THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Virtually clipping the wings of the RTI Act, the state government has been sitting on a key proposal to link the performance of Public Information Officers with the response given by them to the RTI queries. It was submitted by the State Information Commission at its 170th meeting some two years ago.
The proposal submitted on October 24, 2013 was signed by Chief Information Commissioner(CIC) Siby Mathews and Information Commissioner C S Sasi Kumar as well as (retd) Information Commissioners, Kurias Kumblakuzhy and M N Gunavardhan.
And it had suggested that the confidential reports(CR)of all gazetted officers be prepared, incorporating the following clauses:1) attitude towards dealing with RTI applications 2) whether penalised by the Information Commission 3) to recommend to the government to include one paper on RTI in the mandatory department tests for promotion, since it will provide better awareness to the officials while discharging their duties with regard to the RTI applications.
“The aforementioned were the relevant clauses. It has been nearly two years since the proposal was submitted but with little response from the government. Six months on since the proposal was made, we filed an RTI seeking to know the status of the proposal. And the government responded that it has been sent to the PSC.
But till now, there has been no response,” pointed out D B Binu, general secretary, RTI Federation, Kerala.
CIC Mathews also confirmed that there has not been any follow-up action in this regard. According to Gunavardhan, ”Obviously, the government officials would not want such a proposal. Because they knew that it would put them in dire straits”.In very many cases, the PIOs dodge queries for it will not impact their promotion or increment. However, it will be a different ball game once the proposal is implemented as it will become imperative to the officials to provide the information sought by the RTI applicant.
“Overseeing it, the bureaucracy is leaving no stone unturned to sabotage the proposal,” Binu alleged. Incidentally, this is not the first time, that the proposal has met with stonewalling tactics. When the erstwhile Congress-led UPA-I Government brought in the landmark legislation, there was a proposal to carry out the assessment of Central government employees. “However, it was subsequently dropped owing to the pressure from various quarters. It is the same key proposal, the State Information Commission was trying to incorporate here,” Binu clarified.“Now, it is not a big deal for a corrupt officer to pay `25,000 as fine, the maximum fine the Commission can impose for not giving out the information,” he pointed out.
Demanding a response in this regard , the RTI Federation of Kerala, has shot off a letter to the government.