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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Information Commission Claims It Doesn't Have Time to Answer RTI Requests -Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Information Commission Claims It Doesn't Have Time to Answer RTI Requests -Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

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published Published on Dec 28, 2016   modified Modified on Dec 29, 2016
-TheWire.in

The government body meant to uphold the RTI has said they are too understaffed and overworked to collect and collate all the information sought by applicants.

New Delhi:
The pressure of dealing with numerous court cases is taking a toll on the functioning of the office of the Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Central Information Commission (CIC). Due to the lack of time and the effort needed, it is unable to collate and collect information sought by the applicants in various cases.

This is particularly ironical, given that the CIC is supposed to safeguard the interests of Right to Information applicants by ensuring that the public authorities provide them relevant information under the Act.

The introduction of the 2014-15 annual report of the CIC had, in fact, stated right at the beginning that “democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital for its functioning. The people of the country have a right to know every public act, everything that is done in a public way, by their public functionaries. Thus the right to know constitutes the very basis of democracy. This right is implicit in our constitution in Article 19(1)(a) on the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression and Article 21 on Right to Life.”

The report also states that “the Central Information Commission came into existence in October 2005 by the enactment of the Right to Information Act, 2005 by the parliament of India. This Act provides for setting out the practical regime of Right to Information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority.”

The situation on the ground, however, remains very different. The CPIO’s office is not only overworked but also understaffed, as admitted by the joint secretary and first appellate authority Yogesh Kumar Singhal in a recent order.

Responding to an application filed by Commodore (retired) Lokesh K. Batra, the official stated that the CPIO had informed him that “Information asked is voluminous. Collate and collection of such information would disproportionately diver the resources of this office.”

In the hearing, Singhal stated that the “respondent CPIO intimated that he does have only one persona and [is] dealing with 1,650 court cases apart from daily dak received in the section”.

The CPIO had reasoned that “collation and collection of information, as asked by appellant, will need effort and time, that cannot be spared considering the delay in the submission of replies to the high court in various court cases.”

Please click here to read more.

TheWire.in, 27 December, 2016, https://thewire.in/89892/information-commission-rti-time/


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