It was 35 months ago that the Telangana State Information Commission was formed with the appointment of Chief Information Commissioner and an Information Commission. It is no mean task that the two-member team managed to bring down the pendency of RTI petitions from four years to 12 months.
The Telangana State Information Commissionhas received a total 17,943 appeals since its inception in 2017. Of them, 10,220 appeals relate to revenue, municipal administration (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Cororation) and panchayati raj departments.
The Telangana State Information Commission was established on September 13, 2017 with Chief Information Commissioner and one Commissioner.
By disposing of nearly 14,000 appeals during the last three years, the commission has brought down the waiting period from four years to one year. With the appointment of new Information Commissioners, the pendency will come down further, according to Chief Information Commissioner S. Raja Sadaram, who will demit office on Monday.
In an exclusive interview to The Hindu on Sunday, Mr. Raja Sadaram expressed satisfaction at his tenure and recalled his efforts along with another member Budha Murali to introduce innovative initiatives.
So far, a total of 17,943 second appeals/complaints were filed in the Telangana Information Commission. As on the date of formation of Telangana Commission there were 6,825 appeals pending from Telangana. The commission has taken a special drive and disposed of 13,838 appeals and brought down the waiting period from more than three years to one year. According to the CIC, on an average 550 to 600 second appeals are filed every month in the Commission.
Virtual hearing
“The Commission comprising me and Budha Murali continued the virtual hearings during the COVID-19 pandemic also. Now with the appointment of five new Commissioners, the backlog will get cleared very soon,” Mr Raja Sadaram exuded confidence.
Speaking about the initiatives, the CIC said a review of the work revealed that people were directly filing applications before the commission instead of approaching the public information officers of the departments concerned .
“There is need to create public awareness, especially in the rural areas about the provisions of the Act,” he noted.
He said establishment of a facilitation desk in the commission was making the citizens understand how to make best use of the provisions of the Act to seek information. There is a general feeling that the applications are filed under RTI to seek frivolous and vexatious information. According to him, such applications do not exceed 2% and there are adequate provisions to deal with such cases including those which are repetitive and seeking voluminous information.
The commission has introduced the system of sending preliminary intimation soon after a second appeal is filed. This has proved to be quite useful as it makes the officials concerned aware of the fact of filing the second appeal and facilitating furnishing of sought information much before hearing.
The Cause list and notices of hearing are uploaded on the website well in advance facilitating the appellants and the PIOs, the CIC pointed out.
The commission has made it a practice to upload the orders on the website the next day.
The CIC observed that in a good number of cases, the Public Information Officers come up with the plea that the files are not available. “The plea of non-availability and not being able to trace out the record would amount to denial of information under the RTI Act,” he said noting that it also reflected poorly on the administrative system.
Legislation needed
“Maintenance of records should be given utmost importance with clear demarcation of responsibilities. Officials responsible for loss of Government records should be dealt with it appropriately. It is essential to enact a suitable legislation for this purpose,” he opined.
A broad analysis of the appeals filed reveals that the information sought is about the basic data relating to the schemes, beneficiaries, budget, expenditure etc., which is required to be in the public domain. “There will be no confidentiality in those cases and there is nothing to hide unless there is some irregularity involved,” he observed.
Records are the heart and soul of administration in government offices, Mr. Raja Sadaram said and felt that an effective system of creating, storing and managing the records would not only facilitate better sourcing of information under the RTI Act but also improve the efficiency of administrative machinery and reinforce the confidence of people.