Tamil Nadu   

More people are now learning to use Right to Information Act

Vani Doraisamy

It enables a citizen to access any document in the possession of a government authority

CHENNAI: Had it not been for the Right to Information Act, K. Parvathi is sure she would never have known why her request for a building permit was kept pending for nearly a year. Thanks to information procured through the offices of the State Information Commission, the T.Nagar resident will now take the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority to court for rejecting her application "on untenable grounds" while a few others were given clearance in a relatively short time.

Ever since the Information Act became a reality, the stories of those who are learning to use it are sufficient proof that the Government is finally being made accountable. "RTA is an enabler to get information. The internal workings of the Government have been made transparent and people are learning how to seek remedies," says State Information Commissioner, S Ramakrishnan, who, since assuming office in January this year, has received at least one thousand representations.

The Act enables a citizen to access any document in the possession of a government authority, except those that are categorised as sensitive. Apart from enabling access to records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models or data material, in either paper or electronic form, the Act also lets one get certified samples of material, or obtain information in form of printouts, diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts. However, file notings have been exempted.

All one has to do is make an application in plain paper to the Public Information Officer of the government department concerned, with a fee of Rs. 50 (even this has been waived in the case of below-the-poverty-line petitioners).

Even if the department does not have the information within its purview, the PIO is required, by law, to forward the representation to other relevant departments and intimate the same to the petitioner.

Normally, the information sought would have to be provided within a month, failing which the Act enjoins the State Information Commission to initiate suitable action against the errant official.

The law is at its user-friendly best when it comes to ensuring that the petitioner does not have to specify the reason for requesting information and has to incur no additional expenditure. Also, if the information sought concerns the life and liberty of a person, it has to be provided within 48 hours.

More information about the RTA, the State Information Commission and the procedures for making an application under the Act can be accessed at http://www.tn.gov.in/rti/.

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