Info panel slams state govt for RTI mess

In a scathing indictment,the West Bengal Information Commission has lambasted the state government for allegedly harassing people seeking information from several departments under the Right to Information Act.

In a scathing indictment,the West Bengal Information Commission has lambasted the state government for allegedly harassing people seeking information from several departments under the Right to Information Act.

There is little effort on the part of the public authority to intimate the citizens about the particulars of the State Public Information Officers (SPIOs) which results in undue harassment for those seeking information, the Commission says in a report that makes a detailed assessment of the performance of various government departments in implementing the RTI Act.

The report also lists defaulter departments that failed to provide information sought under the RTI Act.

Several NGOs and individuals had alleged it was very difficult to trace public information officers in government offices. Several departments are yet to appoint SPIOs and as a result,many applications could not be filed.

There are public authorities,especially autonomous and local bodies,which are yet to designate SPIOs. Some even say they do not have sufficient officers to be designated as SPIOs, the report says.

The report,which assessed performance in the past three years since the inception of the State Information Commission,has highlighted the apathy of several departments in providing information within the 30-day deadline.

The report says during the nascent period,getting a response from SPIOs within a period of 30 days was rather an exception.

But things have improved during the course of time.

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Though the 30-day deadline has not yet been achieved to the level of satisfaction,there is a perceptible effort on the part of SPIOs trying to respond to the requests as early as possible. But the poor state of record-keeping at times renders furnishing of information nearly impossible, says the report.

Most of the government departments still run in an archaic fashion. The need to categorize and index the records and to computerize these is a far cry, it adds.

Till now,it is a big question about how far this information is updated on a regular basis, the report says.

The defaulting departments
* Administrative Training Institute
* DM,Hooghly
* DM,North 24-Parganas
* DM,South 24-Parganas
* Excise department
* Fire and Emergency Services
* Hooghly River Bridge Commissioner
* Housing Department
* Howrah Municipal Corporation
* Minorities Development and Welfare
* Madrasah Education department
* Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation department
* Siliguri Municipal Corporation
* Sports Department
* West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination Board
* West Bengal Valuation Board

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Kolkata
RTI