BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Information Commission has directed authorities in Rewa division of the state to make provisions for online filing of RTI applications and submission of fees during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
The commission's order can have wider implications for the state, which is yet to implement online filing of RTI applications.
The directive came during the hearing of a complaint filed by one Shivanand Dwivedi, who had sent an RTI application electronically to Rewa Municipal Commissioner Arpit Verma seeking details of an anti-encroachment drive conducted to clear illegal shanties near Ratahra pond on Saturday.
Dwivedi could not file the RTI application with the office of the municipal corporation due to lockdown restrictions and instead sent a copy of it to the officer on WhatsApp and through email.
Citing details of a postal order of Rs 10 as the fee for filing the application, he had also asked Verma to make provisions to get it collected so that he could adhere to social distancing norms.
Having received no response, Dwivedi approached the commission citing relevant sections of the Right to Information (RTI) Act that allow citizens to lodge complaints with the transparency watchdog in matters pertaining to life or liberty of individuals.
The commission, which has suspended all hearings during the lockdown, heard the case as it fell under the "life or liberty" clause of the RTI Act, thus demanding prompt disposal.
Information Commissioner Rahul Singh accepted the complaint as a fit case under Section 7 (1) of the RTI Act and began the hearing.
The section mandates that "where the information sought for concerns the life or liberty of a person, the same shall be provided within 48 hours of the receipt of the request".
In his order, Singh said there is a danger to the lives and livelihood of the poor people whose houses were removed in the anti-encroachment drive conducted on May 9.
He asked P Narhari, commissioner of Urban Development and Administration Department here, to make provisions for online filing of RTI application and submission of fees in public authorities under his charge in Rewa Division.
Asking the authorities to quickly dispose of the application, Singh held that necessary action in the matter can be taken while following social distancing norms and notices, if any, can be issued electronically in the matter.
He said if the district administration can engage its resources to carry out the demolition drive, it can also ensure that such RTI queries are promptly responded to.
The clearing of around 20 illegal shanties in Ratahra had led to a war of words between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.
After the anti-encroachment drive, Congress leader Vivek Tankha had tweeted, "An inhumane picture has surfaced in which the labourers were bulldozed in the corona period in the name of beautification.
" "Thousands of labourer families of Rewa's Ratahra locality (have) become homeless.
After all, what was (the) need for beautification? Inhumane work in this sensitive time," he had said.
Responding to the allegation, former minister and local BJP MLA Rajendra Shukla said the shanties were cleared as those living in them were allotted houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
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