RIGHT TO INFORMATION - 2009 - Indian Social Institute

from the legal point of view,'' the CIC said in its notice to government departments and PSUs. Secretaries
of union ministries of personnel, law and justice, public enterprises and company affairs and chairpersons
of 14 public sector undertakings including BSNL, IOC, FCI, MTNL, BHEL, BPCL and GAIL were asked to
submit their written submissions and also send a senior officer each to the hearing. However, many RTI
activists oppose the CIC's move to interpret the provision as they think it could dilute the scope of the law.
"We don't understand why only a handful of ministries and PSUs have been invited to submit their views
and why the CIC did not call for opinions from the general public in the matter,'' said Venkatesh Nayak of
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, a Delhi-based NGO, who made a written submission to the
commission opposing the PIOs' demand for special wages. "A public information officer can ask for
further fee (in addition to the application fee of Rs 10) towards the cost of providing information (such as
photocopying expenses, cost of disk, sample, model, if any), but the demand can be made only as
prescribed under Section 7 (3) (a) of the RTI Act read with the Right To Information (Regulation of Fee
and Cost) Rules. The Act doesn't permit the PIO to use his/ her discretion with regard to collection of cost
of information,'' Nayak said. Only a couple of weeks ago, the CIC asked the Southern Railway to provide
information free of cost to a Chennai-based applicant from whom the railways had earlier asked to pay Rs
380 as salaries and allowances to its staff to make the reply ready. A similar case is that of V Madhav, a
Chennai-based RTI activist who was asked by the railways to pay Rs 750 towards power and
maintenance costs of computers for answers to be provided to his queries under the RTI Act. The case is
pending with the CIC. (Times of India 28/5/09)
RTI brings life to family's pursuit for death certificate (1)
Mumbai (PTI): Suvarna Bhagyawant (20) had to run from pillar to post for nearly two years to get her
grandfather's death certificate, but with the help of Right to Information Act (RTI) she got it within eight
days. Suvarna's family - grandmother, parents, two brother and a sister, who have been residing for the
past 50 years in Ambegaon near here, wanted the certificate to apply for the Widow Pension Scheme.
They finally took recourse in the nearly four-year-old landmark legislation that empowers people to seek
accountability and transparency from government agencies. "To enroll for the scheme we needed the
death certificate, for which my parents asked me to collect it from the local authorities," Survana said. "At
the tehsil office the staff demanded to Rs 500 for issuing the certificate, which was exorbitant. With the
assistance of Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT) we filed a RTI application and received it
within eight days without any payment," she said. Suvarna is now part of a RTI support group started by
PCGT and Bahujan Hitay Trust in August 2008 to seek honest, transparent and accountable systems in
governance. Like, Suvarna there are several others who found difficult in getting things done from
government bodies but RTI came to their help. (The Hindu 28/5/09)
“Awareness of right to get information needed” (1)
DINDIGUL: The Information Commission had processed over 7,000 petitions to help people get
information they wanted from government departments so far, said R. Perumalsamy, Information
Commissioner. Talking to press persons after conducting an inquiry with government officials on petitions
received by the commission from five districts here on Thursday, he said that officials who did not
respond to petitions under the Right to Information Act were recommended for departmental action. The
commission had served show cause notices to officials in connection with 437 petitions over complaints
of inordinate delay in getting information from them. A fine of Rs.25,000 was imposed on 11 officials on
the charges of inordinate delay in furnishing information to petitioners. At the same time, officials had
given required information to 9,464 petitioners properly and sent copy of them to the commission. The
commission had received 90,826 petitions between April 2006 and February 2009 and issued necessary
instructions on over 64,000 petitions to give information immediately. Reacting sharply to officials who did
not attend the inquiry meeting in Dindigul, Mr. Perumalsamy said that show cause notices were served to
three police officers in southern districts. Earlier, Mr. Perumalsamy inquired 15 petitions — five on local
administration, four on revenue, three on police, one each on transport, labour welfare and prohibition
enforcement wing. The commission received one petition from Dindigul, five from Tuticorin, three from
Madurai, four from Virudhunagar and two from Ramanathapuram districts. (The Hindu 29/5/09)
Ghaziabad man goes RTI way to improve health, education
New Delhi, June 02, 2009: He fits the bill of a common man… a self-employed youth from a middle-class
family. But the onerous task that he has taken on himself makes 30-year-old Sachin Soni uncommon.