Under RTI different requestors are getting different response. Govt. officers are slowly but surely coping with new era of open and transparent governance, befitting a democracy, where ordinary citizen is the ultimate owner of all govt. information. Govt. officer is just a custodian of information. Sixty year old habits and mind frame will take some time, training and public punch, to change in line with this most progressive and empowering piece of legislation enacted after independence.
Experience shows that Govt. officers/employees soften, moment they know that you know about RTI Act, as you may legally ask questions that may be embarrassing to them and their department/office.
Govt. employees and officers are now feeling hesitant to do wrong things or misuse their authority, lest the mess may come to light at a later date, just by an application of any ordinary citizen under RTI. On an average 4000 applications are being filed per day in the country under RTI.
Let us not get discouraged and continue to keep on pushing. It is peoples’ law in action. Let us sharpen it to exert citizens’ right against its own public servants. Revolutions do not happen over night. Give a chance to RTI.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Common Indian, BE AWAKE AND CONTINUE TO ACT
I think latest by 15-12-2008, majority of TV channels and print media would have relegated issue of terrorism to back burners. People in posh drawing rooms and roads would have also lost interest. The politicians would then be busy in meeting their hidden agendas of garnering votes and money. Politicians will stop blaming Pakistan for their failures. All promises made in last 2 months would be filed out and forgotten. Common man would be busy in facing his daily problems. Some new politicians with old wine will be busy making some useless and funny statements. The candles will extinguish. Ministers and babus will securely keep papers pertaining to statements they made in last 2 months for some future date to be used by changing place and number of deads and injured.
Again one morning or evening same episodes will be replayed again and again. We get what we deserve. We do not want to awaken. We want to sleep and blame others including politicians and babus. We do not even feel ashamed that 10 young boys can hold country of more than a billion people at gun point for 60 hours.
Mera Bharat Mahan nahi haye, ye meri galti hai.
Again one morning or evening same episodes will be replayed again and again. We get what we deserve. We do not want to awaken. We want to sleep and blame others including politicians and babus. We do not even feel ashamed that 10 young boys can hold country of more than a billion people at gun point for 60 hours.
Mera Bharat Mahan nahi haye, ye meri galti hai.
WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE GOAL IN LIFE?
1. It gives direction and focus to your life.
2. It activates success mechanism of subconscious mind.
3. It enables you to concentrate your energies and strength.
4. It is proved through research that those who had life goals in early age succeeded, while others failed.
5. It helps you acquire relevant skills and knowledge based on your goals.
6. It energizes you and enhances your enthusiasm many folds.
7. People will cooperate with you, if they know that you know where you are going.
8. It will attract circumstances that will facilitate achievement of goals.
9. If you do not know where you want to go, you would be reaching no where in life.
10. You can evaluate your performance against time limits of goals, and can take corrective steps.
2. It activates success mechanism of subconscious mind.
3. It enables you to concentrate your energies and strength.
4. It is proved through research that those who had life goals in early age succeeded, while others failed.
5. It helps you acquire relevant skills and knowledge based on your goals.
6. It energizes you and enhances your enthusiasm many folds.
7. People will cooperate with you, if they know that you know where you are going.
8. It will attract circumstances that will facilitate achievement of goals.
9. If you do not know where you want to go, you would be reaching no where in life.
10. You can evaluate your performance against time limits of goals, and can take corrective steps.
Monday, January 19, 2009
SUGGESTIONS TO GOVT ON RTI
Date: 01-01-2009
Shri K. N. Erendra Kumar,
Dy. Director,
Rajya Sabha Secretariat,
Room No. 222 Parliament House Annexe,
New Delhi 110001
rs-cpers@sansad.nic.in
Respected Sir,
Memorandum on The Right to Information Act 2005
I refer to your advertisement inviting suggestions on above act. I humbly convey my suggestions for kind consideration of the Committee:
1. Locating PIO & FAA is difficult and time consuming. For State govts. I suggest that PIO of District Collector’s office should be designated as APIO for all public authorities [P.A.] of the concerned State. He should redirect the application to the correct PIO after referring the information sought. He should also accept first appeals pertaining to the State public authorities. [State Bank of India has designated all its branch heads as ACPIO and he accepts RTI applications, fee and also appeals. Thus the information seeker need not waste his time and money in locating PIO or FAA. ]
