BENGALURU : In a move that has activists seeing red, the State Government has decided not to entertain any anonymous complaints against government officials written on postcards, inland letters or other means of communication.
Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar told TNIE that the circular was passed recently. Henceforth, all department heads and staff have been told not to take anonymous letters into consideration and only those with valid names and addresses will be considered.
Activists explained that the government is swamped with hundreds of anonymous letters every year with information about different issues, mostly dealing with corruption. People do so anonymously because the information is important, and if the person reveals his identity and other details, he may risk persecution. In a country where RTI activists and journalists have paid with their lives, where is the safety for an underprivileged informant who has important information to offer, they questioned.
T R Raghunandan, who has fought corruption through the ‘Ipaidabribe’ campaign, angrily asked, “Where is the accountability? I am not surprised by this at all. This is one more nail in the coffin.” “Successive dispensations have set records in corruption and Karnataka has been rated among the most corrupt states in the country over many years. We have cases of RTI activists being intimidated and whistleblowers being punished. Appeals under the RTI Act are not entertained and there is a pendency of 20,000-30,000 appeals,’’ he added.