Information under RTI within 30 days difficult to come by

Even four years after the Right to Information Act was enacted, getting information within 30 days as mandated under the law is not an easy task.

PTI filed 20 applications in a span of five months between November 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010 with different Union ministries and organisations.

Surprisingly, no department provided complete information within 30 day limit mandated under the Act. In three cases, applications were rejected within a month along with exemption clauses given under the transparency law.

Nine applications did not receive any reply in a month and the concerned Central Public Information Officers replied much after the mandatory period was over. 

In the remaining eight cases, the CPIOs either transferred the application or sent incomplete responses. In four of these information was provided after the intervention of higher authorities.

The most brazen response was of sports ministry CPIO who rejected two applications dated November 23 seeking details of
travel expenses and expenditure incurred on snacks served
during the meetings for preparations of Commonwealth Games.

The information was only provided after instructions of higher authorities. The application regarding travel expenses was replied on March 12 while that on snacks was replied after five months on April 7.

An RTI application dated March 24 directed to organising committee of Commonwealth Games is yet to be answered by the
committee.

One of the CPIOs of rural development ministry claimed that application on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act dated March 9 was received by him only after 21
days which he replied on April 23.

A person, under the RTI Act, can apply before a designated Central Public Information Officer of a government department, who is generally a director level officer in central ministries, with a fee of Rs 10.

The CPIO is mandated to provide requisite information, if it does not come under the exemption clauses of the act, as expeditiously as possible and within 30 days of receiving it. In case information is incomplete or not provide, first appeal can be filed in the department with higher official who are designated at First Appellate Authority.

The list of such officials generally remains on the web site of the central ministries. 

The Central Information Commission has already made it
clear that "information has to be provided within 30 days and
that there is no provision of excluding holidays and weekends
from the mandatory period."