In the last couple of years, the rise in number of applications under the Right To Information (RTI) Act indicated that people were being benefited, said State Information Commissioners (SIC) R. Pratap Kumar and S. Muthuraj here on Tuesday.
As many as 38 departments come under the purview of the Act and the officers in-charge of disseminating the information to the applicants have been accorded training on how to respond to the queries.
The SICs were here to hear petitions from applicants belonging to Dindigul and Tiruchi districts.
Speaking to reporters, they said that the awareness levels had certainly increased among the applicants and many preferred first and second appeals if they were not satisfied with the response from the officers concerned on the subject matter.
The objective of the Act was to share authentic information with the public. The applicants should also be responsible and should confine to matters which were of public interest. “At least, the information sought shouldn’t give an impression that it’s waste of time and unnecessary paper work for the officers”, Mr. Kumar said.
The State Information Commission would recommend imposing penalty/fine for officers who failed to respond to applications within the stipulated time.
Interestingly, the SICs said that more applications from cities like Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli were filed for second appeal under 19 (3) of the Act, while it was not that high from cities like Chennai and Dindigul.
However, considering the importance of the petitions, the SICs would take it up directly and respond, they clarified.
In a nutshell, the benefits reaped under the Act should reach the masses, they summed up.
