Public Cause Research Foundation (A Parivartan Inititative) and Human Rights Law Network invite RTI activists from Andhra Pradesh for a meeting of RTI Activists of AP and Lawyers to discuss about the problems we face in implementation of the RTI Act and various wrong interpretation of the Act by the PIOs.
The meeting is scheduled on 02.03.2008 10:00 am at HASSS Training Center Sangeet Road Opp. Oriental Bank, Secunderabad(Hyderabad).
The Act came into force on 12th Oct 2005, and ever since, the RTI Activists across the country has started to work for its proper and effective implementation. Drive against Bribes Campaign in collaboration with media houses during 1st and 15th July 2006 was a very successful event all across the country, in which more than 700 civil societies working on RTI in different parts of the country participated.
In last two years, it is felt that the Public Information Officers in different public offices are misinterpreting the exemption clause in the RTI Act [section 8(1)] to deny information and the Information Commissions are also upholding their decisions. Most of these denial decisions are unjust and can easily be quashed, if we challenge it in High Courts. Further, there are cases also where the Public Information Officers are challenging the decisions of the Information Commissions in the High Courts, if the Commissions direct them to provide information. In both these cases, the applicant under RTI act, having no legal support, faces difficulty in presenting his argument in the High Court. This is also because that he is neither having the resources to go to the high court nor he knows any lawyer / lawyer group who can handle such cases in High Court. As a result, not only the side of the applicant remains unrepresented, but the Act is interprated in a biased manner favouring non disclosure. Thus the object of this legislation gets defeated.
There are other issues as well, that require immediate attention. Some Information Commissions are so slow in disposing the appeals / complaints filed under the RTI act that they are now facing huge pendency. For example, in Maharashtra, approximately 11,000 appeals / complaints are pending and with the current rate of disposal, if one appeal/ complaint is fileds today in the commission, it would be heard after 3 years. This defeats the very purpose of the Act and makes the Act almost dead. The Act provides for appointing a maximum of 10 information commissions in a commission, but this is not the solution to this problem. In UP, despite the full strength of Information Commissioners in the state, the pendency is still approximately 15,000 appeals / complaints. Similar is the situation in Punjab, where there are also 10 information commissioners. There is a need to change the approach of the commissioners and to adopt certain changes in their functioning. We have to discuss and find out ways for speedy disposal of the cases and approach the commissioners to adopt these changes.
There are cases where despite clear voilation of the provisions of the Act, the Information Commissions are not imposing any penalty on the erring Public Information Officers. As a result, the PIOs are willfully denying information and all such cases comes to the Information Commission. As soon as the Information Commissions start imposing penalties, the RTI functionaries will start working in a better manner and the pendency in the commission will also fade away. In last two years, in Central Information Commission, only 39 penalties were imposed and less than 10 have been realized. These are some very important areas and there is a need to take a note of that as well. These cases are also required to be challenged before the High Courts and get a direction from the court to these commissions for imposing the penalties.
We, at Public Cause Research Foundation (A Parivartan Initiative) in Delhi, are providing some legal support to the RTI Movement, but with a very small number of advocates, we can not support the entire movement. In this connection, HRLN has come forward to support the movement and to take the cause of the movement to the courts. Thus, we are having meetings in every HRLN office where the RTI Activists from different parts of the state and lawyers from HRLN and other associates of HRLN can talk on these issues and discuss future strategy for the same.
In Hyderabad meeting on 02.03.2008, we plan to start this meeting by 10:00 am (with an introduction about the purpose & possible outcome of the meeting, national level difficulties in implementation of the Act and also interpretation of various provisions of the Act. I will be doing this part along with HRLN Andhra Pradesh unit. This will be followed by presentations by RTI Activists in the state on the difficulty in implementation of the RTI Act and state specific issues. Please suggest the persons, who can give a presentation on this issue. Then HRLN can also give a presentation on the possible strategy for tackling these issues and how cases in High Court can be filed under a strategy. After this the discussion will start and as per the need of the house, the course of discussion will be decided. But broadly, the issues will be- arbitrary interpretation of section 8(.(1), non-imposition of penalty, large number of pending appeals and complaints in the commission, functioning of the Information Commission, High Court rules under RTI Act etc. The participants can also bring in their own cases, which can also be discussed and taken up for future action. This meeting will be more of a discussion meeting than a presentation meeting. For more information, you can contact Human Rights Law Network, House N0.1-9-31 2/5/2, Achyutreddy Marg, Vidya Nagar Hyderabad – 500004 Andhra Pradesh or Ms.D. Padmavathi, Advocate, HRLN on +919885392482 or at hrlnap@yahoo.co.in. Please also email us confirming your participation at hrlnap@yahoo.co.in and to me at divyajyoti@jaipuriar.com.
Please also forward this mail to other groups/ persons who can join us in the meeting at Hyderabad.
Thanks and Regards!
DivyaJyoti Jaipuriar
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