The Hindu: Karnataka: Tuesday, 16 July 2024.
Expressing discontentment
over the poor knowledge of the Right To Information (RTI) Act among government
officials, Ravindra Gurunath Dhakappa, the State Information Commissioner
(Kalaburagi Bench), said that some RTI activists had better knowledge of the
RTI Act than them.
“Poor knowledge of the RTI Act in government officials results in annoyance for applicants who rightfully seek information from public offices. Many government officials have not yet understood the Act. Those who have failed Class 12 have understood the Act better than our officials. Some even misuse the Act to exploit government officials and lead a luxurious life. However, our officials don’t have time to read and understand the RTI Act,” he said, at a workshop organised at Lokopayogi Bhavana in Kalaburagi on Monday. The interactive session was held to sensitise the government officials on the handling the RTI filings.
Speaking on the key aspects of the RTI Act, the commissioner said that the Public Information Officers should respond to the application within 30 days of receiving it.
“Applicants can seek information within the information under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act. If the information sought is available to you, you should provide it within 30 days after receiving the application. If the information is with another department, you should forward the application within five days under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act. You will be held responsible if you keep the application with you even though you don’t have the information. You can transfer the application only once. This provision is made to prevent the Public Information Officers to misuse the Act,” he said.
The Commissioner also described the conditions under which a Public Information Officer could reject an application on valid grounds.
“Public Information Officers can reject an application under Sections 8 and 9 of RTI Act [which empower the information officers to reject the application if it seeks personal information of individuals and the information that is exempted to be disclosed]. If the information sought runs into thousands of rupees, the applicant needs to pay the photocopy charges within 90 days. If he delays, the application stands rejected,” he said.
The Information Commissioner also dealt with the issues related to RTI activists who frequently file applications seeking public information.
“You cannot complain against the people who file hundreds of applications frequently. However, you can consider the human resources, administrative hurdles and work pressure and forward such applications to the Information Commission seeking directions from it. You need to give a copy of such a request to the applicant also. The Court has allowed the government officials to appeal in the Information Commission and you need to make use of it. However, never misuse it to harass the genuine applicants,” he said.
When an officer complained that the higher-level officers, despite having complete information, forward the applications to their subordinate officers just to escape from their duties, the Commissioner said that there was no answer to the internal politics at play within government offices.
Speaking on his experience at the Kalaburagi Bench of the Karnataka Information Commission, the Commissioner termed the Kalaburagi Municipal Corporation as the worst civic body in handling the RTI filings. “Several urban local bodies in seven districts of Kalyana Karnataka fall in the jurisdiction of Kalaburagi Bench. Kalaburagi Corporation is worst among them when it comes to handling RTI filings. I hope that it would correct itself in the future,” he said.
Many government officers from different departments working in different districts of Kalyana Karnataka participated in the session.
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| Ravindra Gurunath Dhakappa, State Information Commissioner (Kalaburagi Bench), speaking at an interactive session on the RTI Act in Kalaburagi. | Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI |
“Poor knowledge of the RTI Act in government officials results in annoyance for applicants who rightfully seek information from public offices. Many government officials have not yet understood the Act. Those who have failed Class 12 have understood the Act better than our officials. Some even misuse the Act to exploit government officials and lead a luxurious life. However, our officials don’t have time to read and understand the RTI Act,” he said, at a workshop organised at Lokopayogi Bhavana in Kalaburagi on Monday. The interactive session was held to sensitise the government officials on the handling the RTI filings.
Speaking on the key aspects of the RTI Act, the commissioner said that the Public Information Officers should respond to the application within 30 days of receiving it.
“Applicants can seek information within the information under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act. If the information sought is available to you, you should provide it within 30 days after receiving the application. If the information is with another department, you should forward the application within five days under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act. You will be held responsible if you keep the application with you even though you don’t have the information. You can transfer the application only once. This provision is made to prevent the Public Information Officers to misuse the Act,” he said.
The Commissioner also described the conditions under which a Public Information Officer could reject an application on valid grounds.
“Public Information Officers can reject an application under Sections 8 and 9 of RTI Act [which empower the information officers to reject the application if it seeks personal information of individuals and the information that is exempted to be disclosed]. If the information sought runs into thousands of rupees, the applicant needs to pay the photocopy charges within 90 days. If he delays, the application stands rejected,” he said.
The Information Commissioner also dealt with the issues related to RTI activists who frequently file applications seeking public information.
“You cannot complain against the people who file hundreds of applications frequently. However, you can consider the human resources, administrative hurdles and work pressure and forward such applications to the Information Commission seeking directions from it. You need to give a copy of such a request to the applicant also. The Court has allowed the government officials to appeal in the Information Commission and you need to make use of it. However, never misuse it to harass the genuine applicants,” he said.
When an officer complained that the higher-level officers, despite having complete information, forward the applications to their subordinate officers just to escape from their duties, the Commissioner said that there was no answer to the internal politics at play within government offices.
Speaking on his experience at the Kalaburagi Bench of the Karnataka Information Commission, the Commissioner termed the Kalaburagi Municipal Corporation as the worst civic body in handling the RTI filings. “Several urban local bodies in seven districts of Kalyana Karnataka fall in the jurisdiction of Kalaburagi Bench. Kalaburagi Corporation is worst among them when it comes to handling RTI filings. I hope that it would correct itself in the future,” he said.
Many government officers from different departments working in different districts of Kalyana Karnataka participated in the session.
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