissioner R. K. Mathur, who, on its sidelines, pointed out that
little was known about when the vacancies in the CIC would be filled since
there has been no response from the Centre on this issue.
Anjali
Bharadwaj of the SNS said, “The first of the four vacancies had occurred in
December 2016 and the non-appointment of commissioners was hindering the work
of the CIC and adversely impacting the right to information.”
She also
spoke about the release of a recent report brought out by SNS and Centre for
Equity Studies that raised several concerns regarding the performance of
information commissions in India. Titled ‘Report Card of Information
Commissions in India’, the report has highlighted issues of delays, the skewed
composition of information commissions, vacancies, lack of penalty imposition
and lack of transparency in the functioning of information commissions.
The event
also saw a large number of RTI users and activists from 14 states narrating
their experiences about how the functioning of the commissions had impacted the
flow of information to them.
Appeal
heard after nine years in West Bengal
RTI activist
Amitava Choudhury testified about the problems related to the information
commission in West Bengal, where, as per the ‘Report Card,’ it would take
nearly 43 years for disposal of an appeal. He said that when he filed an
application under the RTI Act on March 28, 2008, seeking information on the
names and designations of persons connected with the appointment related
activities of the West Bengal College Service Commission, no information was
provided to him. Subsequently, he said, he filed a complaint before the West
Bengal State Information Commission on February 25, 2009. The complaint was finally
heard on March 7, 2018 nine years after it was filed.
14,000
appeals, one commissioner to attend
In the case of
Kerala, where only one information commissioner is working at present, activist
Abey George said the situation was abysmal as nearly 14,000 appeals and
complaints are pending with the commission and it takes several years for a
matter to come up for disposal. He said the RTI Act is used mostly by the poor
and marginalised to access their basic rights and entitlements and therefore,
it is crucial that appeals and complaints are disposed of in a timely manner
for people to get justice.
No
functional information commission in Andhra Pradesh
Chakradhar,
an RTI activist from Andhra Pradesh, testified that the state hasn’t had a
functional state information commission for the past 11 months and as a result,
citizens were being denied their right to information. After the bifurcation of
the state of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, it was pointed out, the state information
commission of Andhra Pradesh continued to function as the information
commission for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. However, the commission became
defunct in May 2017 when the serving commissioners retired and no new
commissioners were appointed to replace them.
A mother’s
16-month wait for caste certificate
In Delhi too,
the situation is no better as the Central Information Commission grapples with
a shortage of hands. A resident, Reena, testified that even though 16 months
have passed since she filed a second appeal in the CIC, the matter was yet to
come up for disposal.
A single
mother from Dakshinpuri, she had applied for caste certificates for her
children. She was told by the Revenue Department that she needed to produce the
caste certificate of the father of the children as a mother’s caste certificate
would not suffice. Reena had then filed an RTI request in June 2016, seeking
information about the documents required for applying for a caste certificate
for children and the procedure to be followed in case a single mother is not in
possession of the father’s caste certificate. She filed a second appeal to the
CIC on November 30, 2016. However, her matter has still not been taken up for
disposal.
Penalty
imposed only in 4.1% of liable cases
Another
resident of Delhi, Kusumlata, testified how she had filed an RTI application
seeking information about her pension, which was suddenly stopped without her
being informed. She was provided incomplete information, which was also
confirmed by the First Appellate Authority. Despite non-compliance with the
orders of the First Appellate Authority, the CIC refused to impose a penalty.
In fact, the
hearing had also highlighted the issue of lack of penalty imposition and lack
of follow-up. The ‘Report Card’ on information commissions had also alluded to
this aspect. It noted that of all the cases in which penalty can be imposed, it
was done so in only 4.1% of them. Several others at the hearing also testified
that despite clear violations of the RTI Act, the information commissions were
reluctant to impose penalties and that this had promoted a culture of impunity
and encouraged public information officers to take liberties with the RTI Act.
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