Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Babudom stifling RTI, PIL in SC says -Dhananjay Mahapatra

Babudom stifling RTI, PIL in SC says -Dhananjay Mahapatra

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Feb 14, 2014   modified Modified on Feb 14, 2014
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: A man seeking land registration details in a village through Right to Information Act was asked to pay a fee in excess of Rs 21 lakh. When a below poverty line person put up an RTI query on distribution of food grains under PDS, he was told to deposit Rs 2,000 to get the information.

Citing these and many such examples, advocate Sanjeeb Panigrahi has filed a PIL in the Supreme Court saying the eight-year-old RTI Act, which was enacted to bring transparency in governance by sharing information with citizens, was struggling to achieve the objective because of bureaucratic red tape.

The two examples of throttling the RTI Act, which he cited with documentary evidence, were startling. One Manoj Kumar Agrawal had in October last year sought details of land transactions made in Kalahandi district in the last 20 months. On October 31, the principal information officer in the sub-registrar office at Bhawanipatna asked Agrawal to deposit Rs 21.94 lakh, the estimated cost of the information.

The second example too was from Kalahandi district of Odisha. One Dhoba Sahu, a BPL category person who under the Act would get the information required free of cost, had sought details of food grain distribution in Kerpal gram panchayat. The PIO in the block development office told him to deposit Rs 2,000 if he wanted to get the information.

Citing a number of apex court judgments which reiterated the importance of transparency and free flow of information to governance, Panigrahi said the eight-year experience showed that many public authorities were still blatantly stalling implementation of the Act.

The petitioner said though the RTI Act has a penalty provision for delay in information by PIOs, the penalty provision was invoked only in 4% of cases, leading to a perception among citizens and civil rights groups that information commissions were being unwarrantedly lenient towards PIOs.

He said there was no penalty provision for supply of irrelevant information by PIOs and as a result, appeals were multiplying before higher forums. Citing delay in disposal of appeals under RTI Act, the petitioner suggested deadlines for disposal of appeals and imposition of penalty for delay in deciding appeals under RTI Act.

Panigrahi said though the RTI Act has not prescribed any format for seeking information, every district officer has devised a particular format in which an RTI query could be made and those not conforming to the format were blindly rejected.

The petitioner said many RTI queries at the rural level were being made in the local language, but to subvert the purpose of the transparency law, officers replied to them in English, making a mockery of information sharing. In some cases, they insist on identity proof, which too was not a requirement under RTI Act.


The Times of India, 13 February, 2014, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Babudom-stifling-RTI-PIL-in-SC-says/articleshow/30310493.cms


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close