Times of
India: Chennai: Saturday, August 31, 2019.
The
Tamil Nadu government will have to respond to the Supreme Court on establishing
a portal through which citizens would be able to file RTIs, after a plea was
heard earlier this week. However, RTI applicants have been raising the demand
for at least five years in the state, on the lines of what is available for
central government departments.
The
RTI activists have made a renewed demand for the same, but pointed out that the
state government is loath to do it, as it would have to answer more queries
from citizens. “Keeping the process manual is useful for government authorities
as it can feign ignorance about receiving RTIs. Also, many people avoid filing
RTIs as they have to go through the rigmarole of buying a court fee stamp of Rs
10 or pay through demand draft, etc,” said Pavan K Gandhi, a law student and an
RTI expert.
As
per government statistics, the state’s various agencies received nearly four
lakh RTI petitions in 2015. Ironically, this is the latest data put out by the
TN State Information Commission (TNSIC), whose annual reports for the past
three years have not yet been made public. Making it online would increase the
number of RTIs filed, which the government doesn’t want, said TNSIC sources. “A
former chief information commissioner, in fact, recommended this to the state
government, which has not taken it seriously,” said a source in the agency.
In
Tamil Nadu, only second appeals can be filed online now. The process of filing
RTIs and first appeals is still manual. Compare this to central government
agencies, where one can file RTIs on rtionline.gov.in and pay digitally. The
first and second appeals can also be filed online. The tedious process of
printing out the RTI on paper, arranging payment of Rs 10 and posting it is
avoided and citizens feel encouraged to file more RTIs.
This
process is more organized and people don’t need to take pains to keep track of
it, said P Nakkeeran, treasurer of Arappor Iyakkam, who has used RTI to bring
to light many scams. “Public information officers would become more accountable
if the system is online. Government doesn’t want it,” he said.
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