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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 Publication:Times of India Mumbai; Date:Oct 9, 2007; Section:Times City; Page Number:4 URL : http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA3LzEwLzA5I0FyMDA0MDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom |
| Also see : Anti-Corruption, Government Acts(By Topic), Government Schemes |
