Majority of RTI appeals against LSG institutions, says state CIC

Thiruvananthapuram: State chief information commissioner Vinson M Paul said that majority of appeals received by the information commission are from LSG institutions. He was delivering the inaugural address at an awareness programme organized for the information officers in municipalities and corporations at the Institute of Management in Government on Saturday.
Around 152 information officers from panchayats, municipalities and corporations attended the workshop. Vinson Paul asked the information officers to settle the RTI applications as soon as possible and not to wait for the 30-day deadline to end.
“It was found that the information officers are not aware of the Right To Information Act. It was noticed that when an RTI Act is filed at a corporation office for information related to various departments, only the information available under public information officer concerned is provided to the applicant and the person is forced to file an appeal. There is a need for appointment of a nodal officer in such cases. Do not make the applicant visit the office again,” said Paul.
On queries from information officer regarding the same information sought by applicants with intention to disrupt the office work, commissioner asked them to inform the applicant clearly that the sought information has been provided earlier and they would seek police help if needed.
Referring to the cost applicants have to bear for taking photocopies of big documents, Paul said applicants can be allowed to scan required pages only using their mobile phones.
Citing the cases in which when only photocopy or print copy of documents such as birth certificates are sought, while information officers provide the details on stamp papers which incur additional charges, information commissioner asked the officer to provide the details only at the prescribed fees. In case, the amount for the data provided exceeds the limit or affects the work, the applicant can be asked to visit the office and collect details.
The information commissioner warned that any delay in providing the information within 30 days after the applicant has submitted the RTI application, stating vague reasons will invite compensation.
Suggestions were given to substitute the term unavailability of files and state that the files are not available in the office to clear ambiguity in reply.
According to officials from the commission, a total of 8,224 second appeals and 3,964 complaint appeal are pending at the commission from 2012. Information commissioners Somanathan Pillai, Srilatha P R, K L Vivekanandan and K V Sudhakaran also answered the queries.