Tired of information officers in government agencies who take the Right to Information Act applications lightly? Karnataka Information Commission (KIC) is now taking the fight to the agencies directly by holding RTI Adalats on the premises of civic agencies to ensure speedy disposal of appeals pending with the commission. A first-of-its-kind initiative, being introduced a decade after the RTI Act was enforced, has become necessary because of “indifferent” officers in several government agencies, activists said. “In the city, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) are the biggest villains when it comes to not providing information demanded. This adalat will put the principal information officers as well as the applicants face to face, and escaping will not be that easy. I think this is a great move,” said Wing Commander G.B. Athri (retd).
The move comes as the KIC finds itself swamped with over 30,000 pending appeals, necessitating each of the four Commissioners to listen to almost 30 cases daily. The adalats will begin with the BBMP next month and then move to other agencies such as the BDA and Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB).
“A lot of the appeals before the commission that are from Bengaluru are related to the BBMP, BDA or the KIADB. From next month, we will start dealing with cases related to the BBMP. The idea is to dispose of 372 urgent appeals in a phased manner across zones, and if this is a success, we will think of holding more such adalats,” said L. Krishnamurthy, State Information Commissioner.
In the schedule which has been worked out by the Commission, the highest number of appeals — 109 — will be heard at the office of the Joint Commissioner, BBMP head office, on December 7. “We are currently in the process of sifting through the 30,000 pending appeals and categorising those from the city under three heads — BBMP, BDA and KIADB. Once we get these appeals sorted, we will have more such adalats in the future,” Mr. Krishnamurthy said.
