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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mass RTI plea hearing a huge hit

Mass RTI plea hearing a huge hit

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published Published on Jan 4, 2012   modified Modified on Jan 4, 2012

-DNA

 

The first day of the mass clearing programme of RTI applications piled up at the state information commission (SIC) was a grand success, with 53 of the 63 appellants (81%) making it for the hearing on Tuesday.

The commission hopes to hear nearly 600 second appeals in the four-day ‘special appeal disposal programme’ kicked off at the Poddar Medical College on Dr Annie Besant Road at Worli.

Acting state chief information commissioner Vijay Kuvalekar ordered the disposal programme to be held in the city for the first time after the number of second appeals and complaints with the commission crossed the 22,127 mark.

“The hearing of the 600 pending second appeals in a regular course would have taken at least three months to dispose of,” said Kuvalekar, adding that, “As the commission was working with less staff, with three of the five commissioners doubling for vacant posts, it was decided to go for the disposal programme.”

Second appeals are applications filed with the information commission when an applicant does not receive information or gets inadequate information from the public information officer (PIO) and the first appellate authority (FAA). On Tuesday, appellants sat facing the PIO and FAA sat across each other and tried to sort out the RTI query. The idea was to provide the appellant with the details, in case of a change of mind by the authorities.

“If the appellant is not satisfied or is not inclined to go through this procedure, he is under no compulsion to accept the renegotiation and can ask for a hearing,” added Kuvalekar. Four other commissioners were also present to see how it is conducted and have the similar plan in their divisions.

Of the 63 appellants slated to appear on the first day, 10 did not turn up. “Of the remaining 53 cases, 45 were disposed of while eight have demanded a hearing that will be held in due course of time. In the cases disposed of, around four had sought information not pertaining to RTI,” said Kuvalekar.

RTI activist Krishnaraj Rao, who had panned the move earlier, said, “I was skeptical, but the disposal programme is going on well.”

Activists, however, complained how the government was not doing enough for addressing the root problem — piling up of second appeals. “The chief minister is to blame, as he has still not filled up the post of commissioners nor given adequate staff to the SIC,” said Bhaskar Prabhu, an RTI activist.


DNA, 4 January, 2012, http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_mass-rti-plea-hearing-a-huge-hit_1633120


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