Moneylife: Mumbai: Wednesday, June 20, 2018.
“Public
Information Officers (PIOs) are humans and should develop a friendly rapport
with Right to Information (RTI) applicants because this will go a long way for
betterment of governance and delivery of necessary information,” says RTI
activist Anil Galgali. He was speaking at a special workshop organised for PIOs
by Moneylife Foundation’s RTI Centre at Port Management Training Centre (PMTC)
located in Mazgaon, Mumbai.
Addressing an
inquisitive symposium of CPIOs from various departments of Ministry of Surface
Transport and Shipping, Mr Galgali says, “Sometimes even the PIOs erroneously
provide incorrect information to applicants and fail to realise it until the
applicant informs them. Now if the applicant had brought the same to the notice
of the PIO’s higher authorities then it would have been a menace for that PIO
himself. In such cases, cordial approach between the PIO and RTI applicant
proves beneficial for both.”
Sharing his
experience while seeking information under RTI about the Kamala Mills fire, Mr
Galgali said, “There were hundreds of RTI applications filed by numerous people
on the same issue of Kamala Mills incident. However, owing to my long cherished
association with the concerned PIO, I received the information within seven
days while others had to wait for the stipulated period of 30 days.”
“We know that
the PIOs in certain cases have to seek resort for using dilatory tactics or
reject information on ambiguous grounds and we also know that many times, this
is done unintentionally. Very few times this is done to save from revelations
omissions or wrongdoings of senior officials. But I would strongly recommend you
to disclose information as required in accordance to section 4 of the RTI Act.
This will also help reduce your burden of applications and make your work and
life simpler.”
Taking cue
from the curious PIOs who were been listening to him with rapt attention, he
offered them some helpful tips. Mr Galgali says,
- Reply to the applications at the earliest possible because this is certainly lessening your work in the long-run.
- If the information needs any time for collation, request the applicant to visit you on a particular date and at specific time. Meanwhile, have the records ready for his inspection and if in case of your unavailability, have your colleague informed about such visit, so that he might guide the applicant in case, your busy with any other task or in a meeting.
- Section 11 (third party information) is a procedure and PIO should be able to determine and identify its applicability properly. During First Appellate (FA) hearing, the First Appellate Authority (FAA) should also call such third party to attend the hearing in case if he has replied the PIO to deny the information sought by that applicant.
- If necessary, provide the information or the letter seeking information fee amount to the applicant on e-mail. This will save time and also the postal cost.
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