2. All States should have common formats for application, first appeal and second appeal/complaint.
3. Payment of fee and charges is next big problem. Govt. should come out with RTI stamps of Re 1/-, Rs.5/- and Rs.10/- and all states and central govt P.A. should accept the same. Alternatively IPO should be made one of the modes of payment by all State govts and IPO should be in the name of “Public Information Officer”. At present name of payee of IPO, DD etc are resulting in lot of delay, cost and inconvenience.
4. I have found that when the applicant of one state applies to PIO of another state, the reply is at times given in the language of the state of the PIO. The applicant may not be knowing language of that state. Hence it should be made compulsory to reply in English or Hindi when ever applicant belongs to different state, if he so requests.
5. Penalty provision should be provided for First Appellate Authority [FAA] also. At present in most of the cases, he shields and concurs with the PIO without application of mind.
6. It should be made mandatory for all central govt public authorities to designate all post offices as ACPIO. At present only few of central govt ministries/undertakings have this facility.
7. Baring few of the banks etc, majority of public authorities have not provided for email IDs of PIO or FAA. It should be made mandatory to have separate email ID for PIO & FAA for each of public authority upto District level at least.
8. Abolishing of filing fee is also suggested, which will reduce lot of work-load for accounting of fees in PA and will reduce inconvenience to applicants. This will facilitate filing of applications by email.
9. State Information Commissions and CIC should have search facility for their decisions as we have for Supreme Court on their websites.
10 Bihar type model be adopted for all States and Central Govts.
11. Tracking system of second appeal/complaints at CIC/SICs should be introduced for the appellants/complainants.
12. It is suggested that if a person is threatened or victimised or coerced for using RTI, it should be treated as cognizable offence against culprit.
13. A time limit of 90 days should be fixed for finally deciding second appeal or complaint by CIC/SIC. Delay beyond 90 days should entitle appellant/complainant Rs.5/- per day of delay. [Banks are required to mandatorily pay interest for delay in collection of cheques/bills beyond certain days. ]
14. At present, assistant is not permitted during physical verification of records under RTI. This adversely affects semi or illiterates or the persons not knowing language of the record. Hence it should be made compulsory for the PIO to permit one or two assistants during verification if requested by the applicant.
15. CIC/SICs should be advised to publish interalia on their website Operating Expenses [non-capital expenditure] incurred per decision in a year as well as average number of days in which copy of decision is dispatched from date of receipt of appeal or complaint. This will indicate efficiency and cost of operation of CIC/SICs. At present these data are not worked out by CIC and majority of SICs.
16. Replies by scanning requested documents should also be introduced if requested by the applicant.
17. Photocopies of the record should be compulsorily provided by stating that it is provided under RTI Act and that it is the true copy of the relevant record, under the signature and seal of the custodian of record or the PIO. Uncertified copies being supplied, may not be valid in courts or other govt. offices.
18. RTI Act should be amended to mandate that the public authority should seek prior approval of head of the public authority and then 3 member bench of Central Information Commission, Delhi before invoking writ jurisdiction of High or Supreme Court against rulings of CIC or SICs. Thus unnecessary litigation can be avoided and there would be finality to the case without wastage of time and public money.
19. CIC should follow work distribution pattern as that of High or Supreme Courts. Present system encourages monopoly of ICs.
20. It is necessary to hold PIO and FAA responsible for their decisions or delay or no decisions and penalized compulsorily in terms of this Act. At present these officers do not care for SICs/CIC and take information seekers for a ride. SICs/CIC are very lenient in imposing penalties. This has resulted in huge back log at CIC/SICs.
21. More and more non-bureaucrats should be inducted as Information Commissioners at CIC and SICs and their performance should be reviewed and published on yearly basis by committee of ICs of CIC and SICs to be nominated by PMO.
