‘Indifference of public authorities crippling KIC’

First appellate authorities are not actingon applications, says a study

The first appellate authorities in government departments are not acting on applications, and this has pushed applicants to approach Karnataka Information Commission (KIC), a study on Performance of the Karnataka Information Commission by the Public Affairs Centre has found.

Chief Information Commissioner A.K.M. Naik rued that the departments were not taking either the Right to Information (RTI) Act or the KIC seriously. He said that none of the assistant commissioners and deputy commissioners across the State was delivering on his/her responsibilities as the first appellate authority.

“If the first appellate authorities in the departments are made accountable, the workload on the KIC will reduce,” he said. RTI activists, however, alleged that most of the appellate authorities were compromised and had interests to prevent free flow of information.

The study analysed data for five years from 2008–09 to 2012–13. It is ironic that the latest data that the KIC has published is more than a year old. The KIC published its annual audit report for 2013–14 only two days ago. Mr. Naik blamed delay in compilation of data from public authorities as the reason for lack of information with the KIC.

While the study found an improvement in the disposal of complaints and appeals in 2012–13, the period recorded one of the lowest percentage of cases where public authorities were penalised. Only 2.77 per cent of the cases ended in authorities being penalised in 2012–13, a sharp drop from the previous year’s 4.61 per cent.

Mr. Naik, however, defended the KIC saying that it had levied Rs. 1.65 crore as penalties and compensation between 2008 and 2012, which he claimed was higher than that levied by the Central Information Commission. An analysis of 100 judgments delivered in April 2012 found that 68 of these cases took anywhere between 100 and 400 days to be settled. Three cases took more than 600 days.