[HumJanenge] Proceedings of the meeting of RTI activists

                            NANDINI VOICE FOR THE DEPRIVED
                    M 60/1,4th Cross Street, Besant Nagar, Chennai-600090
                         Tel:- 24916037  Email:- nsvenkatchennai@gmail.com
                                       Website:- www.nandinivoice.org

 

Dear  Sir,

May I send the following matter for your study.  Kindly acknowledge the receipt

Thanks and regards

N.S.Venkataraman

Trustee

Nandini Voice for the Deprived

                                                           

 

 

          PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING OF RTI ACTIVISTS ON  5.8.2012

                                                               AT CHENNAI

 

                       Venue:- Youth Hostel, Indira Nagar, Adyar, Chennai

 

Nandini Voice for the Deprived , a Chennai based NGO organized a meeting of the RTI activists at Chennai on 5^th August,2012.

 

The objective of the meeting was to provide a forum for the RTI activists to share their experience and  discuss the loopholes and strength of the RTI system.

 

Large number of RTI activists from all over Tamil Nadu participated in the interactive meeting,  which lasted for more than three hours. 

 

The discussions were  led by the following persons

 

1. Mr, D.K. Oza IAS (Retd.) , former Home Secretary & former  State Election Commissioner, Tamil Nadu 
2. Mr.T.  Srinivasan , Information Commissioner, Tamil Nadu
3. Mr. R. Desikan, Chairman, Consumer Association of India
4. Mr. S.M. Arasu, President , Anti Corruption Movement
5. Mr. N.S.Venkataraman, Trustee, Nandini Voice for The Deprived

                                                                                                                          

18 RTI activists that consisted of lawyers, professors, engineers, retired government officials and others narrated their experience and submitted their views and suggestions.

 

Highlights of the observations made during  the meeting and the recommendations are given below :

     

 1. Mixed bag

 

While there have been positive results , there have also been several impediments in getting suitable replies from the government departments for RTI queries.

 

 

2. Need for change of outlook amongst officers towards RTI queries.

 

Generally, the officers in the government departments  view  the RTI queries as  if it is a burden of work and  they appear to be providing the replies to the minimum and the sense of reluctance on their part is evident. 

 

This attitude has  to change and the officers should think that answering  the RTI queries is part of their bounden duty  and part of their regular work.

 

 

3. Functioning of Information Commissioners :

 

As per the Act , there should be One Chief Information Commissioner and six Information Commissioners in a  state. However, in several states, the government have not appointed the information commissioners as per requirement.

 

For example, in Tamil Nadu, there is only one Chief  Information Commissioner and one Commissioner at present. 

 

It was pointed out that in Tamil Nadu ,on an average,  300 petitions are received by the Information Commissioners on every working day and  hardly 40 to 50 petitions  are disposed  off  in a day.  This has resulted in huge backlog of petitions and it often takes more than one year for the petitioners to get suitable reply from the Information Commissioners.  Many petitions are not answered at all.

 

4. Bring private institutions under RTI Act :

 

There are many private institutions, particularly in the educational sector , which do not follow the government rules.  But, they refuse to answer the queries under the RTI Act saying that private institutions would not come under RTI Act.  There are several such institutions which receive aid and grant from the government in one form or the other and they operate as  per government rules with regard to several aspects.  It is wrong on their part to refuse to answer the RTI queries.

 

The government should provide  clarification and compel the private institutions receiving any sort of government support to answer the queries under RTI Act.

 

5. About the officers who fail to respond :

 

There are many cases when the RTI queries are not answered in the stipulated time and the appeals are also not answered within stipulated time.

 

Though there is provision in RTI Act that the officers not providing the replies as per the Act can be penalized, it is rarely done. Therefore, it often happens that many officers treat the matter lightly.

 

6. What if the government does not have the information ?

 

There was difference of opinion when it was said that the government need not provide information under RTI Act, if it would not have the details.

 

7.Guidelines for appointment of public information officers :

 

There is no particular guidelines for the appointment of public information officers , particularly in evaluating their integrity. This  could be  one reason  for  RTI queries not receiving proper response in some cases.

 

 

8.Verification of original files :

 

Under Section  2 J of the Act, the petitioner can ask for the scrutiny and verification of files and documents.  In some cases, it would be more fruitful to ask for the verification of original files than asking for answers under RTI queries. The RTI activists were urged to use the Section 2J of the Act to get details in quick time.

 

9. Details in website :

 

All the RTI queries and answers received from the government should be put on the website immediately.  But, this is rarely done.

 

Such details in the website could , perhaps, avoid  number of further similar RTI queries on the same subject.

 

10. Avoid unnecessary queries :

 

One RTI petitioner said that he asked for 100 queries in subject relating to biodiversity.  But, the government department refused to answer the queries stating that it would take too much of time to respond.  The letter from the government department was read out during the meeting. 

 

Then,  it was said that  the questions relating to organizational set up or the information which are in public domain should not be sent as RTI queries . To this extent, the RTI activists should be careful and responsible  to ensure not to waste the time of the government.

 

11. Need for media publicity :

 

All newspapers and journals should have separate column atleast once in a week to publicise the government response to RTI queries. 

 

This would considerably strengthen the RTI movement and take the movement forward in healthy direction.

 

12. RTI Act and Consumer court :

 

There was difference of opinion when it was said that RTI activists can not approach consumer court , if they fail to get the information from the government under RTI Act , since the  RTI activists cannot be considered as consumers.

 

13.RTI queries to police department:

 

RTI activists  were advised  to be cautious while sending RTI queries to the police department for obvious reasons.  If they would like to do so, they would be well advised to take the support of a lawyer.

 

14. Sense of helplessness:

 

Some of the RTI queries have not received replies from the concerned departments and when appeals are made, they are again not acknowledged.  Same conditions exist when the RTI activists  approach information commissioners also, In such cases, RTI activists feel helpless.

 

Most of the RTI activists are not lawyers and are involved in other professions. They cannot afford to spend long time in sending appeals and "fighting RTI cases". In such scenario, a number of RTI activists give up the chase.

 

Thanks and regards

 

N.S.Venkataraman

Trustee

Nandini Voice For The Deprived