An RTI (Right to Information) applicant of Puri district, Jayant Kumar Das, who had sought information from the Health and Family Welfare Department, was astonished to get a letter from Public Information Officer (PIO) of the department to appear before the First Appellate Authority on May 29 at “11.30 pm”.
Das asked his friends about the timing of the State Secretariat. “I cannot understand that which department in the State Secretariat is working at 11.30 at night,” he added.
Notably, Das had asked for information regarding the details of the inquiry report of the Director of Public Health in his RTI application filed on March 4, 2013. When he didn’t get any information, he appealed to the First Appellate Authority on May 3, 2013 by speed post and his letter was received by the department the next day.
On May 24, 2013, he received a letter from the Public Information (Nodal) Puspita Rout to attend the hearing on May 29 at 11.30 pm.
In another instance of carelessness, the PIO mentioned that the appeal was arising out of the RTI application dated March 22, whereas the appeal actually related to the application dated March 4. All this only illustrates that Health Department employees are not at all serious about the RTI Act 2005, Das said.
He alleged that apart from the goof-ups, the PIO (Nodal) gave him a very short period to attend the scheduled hearing so that the appellant might not get sufficient time to attend it. “This is the second occasion I am facing many problems to get information,” said the RTI activist.