Can a staff of any Government Organisation ask for Information

[Lakshmi Ayangar]

Hello,
If you are a Central or State Government employee, can you file an application under The Right to Informaqtion Act for getting information from the department you work for?

[kushal]

Yes, lakshmi
You can off course get the information from your department, as you are applying as 'Citizen of India' and all citizens have the right to Information.

[karira]

Lakshmi,

In fact, as per my enquiries here in AP, the maximum number of applications were filed by Govt. Officers and Staff themselves in the initial months of the RTI act.
So go ahead by all means.

[maneesh]

It has been seen that the queries filled by the departmental officers are mostly related with the career. And if you ask information related with some other officer, then third party clause needs to be invoked before the information can be provided.
Best Wishes.

[mpai]

Originally Posted by Lakshmi Ayangar

Hello,
If you are a Central or State Government employee, can you file an application under The Right to Informaqtion Act for getting information from the department you work for?

Without trying to be personal, this goes without saying, that most Govt. Employees of India are not fully conversant with the RTI Act 2005. The PM has clearly intimated all Govt. Employees, including those of panchayat, municipalites and those designated as Public Authority to read the act completely. Maybe its their senior officers, who are discouraging their subordinate staff members from filing RTI Applications.

To answer Lakshmi Ayangar's query, certainly any employee of Govt. Funded deptt. can submit at RTI Application. Just go ahead and ask. If the PIO refuses the application on the ground that the applicant is a Govt. Employee, the applicant can lodge a complaint with the CIC under Section 18.

Best wishes

[snkmoorthy]

the RTI act does not make any distinction between a government employee and a citizen. any citizen can ask for information. government employees have lot of reasons to use RTI act to elicit information on government action regarding their career and government policies. as you know, government actions are secret,RTI act helps the employee to penetrate that shell and get to know how a decision or policy was taken.