RTI activists urge TN to take petition filing online
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com
Chennai:31.08.2019
The Tamil Nadu government will have to respond to the Supreme Court on establishing a portal through which citizens would be able to file RTIs, after a plea was heard earlier this week. However, RTI applicants have been raising the demand for at least five years in the state, on the lines of what is available for central government departments.
The RTI activists have made a renewed demand for the same, but pointed out that the state government is loath to do it, as it would have to answer more queries from citizens. “Keeping the process manual is useful for government authorities as it can feign ignorance about receiving RTIs. Also, many people avoid filing RTIs as they have to go through the rigmarole of buying a court fee stamp of ₹10 or pay through demand draft, etc,” said Pavan K Gandhi, a law student and an RTI expert.
As per government statistics, the state’s various agencies received nearly four lakh RTI petitions in 2015. Ironically, this is the latest data put out by the TN State Information Commission (TNSIC), whose annual reports for the past three years have not yet been made public. Making it online would increase the number of RTIs filed, which the government doesn’t want, said TNSIC sources. “A former chief information commissioner, in fact, recommended this to the state government, which has not taken it seriously,” said a source in the agency.
In Tamil Nadu, only second appeals can be filed online now. The process of filing RTIs and first appeals is still manual. Compare this to central government agencies, where one can file RTIs on rtionline.gov.in and pay digitally. The first and second appeals can also be filed online. The tedious process of printing out the RTI on paper, arranging payment of ₹10 and posting it is avoided and citizens feel encouraged to file more RTIs.
This process is more organized and people don’t need to take pains to keep track of it, said P Nakkeeran, treasurer of Arappor Iyakkam, who has used RTI to bring to light many scams. “Public information officers would become more accountable if the system is online. Government doesn’t want it,” he said.
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com
Chennai:31.08.2019
The Tamil Nadu government will have to respond to the Supreme Court on establishing a portal through which citizens would be able to file RTIs, after a plea was heard earlier this week. However, RTI applicants have been raising the demand for at least five years in the state, on the lines of what is available for central government departments.
The RTI activists have made a renewed demand for the same, but pointed out that the state government is loath to do it, as it would have to answer more queries from citizens. “Keeping the process manual is useful for government authorities as it can feign ignorance about receiving RTIs. Also, many people avoid filing RTIs as they have to go through the rigmarole of buying a court fee stamp of ₹10 or pay through demand draft, etc,” said Pavan K Gandhi, a law student and an RTI expert.
As per government statistics, the state’s various agencies received nearly four lakh RTI petitions in 2015. Ironically, this is the latest data put out by the TN State Information Commission (TNSIC), whose annual reports for the past three years have not yet been made public. Making it online would increase the number of RTIs filed, which the government doesn’t want, said TNSIC sources. “A former chief information commissioner, in fact, recommended this to the state government, which has not taken it seriously,” said a source in the agency.
In Tamil Nadu, only second appeals can be filed online now. The process of filing RTIs and first appeals is still manual. Compare this to central government agencies, where one can file RTIs on rtionline.gov.in and pay digitally. The first and second appeals can also be filed online. The tedious process of printing out the RTI on paper, arranging payment of ₹10 and posting it is avoided and citizens feel encouraged to file more RTIs.
This process is more organized and people don’t need to take pains to keep track of it, said P Nakkeeran, treasurer of Arappor Iyakkam, who has used RTI to bring to light many scams. “Public information officers would become more accountable if the system is online. Government doesn’t want it,” he said.
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