The Indian Express: Ahmedabad: Sunday, 26 March 2023.
In its annual report for the year 2021-22 tabled in Gujarat Assembly on March 24 the Commission also suggested stricter penalties against Public Information Officers for breach of provisions of RTI Act, 2005.
The Gujarat Information Commission has recommended to the state government to increase the Right to Information (RTI) application fee to a maximum of Rs 100 from the Rs 20 charged currently.
In its annual report for the year 2021-22 tabled in Gujarat Assembly on March 24 the Commission also suggested stricter penalties against Public Information Officers for breach of provisions of RTI Act, 2005.
“Even after almost 17 years of implementing the Right to Information Act, 2005, the filing fee is currently Rs 20 only,” the Commission stated while recommending the application fee to be raised by Rs 50 to Rs 100. “The page limit should be fixed for providing free of charge information,” it added suggesting a limit of 15 pages for providing information without any charges.
Recommending stricter action against erring public information officers, the commission stated, “The provision has been made for penalty of maximum Rs 25,000 under Section-20 (1) of the Right to Information Act. Even after nearly 17 years of implementation of the said law, there has been no increase in the amount of penalty. Public information officers are not serious about taking action within time limit, due to this very small penalty.” The commission also recommended a system to be put in place where the penal action taken against Public Information Officers under the Act should be highlighted or mentioned in the confidential report of the official.
“Public information officers are punished, but in their confidential report, there is no provision for mentioning or highlighting that fact. For better implementation of this Act, the commission recommends that a system be put in place to take note of the penal action against the Public Information Officer under the said Act,” it said.
The Commission stated that during hearing of 7,435 appeals and complaints during 2021-22, it imposed penalty of over Rs 8.9 lakh on Public Information Officers in 99 cases for breach of provisions of the Act. This include officials of Surat Municipal Corporation, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Metro Cooperative Bank Ltd, Surat, among others. The commission also recommended strict against against Public Information Officers for not transferring all records to the new officer in an event of a transfer.
During the financial year, the Gujarat Information Commission stated that it received 97,999 RTI applications of which 72 per cent of the applications were related to home department (33%), Urban Development and Urban Housing (29.38%) and Revenue department (9.3%). The Commission pointed out that the low number of applications received by departments including Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department (291 applications), Health and Family Welfare (941 applications) and Narmada, water resources and water supply department required “scrutiny”.
“The number of applications received under the RTI Act is much lower in some departments where important work of providing work to the people is undertaken,” the Commission stated.
In its annual report for the year 2021-22 tabled in Gujarat Assembly on March 24 the Commission also suggested stricter penalties against Public Information Officers for breach of provisions of RTI Act, 2005.
The Gujarat Information Commission has recommended to the state government to increase the Right to Information (RTI) application fee to a maximum of Rs 100 from the Rs 20 charged currently.
In its annual report for the year 2021-22 tabled in Gujarat Assembly on March 24 the Commission also suggested stricter penalties against Public Information Officers for breach of provisions of RTI Act, 2005.
“Even after almost 17 years of implementing the Right to Information Act, 2005, the filing fee is currently Rs 20 only,” the Commission stated while recommending the application fee to be raised by Rs 50 to Rs 100. “The page limit should be fixed for providing free of charge information,” it added suggesting a limit of 15 pages for providing information without any charges.
Recommending stricter action against erring public information officers, the commission stated, “The provision has been made for penalty of maximum Rs 25,000 under Section-20 (1) of the Right to Information Act. Even after nearly 17 years of implementation of the said law, there has been no increase in the amount of penalty. Public information officers are not serious about taking action within time limit, due to this very small penalty.” The commission also recommended a system to be put in place where the penal action taken against Public Information Officers under the Act should be highlighted or mentioned in the confidential report of the official.
“Public information officers are punished, but in their confidential report, there is no provision for mentioning or highlighting that fact. For better implementation of this Act, the commission recommends that a system be put in place to take note of the penal action against the Public Information Officer under the said Act,” it said.
The Commission stated that during hearing of 7,435 appeals and complaints during 2021-22, it imposed penalty of over Rs 8.9 lakh on Public Information Officers in 99 cases for breach of provisions of the Act. This include officials of Surat Municipal Corporation, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Metro Cooperative Bank Ltd, Surat, among others. The commission also recommended strict against against Public Information Officers for not transferring all records to the new officer in an event of a transfer.
During the financial year, the Gujarat Information Commission stated that it received 97,999 RTI applications of which 72 per cent of the applications were related to home department (33%), Urban Development and Urban Housing (29.38%) and Revenue department (9.3%). The Commission pointed out that the low number of applications received by departments including Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department (291 applications), Health and Family Welfare (941 applications) and Narmada, water resources and water supply department required “scrutiny”.
“The number of applications received under the RTI Act is much lower in some departments where important work of providing work to the people is undertaken,” the Commission stated.
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