Shri K. N. Erendra Kumar,
Dy. Director,
Rajya Sabha Secretariat,
Room No. 222 Parliament House Annexe,
New Delhi 110001
rs-cpers@sansad.nic.in
Respected Sir,
Memorandum on The Right to Information Act 2005
I refer to your advertisement inviting suggestions on above act. I humbly convey my suggestions for kind consideration of the Committee:
1. Locating PIO & FAA is difficult and time consuming. For State govts. I suggest that PIO of District Collector’s office should be designated as APIO for all public authorities [P.A.] of the concerned State. He should redirect the application to the correct PIO after referring the information sought. He should also accept first appeals pertaining to the State public authorities. [State Bank of India has designated all its branch heads as ACPIO and he accepts RTI applications, fee and also appeals. Thus the information seeker need not waste his time and money in locating PIO or FAA. ]
2. All States should have common formats for application, first appeal and second appeal/complaint.
3. Payment of fee and charges is next big problem. Govt. should come out with RTI stamps of Re 1/-, Rs.5/- and Rs.10/- and all states and central govt P.A. should accept the same. Alternatively IPO should be made one of the modes of payment by all State govts and IPO should be in the name of “Public Information Officer”. At present name of payee of IPO, DD etc are resulting in lot of delay, cost and inconvenience.
4. I have found that when the applicant of one state applies to PIO of another state, the reply is at times given in the language of the state of the PIO. The applicant may not be knowing language of that state. Hence it should be made compulsory to reply in English or Hindi when ever applicant belongs to different state, if he so requests.
5. Penalty provision should be provided for First Appellate Authority [FAA] also. At present in most of the cases, he shields and concurs with the PIO without application of mind.
6. It should be made mandatory for all central govt public authorities to designate all post offices as ACPIO. At present only few of central govt ministries/undertakings have this facility.
7. Baring few of the banks etc, majority of public authorities have not provided for email IDs of PIO or FAA. It should be made mandatory to have separate email ID for PIO & FAA for each of public authority upto District level at least.
8. Abolishing of filing fee is also suggested, which will reduce lot of work-load for accounting of fees in PA and will reduce inconvenience to applicants. This will facilitate filing of applications by email.
9. State Information Commissions and CIC should have search facility for their decisions as we have for Supreme Court on their websites.
10 Bihar type model be adopted for all States and Central Govts.
11. Tracking system of second appeal/complaints at CIC/SICs should be introduced for the appellants/complainants.
12. It is suggested that if a person is threatened or victimised or coerced for using RTI, it should be treated as cognizable offence against culprit.
13. A time limit of 90 days should be fixed for finally deciding second appeal or complaint by CIC/SIC. Delay beyond 90 days should entitle appellant/complainant Rs.5/- per day of delay. [Banks are required to mandatorily pay interest for delay in collection of cheques/bills beyond certain days. ]
14. At present, assistant is not permitted during physical verification of records under RTI. This adversely affects semi or illiterates or the persons not knowing language of the record. Hence it should be made compulsory for the PIO to permit one or two assistants during verification if requested by the applicant.
15. CIC/SICs should be advised to publish interalia on their website Operating Expenses [non-capital expenditure] incurred per decision in a year as well as average number of days in which copy of decision is dispatched from date of receipt of appeal or complaint. This will indicate efficiency and cost of operation of CIC/SICs. At present these data are not worked out by CIC and majority of SICs.
16. Replies by scanning requested documents should also be introduced if requested by the applicant.
17. Photocopies of the record should be compulsorily provided by stating that it is provided under RTI Act and that it is the true copy of the relevant record, under the signature and seal of the custodian of record or the PIO. Uncertified copies being supplied, may not be valid in courts or other govt. offices.
18. RTI Act should be amended to mandate that the public authority should seek prior approval of head of the public authority and then 3 member bench of Central Information Commission, Delhi before invoking writ jurisdiction of High or Supreme Court against rulings of CIC or SICs. Thus unnecessary litigation can be avoided and there would be finality to the case without wastage of time and public money.
