Shailesh Gandhi, India's feisty Central Information Commissioner and an early crusader for the Right To Information (RTI) Act, believes that the RTI Act in Maharashtra is being pushed into a coma from where it may not be able to recover.
The post of Chief Information Commissioner lies vacant in Maharashtra, as do several other posts in the state information commission. Mumbai, Konkan and Pune do not have information commissioners. As of November, the pendency of cases in the state was over 22,000.
"There has been no replacement for Dr Suresh Joshi (six months), Ramanand Tiwari (over nine months), Naveen Kumar (six months) and Vijay Kuvalekar (over one month)," said Gandhi.
He believes that citizens across the country need to fight to ensure that this fundamental right is not put to sleep in Maharashtra.
"We were able to block the central government's attempts to weaken the Act. If we do not act now, Maharashtra will have shown the way to all governments to make the RTI Act history," Gandhi said.
He believes that the appeals and communication from RTI applicants is probably not even looked at by the headless Maharashtra Information Commission.
A few months ago, Gandhi wrote to Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan asking him to look into the issue, to which Chavan replied that he would keep the matter in mind.
In addition to vacancies in the Maharashtra state information commission, Gandhi feels that the high pendency of cases has also to do with the fact that information commissioners are not delivering at an adequate pace to meet requirements. While Gandhi himself clears 5000 cases a year, he believes that most commissioners are adjudicating less than 50% of this.
Times View
The RTI Act is among the most empowering legislations of recent times. It is, therefore, extremely worrying that the RTI system has got logjammed in a major state like Maharashtra within a few years of the law coming into effect. Clearly, unfilled posts of information commissioners would have had a role to play in this situation being created. Filling up those vacancies would help to that extent. However, there is also a need to review whether information officers who have stonewalled RTI queries have been dealt with too leniently. Stricter action including stiffer fines in such cases might reduce the burden on the appeals process. Perhaps reducing the dominance of ex-bureaucrats among information commissioners will help in this aspect.
The post of Chief Information Commissioner lies vacant in Maharashtra, as do several other posts in the state information commission. Mumbai, Konkan and Pune do not have information commissioners. As of November, the pendency of cases in the state was over 22,000.
"There has been no replacement for Dr Suresh Joshi (six months), Ramanand Tiwari (over nine months), Naveen Kumar (six months) and Vijay Kuvalekar (over one month)," said Gandhi.
He believes that citizens across the country need to fight to ensure that this fundamental right is not put to sleep in Maharashtra.
"We were able to block the central government's attempts to weaken the Act. If we do not act now, Maharashtra will have shown the way to all governments to make the RTI Act history," Gandhi said.
He believes that the appeals and communication from RTI applicants is probably not even looked at by the headless Maharashtra Information Commission.
A few months ago, Gandhi wrote to Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan asking him to look into the issue, to which Chavan replied that he would keep the matter in mind.
In addition to vacancies in the Maharashtra state information commission, Gandhi feels that the high pendency of cases has also to do with the fact that information commissioners are not delivering at an adequate pace to meet requirements. While Gandhi himself clears 5000 cases a year, he believes that most commissioners are adjudicating less than 50% of this.
Times View
The RTI Act is among the most empowering legislations of recent times. It is, therefore, extremely worrying that the RTI system has got logjammed in a major state like Maharashtra within a few years of the law coming into effect. Clearly, unfilled posts of information commissioners would have had a role to play in this situation being created. Filling up those vacancies would help to that extent. However, there is also a need to review whether information officers who have stonewalled RTI queries have been dealt with too leniently. Stricter action including stiffer fines in such cases might reduce the burden on the appeals process. Perhaps reducing the dominance of ex-bureaucrats among information commissioners will help in this aspect.
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