For the past one week, several RTI activists have been camping outside the office of the CIC in the capital which is slated to continue for a month.
NEW DELHI: For the past one week, several RTI activists have been camping outside the office of the Central Information Commission (CIC) in the capital which is slated to continue for a month. At the centre of this camp is Arvind Kejriwal, winner of the Ramon Magsaysay award. It was Kejriwal, who had spearheaded the RTI movement a couple of years ago in India.
Kejriwal and his associates are recording the experiences of the people who have filed for RTI with CIC, but have failed to get the requisite information from various government ministries and departments. Although CIC must provide the information sought within 30 days of filing the RTI, many petitioners are complaining that they have
failed to get a reply even after one year or more.
The CIC has made a mockery of things, Kejriwal told DNA on Monday. By refusing to impose any penalty on the defaulters, the Commission has been reduced itself to “a paper tiger”, he argued.
On behalf of some of the grave cases which have failed to get a response from the CIC, Kejriwal wants to move the Delhi High Court.
Consider some of the cases. HK Pal sought some information from National Savings Institute, but got none even months after his RTI petition, and CIC did not impose any penalty. Ganesh Avtar failed to get any response from the ministry of sports and youth affairs despite orders from the CIC.
Although the CIC directed the Income Tax Department to provide the requisite information to Bhagat Singh in May 2006, he is yet to receive any.
Of the 2,000 RTI cases filed so far, penalty was imposed in the case of only seven. Also, the CIC is perceived as extremely slow in processing the cases. According to Kejriwal, while the Delhi High Court hears 50 cases a day, the CIC hears only about one case a day.
The CIC has a duty to impose penalty up to Rs 25,000 under the RTI Act if an officer fails to provide information in 30 days.
“However, information commissioners at the CIC have been refusing to do so, which has emboldened
the officials. The officials not only ignore the
RTI applications, they treat the orders of the CIC with the same contempt,” said Kejriwal.
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