By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, October 12: In commemoration of the 7th anniversary of the Right to Information Act of India, the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI) organized a public hearing to discuss the implementation of the RTI Act and working of Information Commissions at October 11 from 11am to 5:30pm at the Gandhi Peace Foundation, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg.
The public hearing was attended by National Minority Commission Chairman and former Chief Information Commissioner of Central Information Commission Wajahat Habibullah, former Central Information Commissioner of Central Information Commission Sailesh Gandhi, Chief Information Commissioner of A.P. Information Commission Zammat Hussain, and MKSS Aruna Roy as penal members.
Many RTI activists from different parts of the country joined the hearing and gave their testimony regarding the functioning of their respective Information Commissions and situation of implementation of RTI in their respective States.
HRI, Executive Director Wahengbam Joykumar and MACHA LEIMA Vice President Ksh Ronibala and MACHA LEIMA RTI APUNBA NUPI LUP Asst Coordinator Geeta Potshangbam had also participated the national programme and highlighted various issues and challenges that the citizens of Manipur have faced while using RTI.
Joykumar said about the high pendency of appeals and complaints with the Information Commissions. He cited that a lot of cases are pending before the Information Commission even after repeated hearings.
He had said that citizens are scared and are now reluctant to use RTI Act particularly at the time when the matter has come before the commission all because of the irritating attitude that often discouraged the appellants/complainants such as “asking the reason for seeking information”, “making mockery of the appellant/complainants for minor mistakes and nuances”.
He had also added there is problem of inordinate delay in the disposal of complaints/appeals and Complaints/Appeals are rejected based on minor mistakes that could be avoided.
Geeta stated that despite repeated visits, the Manipur Information Commission has been neglecting redressing grievances of the applicants in the appeals/complaints due to lack of adequate staff.
She added that there are two Dy. Registers and one OSD and instead of doing their duties to help the applicants, they are used to say “Xerox machine is not working” “Commissioner is not in the office” or one staff is absent as and when applicants have approached to Commission and as such, all cases are pending due to the negligence of Staff.
At the end of the hearing, some resolutions/recommendations in order to implementation of RTI Act effectively were passed and thereafter it is resolved that the resolutions will be submitted to Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.
State information Commissions need to work together to strengthen the Right to Information Act, as passing resolutions will not help, said Wajahat Habibullah chairperson of the National Commission on Minorities and former Chief Information Commissioner.
Addressing a public hearing on implementation and issues on RTI on Thursday, Habibullah said: “Unless Section 4 of the Act is implemented effectively, which will obligate the government to educate the public about their rights and entitlements, the number of pendency cases will not decrease.”
Shailesh Gandhi former commissioner added that this judgment will exacerbate the problem of pendency. Activist Aruna Roy suggested that a citizens committee comprising people interested in better governance rather than those with political interest, appointed by the commission, should be formed.
The public hearing was followed by an RTI Mela to highlight the use of the Act by people across the country to realise their constitutional rights on October 12 from 11 am to 5:30 pm at the Sankriti Kendra, MG Road.
Each state had opened its own stall during the mela where an activists from each state narrated how RTI campaigns are held in their state.
W Joykumar said during the mela that he was working in the field of human rights for the last 2 decades by conducting fact findings and providing logistic to the victim families to approach to H. C for getting Justice but it takes long time.
At the same time, the family of the victims cannot access any benefits of the welfare schemes as the officials of various public authorities said that UGs have taken their percentage that is why they cannot do much more due to the threat.
In order to ascertain the facts and enable them to assert their rights and as such he started to use RTI Act. He further narrated the stories of threaten and intimidation that got by the applicants. Ms. Geeta Potshangbam of MACHA LEIMA also has narrated how they are working in the armed conflict zone.
In the valedictory part of the Mela, Kuldip Nair told to the Mela that everything should be disclosed in a democratic society in order to save the democracy in future.
On other hand, Central Information Commission is also organizing the 7th Anniversary Convention on October 12 and 13 at DRDO Bhawan, New Delhi.
In the Mela, the NCPRI has resolved to send a protest statement against the speech of the Prime Minister where he spoke against the spirit of the RTI Act in opening of the convention. The public hearing and the RTI Mela are organized by NCPRI in collaboration with several civil society groups including Satark Nagrik Sangathan, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Transparency International, CHRI, Accountability Initiative, JOSH, Pardarshita, NFIW, CFAR, Rajasthan RTI Manch, Sanskriti Foundation and Inclusive Media for Change.