Setting information under RTI: Rajya Sabha Q&A

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-248 by SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA

(a) whether seeking information under RTI Act, 2005 is the fundamental right of every citizen under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution of India;

(b) if so, the reasons for not initiating disciplinary proceedings against Central Public Information Officer (CPIOs) and Appellate Authorities who are infringing the fundamental right of information seekers and are not furnishing information within the time stipulated in the Act;

(c) the number of second appeals of senior citizens pending with Chief Information Commissioner and other ICs for more than one, two and three years; and

(d) whether there is any proposal to fix a time limit for deciding second appeals to check pendency?

ANSWERED ON-09.08.2012 by

(a): Section 3 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 empowers all citizens to have right to information.

(b): The RTI Act, 2005 makes a Public Information Officer liable for disciplinary action, who without any reasonable cause and persistently failed to receive an application for information or has not furnished information within the time specified, or malafidely denied the request for information or knowingly given incorrect, incomplete or misleading information or destroyed information that was the subject matter of the request or obstructed in any manner in furnishing the information within the prescribed time period.

(c): The Central Information Commission does not maintain category-wise list of pending cases before it.

(d): The RTI Act, 2005 does not prescribe any time limit for disposal of second appeals by the Information Commissions. There is no proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005.

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