Reported by Timesofindia.indiatimes.com on Jul 23, 2012
Time to say goodbye to Pratibha 'Row' Patil - The Times of India

Former chief secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad is now on the other side of the fence and had a real-life experience of red-tapism in the government. A year ago, he was metropolitan commissioner, and subsequently, when he was appointed chief secretary, even before he reached Mantralaya to take over reins of the bureaucracy, a huge nameplate in Marathi and English was already fixed. It's now more than a month that he has been appointed chief information commissioner, but the public works department is yet to fix the nameplate. Gaikwad's office sent reminders to the PWD, but there was no response. No doubt, a nameplate is a minor issue, but the fact that while the government set up the commissionerate under the Right to Information Act, it has failed to provide adequate infrastructure for implementation of the landmark legislation in letter and spirit.

Besides the fact that two key posts of the commissioners are vacant for long, no steps were taken to educate heads of the department on provisions of the RTI Act. By and large, officials appointed as public information officers or deputed before commissioners for first and second appeals, are in the dark on provisions of the Act, so while the law was in force, the basis purpose of enacting the legislation has been defeated.

Significantly, Gaikwad is the first chief information commissioner who has taken up key pending issues with the state government and enforcing agencies. The former chief secretary has brought to the notice of all heads of departments and statutory organizations the need to review pending applications under the Act and steps to be taken for providing basic information to people.