Despite Delhi government’s offer to help them go online, District Courts and municipal corporations in the city are among others that lack systems through which people can file RTI pleas online.
Currently, people have to file RTI pleas via post to these agencies. However, filing RTI pleas online saves time and money for the user. It can be filed any time online and tracking of RTI requests is also easier this way. It is also hasslefree for officials to manage RTI pleas and maintain records online.
Other bodies which are yet to join the online system, includes Delhi State Health Mission, Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, among others.
While East Delhi Municipal Corporation is in talks with the Delhi government, others have not been enthusiastic.
“East civic body has responded to us and the process is under way. They have appointed a nodal officer. Now, PIOs and appellant authorities are to be done,” said an official privy to the development. “Municipal corporations are corrupt and that is why they do not want to make the RTI filing system online. Now, it is difficult to file an RTI and they even do not respond properly. We have raised the issue with the authorities a multiple times. It should be made online,” said Mohit Goel, an RTI activist.
Process under way
The Delhi government had written letters to the Directorate of Prosecution (DoP), under which the city courts fall, for the first time in February 2019. But they are yet to respond to it. “Now we accept RTI pleas through post, but the process in under way to make it online,” an official at the (DoP) said. “We had written to them in February, but they have not responded. We will get back to them after the election and hopefully it will happen in June,” the officials said.
Written to civic bodies
The Delhi government had written letters to all the city municipal bodies at least twice in 2017. In a letter to the three municipal corporations on October 9, 2017, the Delhi government said, “It is informed that the RTI online portal have already been launched in the month of July 2017, in the Department of Government of NCT of Delhi/autonomous bodies/local bodies. Further, your corporation is to be included in the list of public authorities in RTI online web portal… An early action in the matter highly appreciated.”
The letter, which was addressed to the commissioners of the civic bodies, was the second letter to be issued to the corporations, but nothing happened.
“We are working on an online system to file RTIs and it will be out in 10 days,” a New Delhi Municipal Council spokesperson said.
When reached out, North Delhi Municipal Corporation Commissioner Varsha Joshi said, “We had a system of our own which had gone defunct and it will be revived. We are working on it.” The letter was sent to the previous Commissioner and she said that she was not aware of it.
In 2011, the unified MCD had started a portal where people could file pleas online, but after trifurcation of the MCD into north, south and east in 2012, it stopped working, a civic body official said.
The North Corporation had initially expressed interest, but the matter got stuck on the fee issue, the official said. Under the portal, the ₹10-fee people pay, goes to an unified account of the Delhi government and the corporation wanted this fees, which turned out to be a sticky point.
