The Hindu : New Delhi News : Right to information still a distant dream in Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 18, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Right to information still a distant dream in Delhi

Sujay Mehdudia

Chief Minister and Lieutenant-Governor among major defaulters

NEW DELHI: The much hyped Right to Information Act of the Delhi Government holding out the promise of easy access to "official information'' for the common man still continues to be a distant dream due to "defaults" at the highest level.

Failure of the Lieutenant-Governor's office, the Delhi Chief Minister's office, the Chief Secretary's office and the Public Grievances Commission (PGC) to appoint nodal officers in their offices has hampered smooth implementation of the Act.

Representations by non-Government organisations and some eminent people to the Delhi Government and the Right to Information State Council headed by the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, for necessary steps to appoint nodal officers in these hi-profile offices has met with little success.

The most surprisingly part is that the Chief Minister and the Lieutenant-Governor top the list of defaulters who have failed to initiate action for appointing nodal officers in their offices.

Insiders in the Delhi Government blame the Administrative Reforms Department for this and are of the view that its indifferent stand on the issue does not augur well for the smooth implementation of the Act. Interestingly the Act was notified on October 2, 2001, but after a lapse of almost four years, those running Delhi have still not put in place a mechanism for addressing the concerns or the applications of the people.

The situation is no different with regard to Raj Nivas as it continues to follow the example of the Chief Minister's Office.

There is hardly any nodal officer in the Lieutenant-Governor's office who could deal with applications under the Right to Information Act. Unlike other States, the role of the Lieutenant-Governor is different in Delhi as he is an "administrator'' and is heading public dealing organisations. However, like his predecessor Vijai Kapoor, the present Lieutenant-Governor, B.L. Joshi, has also not felt the need to appoint a nodal officer to deal with applications under the Right to Information Act.

Nodal officer

The office of the Chief Secretary is also resisting moves to appoint a nodal officer to deal with the Right to Information applications. It is being argued that the Chief Secretary's office was only routing files and therefore there was no need to appoint any nodal office. However, the NGOs and other voluntary organisations argue that a large number of queries do pertain to the office of the Chief Secretary who is the head of the administration and plays a major role in the decision making process. The matter has been raised at a number of meetings of the Right to Information State Council but has been brushed under the carpet for some strange reason.

Another contentious issue has been the money being charged by the Government agencies to provide information under the Right to Information Act. What has upset a large number of organisations and the common man is the imposition of Rs. 5 per page charge for photocopying of documents.

This is being termed as an attempt to deny information to people by making it expensive as in a number of cases the bill for getting information has run into thousands.

Also, if a poor man applies under Right to Information Act, he has to pay Rs. 25 for the application and Rs. 5 per page for the documents. In Rs. 20 he would be able to draw 15 kg of rations from the Public Distribution System under the Antyodaya scheme.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi

News Update

Stories in this Section