Copy of letter written to the Chief Information Commissioner, APIC

 

To:                                                                                                                             Dt 21-7-2020,

Mr. P. Ramesh Kumar, IAS(Retd)

Chief information commissioner,

Andhra Pradesh state Information Commission,

Mangalagiri

Guntur Dist

From,

United forum for RTI Campaign-AP

Email-ap.ufrti@gmail.com

Sub-Civil society Recommendations on Immediate Issues to be considered, resolved for strengthening implementation of RTI Act in the state,,, 

Dear sir,

The members of the “United forum for RTI (UFRTI) Campaign-AP” and other civil society members extend a warm welcome to you as the first CIC of Andhra Pradesh State Information Commission. We have heard many glowing reports of your work as a civil  servant. Congratulations on your appointment. We hope your appointment will bring fresh lease of life to  RTI Act implementation in the state which is crippled by non appointment of CIC.

We organised an online meet of RTI Activists on 21st July 202 on the theme "Civil Society-Immediate issues for Chief Information Commissioner (AP)'s perusal". 

The meet has been attended by RTI Activists across the state and following issues are identified.

1. Transfer the 11,000 appeals/complaints belonging to the state of Andhra Pradesh(divided) languishing before the Telangana State Information Commission.

About 11,000 appeals/complaints regarding the state of Andhra Pradesh are pending in the Telangana Information Commission after the secession of the state. Among them are appeal/complaints that have not been heard since 2010. They have not been brought to the Andhra Pradesh State Information Commission(APIC) till date. This amounts to an abdication of responsibilities of the information commission and violation of rights accorded to applicants under RTI Act. Many of the applications will expose corruption, arbitrariness in decisions taken by the previous regimes and also help citizens to access their rights.

The 11,000 appeals and grievances at the Telangana State Information Commission office should be immediately brought to the APIC and hearings should happen on a war footing. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                        About 10,000 cases have been pending since the APIC was set up in 2017. At the current rate of disposal, it might take up to a year to hear pending cases before the current commission. We are requesting the CIC to take proactive measures for the speedy disposal of cases. Penalties should be imposed in full on the officers who do not comply with the provisions of the Act.         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

2. Take measures to publish an annual report of the Information Commission and publish white paper on current status.

Section 25(1) of the RTI Act mandates the Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions to prepare a report annually on the implementation of the provisions of the act during that year and forward a copy thereof to the appropriate government. But APIC has failed to publish any such report since its inception in 2017. The annual report should be prepared and submitted to the Legislature immediately and to be made public. The commission should release a white paper on the current status of the Information commission as a lot of opaqueness is plaguing its functioning. 

3. Conduct hearings in a transparent manner and treat the appellants/ complainants with respect. 

It’s often seen during the hearings that the commissioners are talking to the officials on the appeals/complaints filed against them in the absence of appellants/complainants leading to suspicions of them being in hand gloves with the erring officials. This practise needs to be curtailed immediately.     

The appellants/complainants shell out money in hundreds to attend the commission’s hearing with the hope that justice will be meted out to them. But in reality, some of the information commissioners are insulting and belittling appellants before the officials against whom the complaints/appeals are lodged as if they committed a crime. 

The appellants/ complainants are complaining about some commissioners passing judgements without even listening to their arguments. The officials are offered chairs to sit and appellants are made to stand during the hearing. We request the CIC to take necessary measures so that the appellants/complainants are treated with dignity and respect. 

4. Pressurise the government to appoint a high power committee and district level committees to monitor RTI Implementation.                                                                                                                                                                                           The Right to Information Act-2005 is the result of many intellectuals, civil society and activists seeking transparency and accountability in the administration. High power committee at state level with senior bureaucrats and civil society was actively monitoring the RTI Act implementation and recommending resolutions till the state bifurcation. UFRTI Campaign representative was part of that committee. But unfortunately this practise has not been continued after bifurcation. Even the district level committees under the chairpersonship of district collector and other senior officials along with civil society representatives have become defunct. We request the CIC to ask the state government to reinstate them immediately.    

                                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

    5. Effective implementation of voluntary disclosure of information as stipulated by section 4 of RTI Act

Section 4 of the Right to Information Act is designed to make information available voluntarily without the public requesting it. The law requires that the public be made aware of the need to keep their office information on the Internet at a specified time. 

Voluntary disclosure of information through websites and other means would reduce the burden on people to file RTI Applications for information and the burden of processing applications on processing them.                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      6. The Commission should direct the State Government to take steps to ensure that RTI applications are received online in the State.     

We request the CIC to call for two separate meetings immediately(online) with the district collector’s and Civil society representatives to understand the issues of concern in RTI Implementation at their end.

Regards,

B. Ramakrishna Raju                                                                                    Chakradhar Buddha            (Founder Member, UFRTI Campaign-AP)                         (Co-Convenor, UFRTI Campaign-AP) Ph-98668 87299                                                                               Ph-92465 22344 

Emmanuel Dasari                                                                                                                  Srinivas Goud (Co-Convenor, UFRTI Campaign-AP)                                                               (Co-Convenor, UFRTI Campaign-AP) 

                                                         Chalapati 

                                   (Co-Convenor, UFRTI Campaign-AP)