RTI used mostly to settle personal scores: Information Commissioner Bimal Julka
, ET Bureau|
Jan 23, 2018, 07.33 AM IST
NEW DELHI: The Right to Information Act, conceived as a tool for the common man to make the government more accountable towards administration and governance, has in the past few years seen an "unfortunate shift".
The number of people filing RTI applications asking about how government schemes are being implemented has shrunk, and it has largely become a weapon to dig out private details of people to settle personal scores, information commissioner Bimal Julka told state commissioners at a meeting on Saturday.
Julka urged them to help make RTI an effective tool to empower the common man and train officials in giving clear and concise replies.
"It is unfortunate that most of the RTI applications are directed at private interests, matrimonial disputes, knowing salaries and leave records of rivals and settling personal scores. That was not the intent of RTI," a state information officer who attended the meeting quoted Julka as saying.
Grievance redress was never the part of RTI the way it is now, but is increasingly becoming the reason for most people to file RTIs, he said at the meeting, which was presided over by chief information commissioner RK Mathur.
"The IC (information commissioner) told us that RTI is increasingly becoming about addressing one's own problems — getting a refund of tax, or settling personal scores ... Nobody is asking about GST or Make in India. People don't even file first appeal. They directly go for complaints. Is their trust in the first appellate authorities going down," the state official said.
The number of people filing RTI applications asking about how government schemes are being implemented has shrunk, and it has largely become a weapon to dig out private details of people to settle personal scores, information commissioner Bimal Julka told state commissioners at a meeting on Saturday.
Julka urged them to help make RTI an effective tool to empower the common man and train officials in giving clear and concise replies.
"It is unfortunate that most of the RTI applications are directed at private interests, matrimonial disputes, knowing salaries and leave records of rivals and settling personal scores. That was not the intent of RTI," a state information officer who attended the meeting quoted Julka as saying.
Grievance redress was never the part of RTI the way it is now, but is increasingly becoming the reason for most people to file RTIs, he said at the meeting, which was presided over by chief information commissioner RK Mathur.
"The IC (information commissioner) told us that RTI is increasingly becoming about addressing one's own problems — getting a refund of tax, or settling personal scores ... Nobody is asking about GST or Make in India. People don't even file first appeal. They directly go for complaints. Is their trust in the first appellate authorities going down," the state official said.
