Re: [rti_india] Re: What have we done to deserve such dumb ICs in the CIC ?

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Re: [rti_india] Re: What have we done to deserve such dumb ICs in the CIC ?

Dear Sarabjit, Manoj

Thank you for cautioning

I am a little confused on my own amateurish understanding of
RTI.

May I be enlightened, in the light of the fact that an RTI applicant need not give reason/s for his seeking information, on the significance of appeals to which one is subjected to, some times may be for years? Whomever I have asked this question they have just been evasive !
On the same ground a hearing also has no relevance exept pressing for the applied info. To me it appears just superfluous and therefore avoidable. If an applicant is denied information at the first instance after 30 or more mandatory days let the appellate authorities assess the application and send a final answer(a ritual at that) if it has to be so! If appeal is a must a common man's mettle has a limitation besides the fear of expenses and lose of productive time used for his lively hood. Rich, affluent, celebrities and people who matter, powers that be, all appear to be never requiring any information, may be they can get all those just for the asking, say a phone call!! I have also reason to believe, if a sensitive info is asked, that the file undergoes the great Indian disappearing act and if consequences are grave it is even destroyed! So long as there is no one 'accountable' for the missing file it is easy for the authorities to say we are "searching" for the file! A few trips to follow up the same can blunt the enthusiasm of even the fierce activist, who cannot replace his means of lively hood with chasing information this way, I am afraid.

It would throw a lot of light, I feel, if a study of the class and kind of people who seek information, their grievance, experience etc.are made!

If my expression of thoughts in this link is not desirable please tell me so !

Iyer GA

--- On Mon, 19/7/10, sarbajit roy <mail.sarbajitroy@gmail.com> wrote:

From: sarbajit roy <mail.sarbajitroy@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [rti_india] Re: What have we done to deserve such dumb ICs in the CIC ?
To: rti_india@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, 19 July, 2010, 6:50 PM

Dear Manoj

We moderators (like an IC or 2 we know) exercise some discrimination (discernment) when it comes to flexing our powers. Anyway I'm glad that RTI_India users are also interested in preserving this sacred space for RTI discourse in the absence of the moderators., .

Mr Iyer cannot be blamed for not knowing our group rules (or our group philosophy). We stand for "home delivery" of information free of cost. When the public authority does not home deliver within "39 minutes or free", we land up at his restaurant, place our order and generally
make a nuisance of ourselves.

The way we do this, and your moderators - note the plural please - are masters of this, is like so. See this VERY IMPORTANT archived post for guidance
http://old.nabble. com/Responsible- Use-of-RTI- --Part-2- ts26073314. html#a26073314

Not only did the First Appellate Authority of the CabSec phone me for this section 4 RTI (and well before the CPIO replied), but he also sent me an email thanking me for MY information and informing that suitable action had been taken against the delinquent officers/PA.

Moral: RTI is a 2-way tool. As Moshe Dayan said after the Syrian Army declared war on Israel and boasted that they would be in TelAviv in 3 days. "The road which leads from Damascus to TelAviv also leads from TelAviv to Damascus".

PS: Dear Mr Iyer, welcome to RTI_India.

Sarbajit

On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 5:50 PM, Manoj Pai <manojpai@yahoo. com> wrote:

Hey Mr Iyer, just watch it. You could invite the moderators famous wrath by cross posting ;-)

As for the rest of your post, we are not beating round the bush.

I could agree that most of the hearing of the appeals are to mark the info seeker, but that not the only option available to the applicant. Were I the applicant and if I do not receive an information to my satifaction, rather than going in for an appeal, I proceed further by filing a fresh application instead. I would continue filing the RTI Application, rephrasing the same query again and again, till the time the CPIO is compeled to part with the information. Only in cases, where the CPIO tries to act smart and leaves gaps in his reponse, I prefer a First Appeal.

Maybe you could try this out.

Best wishes & take care next time by not cross posting please.

Manoj Pai

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