The State Information Commission in a recent order has directed the government to appoint a Public Information Officer (PIO) at the Chief Minister’s Office to answer queries from citizens under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
In his order dated September 10, 2009, the State Chief Information Commissioner S.Ramakrishnan noted that “it is mandatory for every public authority to have a public information officer and Chief Minister’s Office will be a public authority or an administrative office under a public authority.”
Hence, he directed the appointment of a PIO and an Appellate Authority in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
The direction follows an RTI query in October 2008 by V.Madhav, a city-based activist, with the CMO. The PIO of the Public Department had replied that ‘tapals’ (letters) received by the office were forwarded to various departments and that no PIOs or Appellate Authorities were appointed at the CMO.
Since Section 5(1) of the RTI Act mandated that every public authority should appoint (within hundred days of its enactment) such officers to answer queries from citizens, Mr.Madhav complained to the State Information Commission, the highest authority in the State under the Act.
He said that there were other public authorities which had also not appointed PIOs though the Act has been in force for nearly four years.
In reply to his query earlier this year to the Backward Classes Ministry, he said that the Ministry informed him that there was no PIO appointed to handle RTI queries and asked him to approach the Public Department to obtain the necessary information.