19. CIC should follow work distribution pattern as that of High or Supreme Courts. Present system encourages monopoly of ICs.
20. It is necessary to hold PIO and FAA responsible for their decisions or delay or no decisions and penalized compulsorily in terms of this Act. At present these officers do not care for SICs/CIC and take information seekers for a ride. SICs/CIC are very lenient in imposing penalties. This has resulted in huge back log at CIC/SICs.
21. More and more non-bureaucrats should be inducted as Information Commissioners at CIC and SICs and their performance should be reviewed and published on yearly basis by committee of ICs of CIC and SICs to be nominated by PMO.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
USE OF RTI IN CONSUMER PROTECTION
The Right to Information Act 2005 [RTI] enables a citizen to access information from government depts, offices and organisations. It also allows access to information of private entity through government authority.
To effectively present his case, the aggrieved consumer needs to have information and documents. For example if there are unauthorised or fraudulent debits to your account with a bank, you first should have details of such debits. If insurance claim is rejected, you must know not only reasons but also the process followed to arrive at decision of rejection. In case if your application to a government dept is not being attended, you should know why it is pending and what action has so far been taken. If a road is repaired by municipal corporation and the same gets washed away in first rains, you should be in a position to find out reasons thereof by getting details of contract and material actually used etc. If you get exorbitant electricity bills, you need to get all the details and causes for such bills from records of service provider. Without having necessary and authentic information and papers with you, it would not be possible to effectively exert your right as a consumer.
RTI lays down a cost effective, time bound and simple procedure for extracting information, papers and samples from government authorities. It has confered a right to this effect in Indian citizen and it flows from fundamental rights guaranteed under article 19 of the Constitution of India.
RTI has been successful in reducing corruption to some extent. Any wrong doing by public servants can be exposed with simple application under RTI. Thus the public and consumers of govt services and goods are benefitted. RTI has also alerted government servants to attend citizens' work in prescribed time limit, lest questions will be asked under RTI. RTI has also made government machinery to efficiently discharge their duties, lest citizens will seek and divulge information pertaining to their dereliction of duties. A sense of accountability has been infused in government working through RTI, which has positive effect on users of government services.
Aggrieved consumers should resort to RTI for redressal of their consumer problems. In fact, RTI should precede action under Consumer Protection.
For information about RTI citizens can access www.rti.gov.in, www.cic.gov.in, www.rtiindia.org, www.prajanet.org or my blog at www.jps50.blogspot.com.
To effectively present his case, the aggrieved consumer needs to have information and documents. For example if there are unauthorised or fraudulent debits to your account with a bank, you first should have details of such debits. If insurance claim is rejected, you must know not only reasons but also the process followed to arrive at decision of rejection. In case if your application to a government dept is not being attended, you should know why it is pending and what action has so far been taken. If a road is repaired by municipal corporation and the same gets washed away in first rains, you should be in a position to find out reasons thereof by getting details of contract and material actually used etc. If you get exorbitant electricity bills, you need to get all the details and causes for such bills from records of service provider. Without having necessary and authentic information and papers with you, it would not be possible to effectively exert your right as a consumer.
RTI lays down a cost effective, time bound and simple procedure for extracting information, papers and samples from government authorities. It has confered a right to this effect in Indian citizen and it flows from fundamental rights guaranteed under article 19 of the Constitution of India.
RTI has been successful in reducing corruption to some extent. Any wrong doing by public servants can be exposed with simple application under RTI. Thus the public and consumers of govt services and goods are benefitted. RTI has also alerted government servants to attend citizens' work in prescribed time limit, lest questions will be asked under RTI. RTI has also made government machinery to efficiently discharge their duties, lest citizens will seek and divulge information pertaining to their dereliction of duties. A sense of accountability has been infused in government working through RTI, which has positive effect on users of government services.
Aggrieved consumers should resort to RTI for redressal of their consumer problems. In fact, RTI should precede action under Consumer Protection.
For information about RTI citizens can access www.rti.gov.in, www.cic.gov.in, www.rtiindia.org, www.prajanet.org or my blog at www.jps50.blogspot.com.
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