AKM Nayak, the new state chief information commissioner, on Wednesday defended the statement he made in 2002 against the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
AKM Nayak, the new state chief information commissioner, on Wednesday defended the statement he made in 2002 against the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Nayak said that he was in the right path and protest by RTI activists was without any understanding of the context in the letter had written in 2002 to Raju Prem Kumar, the then principal secretary of the department of personnel and administrative reforms (DPAR).
“I do my job according to the work assigned to me. Nobody can question my commitment,” said Nayak, speaking exclusively to DNA soon after he was sworn-in as the state chief information commissioner.
“During the past two years (prior to 2002), the government has been acting in a hurry and repenting at leisure, be it the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act of 2001 or Right to Information Act. It should not create one more problem for itself,” Nayak had then written.
Nayak said the protests by RTI activists and other organisations were baseless. “They have to understand in which context I had written the letter to then DPAR. I was not against the RTI alone, as the letter includes my opinion on both Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act of 2001 and Right to Information Act,” said Nayak, who was sworn-in on Wednesday.
The letter was written against the proposed board on transfers and postings of IAS officers. It was to oppose any move to constitute the board and was in the context of constituting a civil services board to regulate transfer of IAS officers, Nayak said.
He made it clear that the letter was written after the then state government asked him about his opinion on the two Acts. Nayak said that the letter was a thing of past. “I have been assigned to serve the RTI as a CIC. So, now my work will be devoted to the RTI Act,” he said.
Nayak said the first thing on his agenda will be to address the applications pending for a long time. “Many a times, the media had stated that RTI applications were not being answered. I have to find out the reason and work accordingly,” he said. Nayak said he will increase the manpower, if needed, to dispose the pending applications.
Shekar D Sajjan Rao, T Ramanayak, D Thangaraj and MR Pujar were sworn-in as state information commissioners.
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