How delays are weakening RTI
By NIDHI SHARMA, ET Bureau | 14 Mar, 2015, 06.46AM IST
By NIDHI SHARMA, ET Bureau | 14 Mar, 2015, 06.46AM IST
A former commandant of the Central Industrial Security Force, who lost 11 men in a 2009 Maoist attack on a Nalco mine in Odisha, has been seeking information on errant officers responsible for faulty security infrastructure for more than a year. Yet, he is better off than scores of other applicants.
As cases pile up at CIC, the final appellate authority for Right to Information (RTI) Act, applicants are being forced to wait up to four years before their cases are taken up on issues ranging from unauthorised construction to action against fraudulent doctors to appointments and promotions in government departments.
As cases pile up at CIC, the final appellate authority for Right to Information (RTI) Act, applicants are being forced to wait up to four years before their cases are taken up on issues ranging from unauthorised construction to action against fraudulent doctors to appointments and promotions in government departments.
Shakti Dhar Dobhal, an ex-commandant of CISF, had written several letters to National Aluminium Company and ministry of mines after the Maoist attack at Damanjodi in Odisha, pointing out faults in the firm's security infrastructure.
The ministry had asked Nalco to take action in 2009. However, Dobhal was unable to get any information on whether the company had actually taken action against the officers. He approached CIC in 2013 but had to wait for about 15 months before his complaint was heard last week. Dobhal's case was nonetheless disposed of much faster than that of Bengaluru-based BV Muralikrishnan, whose appeal was heard after four years last week.
Muralikrishnan had sought information from the National Research Development Corporation in July 2010. After going through the set procedure of applying to the first appellate authority, he approached CIC on February 2, 2011, little realising that his appeal would not be heard until February 2015.
Former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah blamed the inordinate delays on the government's reluctance to adhere to Section 4 of RTI that encourages voluntary disclosure of routine governance matters.
"There are many cases that are pending since my time, 2010. The problem is compliance with disclosure of information which should be done on the websites of government departments. While most departments, ministries and state governments have websites, they are not regularly updated. This leaves only one resort for the people - apply for information under RTI. This increases the number of applications in ministries and appeals in CIC," said Habibullah.
That explains why a Guwahati resident has been seeking information for the past 18 months on something as mundane as the policy on reimbursement of Ayurveda medical bills that should be in the public domain as a matter of routine.
CIC is saddled with so many applications that it is facing a peculiar problem - how to punish errant public information officers or PIOs. In many cases, by the time the case is heard, the PIO gets changed, leaving CIC with little option but to ask the incumbent PIO to trace the officer responsible for the delay in supplying information.
For instance, a Delhi resident who had sought information on unauthorised construction on a property had to wait 20 months before he was heard at CIC last month. CIC found that the PIO had changed and served a show cause notice to the then PIO for wrongfully denying information.
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A doctor, who has been seeking information on fraud cases by a teacher in Medical Council of India, was heard after a year and faced a similar problem. CIC realised that the PIO had changed and asked the new PIO to serve a show cause notice for personal appearance to the previous officer. Venkatesh Nayak of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative linked the delays to the shortage of information commissioners at CIC. The government is yet to fill four vacancies, including that of the chief information commissioner, he said.
None of the 7 Commissioners Met Average Disposal Target
Even as the Central Information Commission stares at an unprecedented pendency of cases with applicants waiting in queue for up to four years to be heard, the report card of Information Commissioners has quite a few red marks. None of the seven information commissioners has met the average disposal target over the last one year.
Data compiled by ET reveals that in the current financial year, two of the seven information commissioners MA Khan Yusufi and Basant Seth did not meet the monthly average disposal target even once. In 2011, the Commission had set a target of disposing on an average 267 cases in a month.
Information Commissioners Vijai Sharma, Sharat Sabharwal and Manjula Prasher have met this target only once between April 2014 and March 2015.MS Acharyulu finishes at the top of the chart having met the target five times and Yashovardhan Azad finishes a close second with meeting the target four times.
RTI activists feel that the Commissioners would need to work harder. RTI activist Lokesh Batra, who has been studying CIC's workload and performance of commissioners, says, "Each one of ICs needs to feel responsible and accountable for hisher performance to the people and if required go beyond the laid down working routine of 9.30 am to 6 pm to complete targets."
========================================The Commission has always worked five days in a week. However, Batra says just like in courts, at least the registry must function six days and the commissioners should use this sixth day to study cases and draft their decisions.
RTI activist Subhash Agrawal says, "Disposing of 267 cases in a month is their own target. It is absolutely wrong to not meet the target they had set for themselves. Another problem that an applicant is facing right now is the delay in giving decisions. Even after an applicant is heard, he is made to wait for months for a decision."
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