The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Public awareness camp on the Right to Information Act

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 13, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Public awareness camp on the Right to Information Act

Special Correspondent

If the law is allowed to entrench itself, it will pay rich dividends: State Chief Information Commissioner If the law is allowed to entrench itself, it will pay rich dividends: official

GENERATING AWARENESS: Sriram Panchu, advocate; Sudha Ramalingam, National Council member, PUCL; V.Vasanthi Devi, Former chairperson, Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women; and S.Ramakrishnan, Chief Information Commissioner, Tamil Nadu, at the inaugur ation of the Chennai camp of the right to Information campaign on Wednesday. — Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

CHENNAI: The Right to Information Act is a strong piece of legislation, which has empowered the people. If the law is allowed to entrench itself for one or two years, it will pay rich dividends, said State Chief Information Commissioner S. Ramakrishnan, on Wednesday.

Inaugurating a fortnight-long right to information camp-cum-clinic here, organised by the Tamil Nadu Right to Information Campaign, as part of a State-wide public awareness programme, he pointed out that while using the law the public should know as to what information they specifically want and how and where to seek the information. He pointed out that in the last six months, the Act had remained powerful. Though it may take some time for more effective implementation, the people should not get disheartened. It would be possible to achieve full results in a couple of years. The rules and regulations under the Act had to be drafted.

Mr. Ramakrishnan explained that in the last six months since it had been functioning, the State Information Commission had received more than 1000 appeals. Of this, about 900 had been disposed of and the rest were being looked into. Implementation of the Act had produced fruitful results. However, it appeared that the people had not fully understood the legislation. Half of the petitions received by the Commission related to seeking redress of various grievances for which the body was not empowered. It could only provide information. However, with a view to helping applicants, the Commission sent the applications to the departments concerned and requested them to inform it about the steps taken by them within a fortnight. Some of the applicants sent the queries directly to the Commission.

However, he felt that it would take some more time for the bureaucracy to adjust itself to the new progressive legislation and proactively implement the provisions of the law.

Sriram Panchu, advocate, said the culture of secrecy in government should go. The Act had provided people in a participative democracy an opportunity to know what the government was doing and not doing.

V. Vasanthi Devi, former Chairperson, Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women, said the legislation bridged the gap between the people and the government. She said in Tamil Nadu information officers had not been appointed in many departments. The government should take steps to create awareness among the public and also instil public confidence in the law.

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