TOI : TWO YEARS OF INFO POWER : Oct 9, 2007
TWO YEARS OF INFO POWER
The Right To Information Act Turns 2 Years Old This Week. TOI Looks At How
It Has Changed Our Lives For The Better
Viju B | TNN
Mumbai: These days, Vijay S Mulay, a retired nurse from the Marol maternity
home, is in great demand. She gets frantic calls from many employees who
have retired from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). “All of them
want to know how to get their pending dues,” said the 60-year-old from her
apartment at Shivaji Park. Mulay had not only used the Right to Information
(RTI) Act, 2005 to get her pending dues after she retired, but also got the
erring BMC clerks penalised for stalling payments.
Mulay’s case is just one example in which the RTI Act has come to the
rescue of ordinary citizens,
bringing about a positive change in their lives and neigbhourhoods. Since
the Act came into force two years ago-on October 12, 2005-it has created
thousands of everyday heroes who have dared to take on the inept and corrupt
system.
TOI has been consistently profiling these everyday heroes-be it a former
JJ School of Arts alumni who used the Act to restore valuable paintings kept
in the dusty lockers of the school, an NRI who got his Income-Tax refund, an
IIT-Bombay researcher who got his stipend, a housewife who got an illegal
billboard on the terrace of her house removed or a furniture dealer who got
a heritage clock repaired at Crawford Market.
Though there are no correct figures of the number of RTI applications
filed by people across the state with various government and
quasi-government departments, it is estimated that over a lakh of queries
have been filed in the past two years. “This shows how the Act has played a
pivotal role in changing people’s lives,” said Suresh Joshi, state chief
information commissioner.
The state currently has four information offices-at Pune, Aurangabad,
Nagpur and Mumbai. The state information commissioner is based in Mumbai and
also looks after appeals and complaints from the Konkan region. Around 450
appeals are disposed of every month across the state.
The State Information Commission (SIC) had to deal with some very
sensitive cases this year. The commission passed two landmark orders on
activist Shailesh Gandhi’s RTI appeals, which were reported in detail by
TOI. The first case was that of former forest minister Surupsinh Naik, who
was admitted to the state-run JJ Hospital after he complained of chest pain.
Naik was convicted by the Supreme Court two years ago for contempt
of court, but spent most of his prison term in the air-conditioned ward of
JJ Hospital.
Gandhi’s RTI query sought details of Naik’s medical records, but JJ
Hospital authorities refused to give the information. In March this year,
the SIC ordered that the records must be released in view of the larger
public interest at stake. “The SIC order also showed that for the first time
public interest outweighed the right to privacy,” Gandhi said.
In another appeal, the SIC directed the Public Information Officer of
the Bombay High Court to give details about the number of cases disposed of
by all high court judges in the past one year.
Yet another instance of RTI success was when activist Vincent Nazareth
used the Act to get the rules of the Tobacco Act and nail cigarette
companies that did not mention the date of manufacture and health warning on
packets. “The cops had even told me the Tobacco Act had been repealed,”
Nazareth said.
The setting up of RTI clinics across the state was a positive offshoot
of the evolution of the process. NGOs like Mahadhikar set up around 100
clinics across the city and suburbs. “We train people to use the Act in
their neighbourhoods. Nowadays, in many cases action is taken even when they
inform the officials that they are planning to file a query,” said Kewal
Semlani, coordinater of Mahadhikar.
In the last few months, RTI queries have revealed the poor state of the
state dairy corporations and ineffectiveness of the Lokayukta. The pathetic
condition of State Transport buses was also exposed. “More than half the
fleet did not have horns, brake lights and tail lights and yet they plied on
national highways and in the ghats,” said Bala Sahib Kurup, the
Nashik-based RTI applicant.
A Mumbai-based activist filed queries that exposed the apathy of the
civic administration. “The space in front of Shanmukhananda Hall, Sion was
used as a kitchen and after we filed an RTI query the civic official was
penalised,” said G R Vora, the applicant.
Gandhi said that even the minutes of a board meeting of a major public
utility, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), was not
exempted from the Act’s ambit . “The Act brings greater transparency to the
system and babus will think twice when signing a project to benefit a
particular lobby,” Gandhi said.
viju.balanarayanan@timesgroup.com KNOWLEDGE IS POWER Here is a
step-by-step guide on how to go about filing an application under the Right
To Information Act
You must address your RTI application to THE PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER; it
must be followed by the NAME OF THE OFFICE (from which you are seeking the
information); the ADDRESS of the office should also be given
Give PARTICULARS of the information you are seeking
Specify THE PERIOD from which the information dates
Specify whether YOU ARE GOING TO COLLECT THE INFORMATION IN PERSON or would
like it to be sent to you by POST (also specify ORDINARY or REGISTERED POST)
Say if you are from BELOW THE POVERTY LINE and, if so, attach PHOTOCOPY
OF PROOF
Fix a RS-10 COURT-FEE STAMP on the application; it will cost you AN
ADDITIONAL RS 10 if you are sending the application by post
SIGN OFF and give the DATE and PLACE WAITING PERIOD
The law stipulates that information should be given in 30 DAYS Applicants
can go in for an appeal (TO AN OFFICIAL OF THE SAME DEPARTMENT SENIOR TO THE
PIO) if there is any delay in the reply You can go further up, right up to
the STATE INFORMATION COMMISSION or the CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION, both
of which are independent constitutional authorities established under the
RTI Act
The RTI Act provides for a PENALTY OF RS 250 FOR EVERY DAY OF DELAY in
providing information
There are also regulations that specify PENALTIES FOR FURNISHING WRONG
INFORMATION
THE MUMBAI ADDRESS
The State Information Commission office is located on the 13th floor of the
New Administrative Building (opposite Mantralaya) at Nariman Point. You can
also call 22049184 or 22029390 PEOPLE-FRIENDLY ACT: RTI REMEDY
The RTI Act came into being on 12 October 2005
Approximately 1.2 lakh cases have been filed under the RTI Act in
Maharashtra in the last 2 years
Around 10,000 final appeals are pending in the state right now
1,095 final appeals are pending in Mumbai
450 appeals are heard all over Maharashtra in an average month THE
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
Suresh Joshi is the chief information commissioner in Maharashtra
The state is divided into 4 zones that are under four information
commissioners; Joshi himself heads the Mumbai & Konkan zone, B V Kuvlekar is
the information commissioner for the Pune division, V B Borge is the
Aurangabad division’s information commissioner and the Nagpur zone is headed
by V B Patil
There have been teething problems. Only 12 of the 18 sanctioned posts in
the chief information commissioner’s office have been filled; there is also
no registrar (one sanctioned post) and no law officer (two posts)
SPEEDY DISPOSALS: LAW STUDENTS TO BE ROPED IN
The State Information Commission (SIC) is planning a novel way of dealing
with the mounting number of requests from the public for valuable
information. The SIC has plans to seek the help of law students for help in
sifting through the RTI appeals and forming the replies. This would give the
students some work experience and also speed up the clearance process.
Volunteers would be selected form the Government Law College and K C Law
College shortly. TNN