Report on Public Hearing on RTI by 'Mannem lo' Mallik

Public hearing on RTI Act in Andhra Pradesh 

Today a public hearing was held in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh on the RTI Act. Hundreds of people from across the state participated in the hearing and testified about various issues related to the implementation of the RTI Act in AP, especially the problems faced by people due to the state information commission not being functional since the last 18 months. The public hearing was co-organised by the United Forum for RTI, AP and the NCPRI.

Mr. EAS Sarma, former IAS officer, Ms. Anjali Bhardwaj, co-convener of the National Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information (NCPRI) and Mr. B. Ramakrishna Raju, national convenor, National Alliance for Peoples' Movements (NAPM) formed the panel which heard please testimonies.

Several people testified that in cases of violations of t RTI Act, they have no redress as the state information commission is not functional. After the bifurcation of the state of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the SIC of Andhra Pradesh continued to function as the information commission for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The commission became defunct in May 2017 after the serving nformation commissioners retired. Since then, the commission has been non-functional.

RTI activists have filed cases in the Hyderabad High Court and the Supreme Court regarding people's fundamental Right to Information being frustrated due to absence of the commission.

While the  Andhra  Pradesh government issued  an  order 7 for regarding  the constitution  of  the  SIC  of  Andhra  Pradesh  in  August  2017, and has now appointed 3 commissioners in October 2018, the commission continues to be non-functional. No appeals and complaints regarding violations of the RTI Act are being heard.

Emmanuel, convenor of the UFRTI, testified that his appeal to the commission has been pending since 2010.

Chakradhar Buddha, convenor of the UFRTI, presented the preliminary findings of an audit of proactive disclosures of public authorities of AP. The audit showed that most public authorities failed to properly meet their obligations of proactive disclosures of information under section 4 of the RTI Act. ABC ABC

Mr. Sarma, Anjali Bhardwaj and Mr. Raju urged people to continue their efforts to demand proper implementation of the RTI Act. Anjali Bhardwaj shared that during the upcoming winter session of Parliament, several protests are being planned against proposed amendments to the RTI Act.