The delay in getting information and the vague information provided for applications submitted under Right to Information Act is upsetting the RTI users who say that these ‘bureaucratic rules’ would water down the spirit of the Act.
A meeting of the RTI Users Coordination Committee held here on Sunday has decided to submit a memorandum to Chief Information Commissioner Sibi Mathews on the problems faced by the RTI users. RTI users from various districts shared the difficulties they faced in
getting response to their applications.
The main complaint was that most of the lower level State Government offices had been rejecting the applications saying that the concerned file was missing. The meeting constituted a 25-member ad hoc committee with P Sharfudheen as convener. Rajan Kalam, Raveendran Kandoth, P S Vijayan and K V Janardhanan have been elected as joint conveners. The gathering demanded the State Information Commission to impose a specific time limit for disposal of Second Appeals, which is not exist at present.
This is resulting in the pending of appeals before Information Commissioners and causing financial loss to the applicants.
The meeting also decided to constitute district-level committees of RTI users and activists.“The RTI law demands transparency at every stage of public service, but the officials are not keeping time schedule for making decisions over the appeals,” said P Sharfudheen.
“We will point out the issues and complaints to the Chief Information Commissioner soon. The proceedings are getting unseasonably delayed and only a few applications received replies recently. We demand strengthening the RTI by ensuring a transparent procedure for State Information Commission and a system for their uniform functioning, he added.
