Better RTI

At a time when most public authorities are still not tuned to a transparency regime after a decade of Right to Information Act having been introduced in the country, the Vice President’s secretariat deserves compliment for creating a sort of record by responding to a RTI petition on the controversy surrounding the Vice President’s absence from a programme held to commemorate the World Yoga Day.

Most public authorities defer sending RTI responses till the last moment, even though information may have been ready before. The Supreme Court registry once sent an RTI response as per its practice on the 30th day with the name of its official typed. But the response was signed by some other official because the named person was on a medical leave on the mailing date of the response. It showed that the details were available with the department long before the last date of giving the response.

Such practices often result in increasing the workload of an already burdened Central Information Commission, with people filing petitions under Section 18 of the Act for alleged non-response. It also at times results in heavy loss to public authorities because of copying charges being waived under the Act because of RTI responses reaching late. The Department of Personnel & Training should direct public authorities to organise frequent RTI workshops by experts, so that officers handling RTI petitions are fully trained.