The EN
Bulletin: Belagavi: Friday, November 30, 2018.
Government
should not to applicants citing unavailability of related files, said ,
commissioner of Karnataka State Information Commission.
If
information is denied citing such reasons, there is a provision to initiate
legal action against such officers, he added. He was speaking at a on organized
for information officers and first appellate authority at the ZP Hall here on
Thursday.
Patil
said every government office is supposed to preserve files for a prescribed
duration. Even though files are damaged, they can be regenerated. Protection of
government documents is the responsibility of officials, he said.
“Providing
information to applicants will become easy if officers study five-six sections
of the RTI Act. The penalty will increase if applications are neglected.
Embarrassment to senior officers can be avoided if junior officers do work
efficiently,” the commissioner said.
Patil
said officers can also give information about private institutions if it is
available in the office. However, they can’t provide personal information about
anybody including government officials.
Officers
can provide a list of beneficiaries of government schemes with permission of
the beneficiaries concerned since it’s an information of a third party, he
added.
Provide
data online
Patil
suggested officers to upload all information related to their department on the
website voluntarily, which can reduce RTI applications up to 70%. Patil said
there is no need of providing information in a manual form if it is available
online.
Provision
to penalize applicants
Patil
said penalties in the RTI Act applies to applicants too. The information
commission won’t tolerate the misuse of the Act. There are provisions in the
Act to penalize the applicant if the asked information is not for public use,
he said.
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