Hi
1) Nothing wrong with being "amateurish". In fact you are in good company, since we are not "professionals".
2) I don't know why you think that RTI applicants need not give reasons for seeking information. 6(2) says that an applicant SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED to give reasons. This means that the P/A cannot *demand* reasons from applicant. OTH "larger public interest" is the cornerstone of circumventing many exemptions of 8(1), so it is in the interests of applicants to "volunteer" reasons for seeking information in the RTI request itself. This also allows the P/A to assess the bonafides of the applicant <-- I have no quarrel with my activist friends who say that the RTI Act does not permit this.
3) Appeals are a vital step in the RTI process. Personal hearing is the key to this process. An appeal is based on legal / technical grounds and the appreciation of evidence and case-laws. It is not simply a matter of repeating like a parrot "please give me the information because the PIO is corrupt / stupid / malafide". As
we have discovered, a properly drafted RTI request and the perfect
First Appeal is the key to successful RTI-ing. The only defence
a P/A has to this is for the FAA not to pass a (reasoned) decision.
4) You must read our groups' "Responsible RTI" code.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rti_india/message/379
If you are not prepared to fight the battle to the "bitter end"
please don't file RTIs and/or f*** up the scene for everyone else.
And this holds good for those filing 'bakwaas' PILs /WPs too.
Sarbajit
--- In rti_india@yahoogroups.com, Gopalkrishnan iyer <iyer_ga@...> wrote:
>
> 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 !Â
>
>
> Iyer GA
>
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