As reported by Deepthi MR in bangaloremirror.com on 06 August 2010:
Bangalore Mirror - Bangalore Mirror

Don’t expect info with RTI soon

Applications are piling up in Karnataka Information Commission with four posts of information commissioners vacant

If you apply for information under the RTI Act to the Karnataka Information Commission (KIC), the chances are you will be heard only after several months. With over 10,000 cases on hand and just three state information commissioners to hear them, the KIC is working overtime to clear cases.


The commissioners complain that if their numbers are not increased, the situation will not improve.



Overworked commissioners

Information Commissioner K A Thippeswamy said, “The sheer numbers are motivating us to work hard. We have a rule that we have to hear a minimum of 12 fresh cases and eight urgent cases daily. We hardly have time to dispose of old cases. We try to accommodate them in our daily schedule. But it is not easy to pass orders as 60 to 70 fresh cases come to our tables every day.”

The Right to Information Act came into force in October 2005. The first year saw 597 applications filed and 285 disposed.

However, the number of information commissioners then was seven. Two information commissioners retired in April this year, while Chief information Commissioner K K Mishra retired in July.

Ravindra Nath Guru of RTI group Coalition against Corruption (CAC) said, “Even when there were enough people to dispose of cases, they could not do so. But it is not the commissioners’ fault as the chief minister and governor have to form a committee to appoint more information commissioners.”

Plagued by petty applications

The commissioners have a grouse against RTI activists. Information Commissioner S J Virupakshaiah said, “The problem is that there are too many RTI activists who appeal on petty issues. Due to this, the commission ends up delaying hearings for needy people.”

CAC members have petitioned the governor, chief minister and opposition leader to appoint more commissioners, but there has been no change in the situation so far.

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