.... the brain is not a vessel to be filled,
It is something to be IGNITED

News from "The Hindustan Times," Chandigarh, March 13, 2007

 Assert your rights under RTI Act, say social activists

Chandigarh : March 12, 2007:-  Applicants need to assert the privileges accorded to them, if they want implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) in its true spirit. This is what the activists had in the offing at the workshop on RTI conducted by Burning Brain Society in association with other NGOs from across the region at the Central State Library here today.

Addressing the gathering, consisting of members of NGOs from Haryana, Punjab, H.P. and Chandigarh, and general public, Hemant Goswami, the chairperson of the Burning Brain Society, explained in detail the powers accorded by the legislation to general public.

He rued that certain section of the bureaucracy were spreading misinformation and trying to project that RTI hamper official working and was being misused.

“The truth is that no provision of RTI can ever be misused. On the contrary, it has been proved globally that transparency enables better functioning of the government and is a positive tool for development and change. RTI is in tune with the constitutional spirit akin other similar legislations across the globe; Goswami added. 

Hitender Jain of the Resurgence India, Ludhiana mentioned that the information commissioners have to take a much more responsible and strict role if the RTI Act is to be successful. He pointed out that though the quantum of penalty in the RTI Act is fixed at Rs.250 per day subject to a maximum of 25000 for delay in providing information, but despite that the Commission uses lenient discretion and rarely imposes penalty. Such leniency has resulted in the RTI Act not been taken seriously by the departments. Information is now rarely provided in timely manner, he added.

Many social workers present there pointed out that the proactive disclosure under section 4 of the RTI Act has not been fully adhered to till date as very less government departments had displayed proper proactive disclosures and in most cases it has never been updated.

“More and more people should come out and seek information under RTI as this is the only way to protect this important legislation and help India become corruption-free and transparent,” Mr. A. P. S. Shergill, a lawyers practising at Chandigarh emphasized.

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