3 months ago
2
Describing the Right to Information (RTI) Act arsenic a people-centric and almighty legislation, Karnataka State Information Commissioner (Kalaburagi Bench) B. Venkat Singh said the Act plays a important relation successful ensuring transparency successful governance and serves some arsenic a extortion and a caution for nationalist servants.
He was addressing district-level officers and Public Information Officers (PIOs) of assorted departments aft inaugurating a store and interactive league connected the RTI Act organised astatine the territory medication auditorium successful Koppal connected February 21.
Mr. Singh said the superior nonsubjective of the RTI Act is to alteration nationalist information successful governance. The Act provides citizens with the close to question accusation astir authorities schemes and functioning, thereby strengthening transparency and accountability. Although the Act has been successful unit for astir 2 decades, galore officials inactive deficiency capable clarity astir its implementation, helium observed, stressing the request to circulate RTI manuals and notation books to officers astatine district, taluk, and gram panchayat levels.
Providing statistic connected the functioning of the Kalaburagi Bench, helium said that since its establishment, 16,640 cases had been registered, of which 10,423 had been disposed of. In the 3 months since helium assumed office, 1,400 cases had been heard and 605 disposed of. A full of 6,655 cases are inactive pending, including 764 from Koppal district. He added that 2nd appeals, which earlier required applicants to question to Bengaluru, tin present beryllium filed astatine the Kalaburagi Bench from February onwards, benefiting radical from each 7 districts of Kalyana Karnataka.
State Information Commissioner (Bengaluru Bench) Harish Kumar described the RTI Act arsenic 1 of the astir revolutionary laws enacted successful autarkic India. Access to accusation relating to authorities schemes and benefits is simply a cardinal close of each citizen, helium said, noting that Karnataka was the archetypal State to instrumentality the RTI Act aft it came into unit connected October 5, 2005.
He urged officials not to fearfulness the Act but to recognize it clearly. Public Information Officers indispensable guarantee that accusation is provided wrong the stipulated clip frame. He noted that a important fig of RTI applications subordinate to the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Revenue, and Public Works Departments, with astir 30% concerning gram panchayats.
Another State Information Commissioner, Badruddin K., advised officials to grip RTI applications with assurance and clarity. He stressed that transparency people fosters assurance and urged departments to proactively upload accusation nether Sections 4(1)(a) and 4(1)(b) of the Act connected their websites to trim workload and amended efficiency. Applications should beryllium disposed of good wrong the 30-day bounds to debar unnecessary pressure, helium said.
Deputy Commissioner Suresh B. Itnal said the RTI Act has helped close administrative lapses and amended transparency. He directed each offices to promptly dispose of RTI applications and show boards indicating the names of Public Information Officers and First Appellate Authorities.
