Information Commissioner Lam Tantiya Kumari on Wednesday came down heavily on district officials for their failure to provide information to the public, “thus trying to make a mockery of the well-meaning Right to Information Act”. She was chairing a joint meeting of district officials and RTI activists at the MCT compound here.
While heads of departments indicated that the number of pending cases was well within the prescribed limits, activists had a different version. They accused officials of harassing them by charging exorbitant fee, causing inordinate delay and furnishing either insufficient or totally irrelevant information. “When the charge for a detail is Rs. 100 in one mandal, it is Rs. 1,500 in the neighbouring mandal. How can it be?” wondered an activist. “I did not ask for information about the Chief Minister’s Office, but just the works taken up in my Panchayat, but to no avail,” said another.
While painting a bleak picture of Chittoor district, Ms. Kumari pointed out that the Revenue Department was sitting on a pile of 572 RTI applications. She also issued a show cause notice to the Vedurukuppam Tahsildar for staying away from the meeting. Meanwhile, District Collector Siddharth Jain directed officials to take note of the complaints and follow them up in right earnest.
“I had applied for information from the Revenue Department in 2012. When I got a phone call, I rushed and reached the office in 10 minutes. But, officials told me the despatch clerk had sent it to me by post. Till this day, I have not received it.
Neelakanteswara
Lok Satta Leader
Seeking details of the service register of the Collector, I applied to the District Revenue Office on April 28. They sent their reply on May 28, but it reached me in the first week of June. The reply said officials do not maintain the specific file.
Mangati Gopal Reddy
Social activist
RTI activists narrate their tales of woes
