The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Right to Information Act needs to be used more effectively in State: Misra

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Right to Information Act needs to be used more effectively in State: Misra

Staff Reporter

Among civic agencies, BBMP has furnished the most details on its website

BANGALORE: Despite years of struggle for a law like the Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005, activists and public officials agree that its implementation, especially in the State, has been disappointing.

The s uo motu disclosure under Section 4 (1) (b) of the RTI Act, which was supposed to have been implemented in 120 days of the Act coming into being, has not taken place even after four years, members of various civic and organisations pointed out at a review “RTI: where do we stand?” here on Saturday.

Among the civic agencies in the city, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has furnished the most details on its website, and the Bangalore City Police (Traffic) the least.

The review was organised by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), New Delhi, the Citizen’s Voluntary Initiative for the City (CIVIC), the Consumer Rights Education and Awareness Trust (CREAT), the Karnataka Right to Information Activists’ Forum (KRIA Katte), and the Public Affairs Centre (PAC).

Long way to go

Present at the review was K.K. Misra, State Information Chief Officer, who recommended that the one lakh government service centres, which were supposed to accept RTI applications, had to actually begin doing so if we needed to strengthen this enactment. Mr. Misra said that as of now close to 7,000 RTI applications were pending with them. “I think Karnataka has a strong and vibrant civil society, which needs to use the RTI enactment to its fullest possible extent,” he said. As the third report of the Information Commission was under way, the Union Government has asked PricewaterhouseCoopers to prepare a report on the effectiveness of the RTI in the State.

“The National Campaign for the People’s Right to Information has also been asked to do the same, and it seems their findings are very similar,” he said.

Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde spoke about the glaring need for accountability. Close to eight projects started by the Union Government worth Rs. 51,000 crore for 2007-2008 were not accounted for, including those such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

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