Chhattisgarh Chief Information Commissioner M. K. Raut said it is the duty of officials to protect and provide security to citizens’ right under Right to Information (RTI) Act.
It makes government transparent and the Act has been put in place for this only, he added.
Each citizen has the right to know about working of the government, Raut said.
He was addressing the state-level workshop on RTI participated by urban body’s First Appeal Officers and Public Information Officer (PIO) on Saturday.
As the PIO and First Appeal Officer do not provide information within specified period, the people are compelled to make an appeal before the Information Commission, CIC observed.
“If the information is provided at the primary level itself, then many problems can be resolved. It would also reduce the cases before Commission,” said Raut.
Raut said it is not the aim of the Commission to impose penalty on PIOs and suggested that they (PIOs) can improve upon by reducing minor shortcomings.
“The information as available can be provided to the information seeker instead of manipulating it. Before hand it should be made clear to the information seeker that policy related documents cannot be provided,” he said. State Information Commissioner Mohanrao Pawar said at primary level the application should be legible and understood.
Information Commissioner Ashok Agrawal laid emphasis on role of First Appeal Officer and monitoring of the order passed, and its implementation.