Latest news with #InformationCommission
The Hindu
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Information Commission recommends inclusion of RTI Act in the curriculum of PU and degree courses
To ensure effective implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, which aims to bring transparency in administration besides checking corruption, the Karnataka State Information Commission has recommended to the government to include a lesson on the RTI in the curriculum of pre-university and degree courses. The Karnataka State Information Commissioners have appealed to Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh to include this in the agenda for discussion at a high-level meeting on the RTI Act being presided over by Additional Chief Secretary Gaurav Gupta on July 14. The Information Commissioners have also suggested to the government to recommend the inclusion of a lesson on the RTI to the board of studies and syllabus revision boards of universities, according to an official release. Expressing concern that there was still a need to create awareness about the RTI Act among government employees though 20 years had passed since the legislation came into effect, the Information Commissioners have suggested that the RTI should be a part of the subject for competitive examinations that are conducted by the Karnataka Public Service Commission and the Karnataka Examinations Authority. Similarly, there was a need to provide training on the RTI Act to government officials and officers on the lines of training on various issues being imparted to them, they said and suggested that RTI should be one of the subjects for training being imparted by District Training Institute, Administrative Training Institute, and Fiscal Policy Institute. Pointing out that the RTI dashboard on the website of the DPAR was not being used effectively, the commissioners said the responsibility of managing this dashboard should be entrusted to the Information Commission. They also suggested that one more floor should be built at the Karnataka Mahiti Soudha so that the two court halls of the commission that are presently located in rented buildings could be accommodated in the main building itself. They also sought that gunmen should be posted at the court halls of the Information Commission and assigned for the Information Commissioners.
Express Tribune
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Do we need information commissions?
Over the last two decades, I have frequently used the Right to Information (RTI) law and interacted with the RTI commissions in Pakistan. This article is based on a collective study of over 200 RTI requests and their subsequent appeals made to RTI commissions by citizens seeking legitimate information from public bodies. The aim was to understand the extent to which the Information Commissions uphold the citizens' right to information and their ability to ensure compliance when the public bodies fail to provide the requested information. The conclusions of the above study regarding the performance of the Information Commissions can be summed up as follows. The Commissions: a) frequently caused long delays in appeals, often extending beyond two months; b) showed tendencies to favour public bodies, either as a gesture of appeasement or perhaps under political influence; c) were extremely reluctant to penalise public bodies; d) often delayed cases due to their own bureaucratic working processes; e) failed to learn from the best practices and technologies used by Information Commissions in other developing countries; and f) often became just another roadblock of endless paperwork, without delivering meaningful results. The overarching tendency to be politically correct has restrained a serious discussion on the performance of the Information Commissions. What started as a breath of fresh air has now devolved into a mere ceremonial facade for maintaining the status quo. The Information Commissions continue to operate modern knowledge-based organisations by the 18th century clerical methods. Scores of appeals are returned because an applicant did not make a statement to the effect that there was no litigation against the public body or that a copy of the CNIC was not sent. Such needless and outdated bureaucratic requirements lead to delays, squander time and drain public funds. There are scores of cases which were unilaterally closed by the Information Commissions, even when NO information was provided to the applicant. Perhaps their inability to influence the public bodies to proactively display information has been one of their biggest failures. Pakistan ought to seriously revisit the entire RTI process. Should the existing Information Commissions be retained or replaced by more effective alternate mechanisms? There is enough data to suggest that they are poorly functioning, toothless and only add delays without consequences for non-compliance. They have thus been reduced to become symbolic (and costly) institutions to protect bureaucratic inertia. However, rather than abolish the Information Commissions, it may be best to first try the following package of reforms. Begin by digitising the entire process of information provision, from the receipt of a complaint till the provision of information. Make the entire process of all appeals transparent and accessible to the public on each Information Commission's website. There should be no requirement of a retired judge or a retired bureaucrat to be on the panel of Commissioners. These posts must be advertised and filled by tech-savvy executives with experience of working in modern digital organisations. Establish self-executing deadlines that automatically initiate, without any human interaction, notices, warnings and penalties when public bodies delay or refuse to comply. Likewise set automatic penalties for delay by Information Commissions if they fail to ensure provision of information within 60 days. Require each public body to proactively disclose on its website a defined minimum list of information. The Information Commissions should be made free of all papers, files and clerical staff. The Commissioners must themselves input all data and responses on their laptops, which are simultaneously and publicly accessible to all. The current wasteful practice of Information Commissions printing hundreds of copies of glossy annual reports and distributing them to VIPs (who would never bother to read them) should be stopped. Instead, a built-in programme should assemble the necessary data and compile a one-page summary of performance that is displayed on the website of each information Commission.
The Hindu
16-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Failure to provide timely info under RTI Act will invite penal action: SIC
State Information Commissioner (SIC) K.M. Dileep has warned that failure to provide timely information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act will invite penal action. He was speaking at a hearing held by the Information Commission here on Friday. He pointed to a growing trend of unnecessarily delaying appeals and said this needed to be addressed. 'Unacceptable' The SIC made it clear that responses such as 'information not available' were not acceptable and reiterated that the responsibility to maintain and provide information rested with the head of the office concerned. Repeated lapses would not be tolerated, he said. The hearing, held at the Ramanilayam Government Guest House, considered 38 complaints, of which 33 were resolved and five were deferred for further review. Complaints concerned departments, including Health, Agriculture, Local Self-Governments, Police, and Devaswom.
