RIGHT TO INFORMATION - 2009 - Indian Social Institute

efore sending an appeal to the commission should give a copy to the public information officer of the
department about which he had sought information and a copy to the head of that department, who is the
first appellate authority, An acknowledgement of this should be enclosed with the appeal to the CIC. The
commission insisted that the appeal should also have documentary proof of the fee paid along with the
original application. It should also contain two sets of copies of all the documents to get the appeal
admitted for hearing. Sadagopan is not alone. The long process of filing an appeal has irked the
community of RTI activists with many saying it was against the spirit of the RTI Act itself. "The CIC has
gradually introduced several unreasonable and unnecessary procedures as if it is a court where we
cannot file a petition without an advocate. The commission just returned one of my appeals saying it
should contain five sets of copies of the documents enclosed. I avoided filing three or four appeals with
the CIC merely because of the cumbersome procedure. But it is not so in the case of the State
Information Commission,'' said V Gopalakrishnan, a social worker in K K Nagar. "While the RTI Act
encourages the filing of applications by not prescribing any specified format for it but stipulating that
public information officers should help applicants write the application if they are illiterates or physically
challenged persons, the CIC's unwanted procedures discourages people from filing appeals,'' said M
Nizamudeen, general secretary of Consumer Confederation of India. CIC chief commissioner Wajahat
Habibullah admitted there were some proceedural difficulties and said many of them were being
removed. "The appellants need not send a copy of the appeal to the PIO or the first appeallate authority
now. We have also introduced online filing of appeals. The documents can be sent to us through e-mail,''
he said. (Times of India 30/3/09)
RTI helpline receives over 3,700 calls in a year (1)
New Delhi (IANS): A Right To Information (RTI) helpline, aimed at helping people use the act to its
maximum effect, has received over 3,700 calls in the last one year, a participant in the initiative said on
Wednesday. The helpline — 09718100180 — was started a year ago jointly by Kabir, an NGO, and
Manjunath Shanmugam Trust. “We received 3,757 calls in one year. Of those, more than 2,500 calls
were about people asking how to file an RTI application, first appeal and complaint,” said Neeraj Kumar,
who helps and assist people through the helpline. “A number of calls came from foreign countries also.
On average 300 calls were received every month. A lot of people sought help for problems regarding
ration cards, passports, voter id cards and others,” Mr. Kumar added. “A lot of queries were regarding the
government's public services and problems with it. Interestingly, government officers also called on the
helpline to ask for help to solve their departmental problems,” Mr. Kumar said. Mr. Kumar revealed that
more than 500 calls were by those who were not happy with the Central Information Commission and
state information commissions and wanted to know the way forward. “Maximum calls were from states
like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi and Haryana. The increasing number of calls highlights that people are
increasingly becoming aware of their rights,” he said. He said a lot of people called and said that their
long-standing grievances were solved within days of filing an RTI applications. (The Hindu 2/4/09)
Information on completed cases can be obtained under RTI Act: Activist (1)
CHENNAI: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has not been forthcoming with
information though the State government clarified that the exemption of the DVAC from the purview of the
RTI Act did not include cases where the investigation was completed. V. Madhav, an RTI activist, says
that he had filed a petition asking for some information on number of cases where investigations had
been completed and the identity of those convicted after investigation, from the DVAC, on October 4,
2008. When no information was forthcoming after 30 days, he filed a first appeal and also visited the
Public Information Officer on November 24, 2008. As he was not even allowed to meet the PIO, he filed a
petition with the State Information Commission. “I am aware that the DVAC has been exempted under the
Right to Information Act by G.O. No. 158 dated 26 August, 2008, but there has been a later press release
No. 786 dated 23 September, 2008 from the government, which clarified that information regarding cases
where investigations have been completed, information can be obtained,” Mr. Madhav says in his petition
to the State Information Commission on December 11, 2008. He also argues that Section 24(4) of the
Act, under which the DVAC has been exempted, mentions that the provisions of the Act would not apply
to “intelligence and security organisations” which may be identified by the State and the Central
government, “provided that the information pertaining to allegations of corruption and human rights
violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section.” While the High Court has recently upheld the
exemption of the DVAC from the RTI Act, the State Information Commission is yet to take up his petition