This refers to 'Planning in ignorance' by Vinayak Chatterjee (June 15). The responses from various government agencies show how skillfully they have tried to scuttle the Right to Information (RTI) Act, defeating its very purpose. The public authorities you have quoted in the item are not exempted from Section 24 of the RTI Act. Nor is the information pertaining to these authorities exempted under Section 9 of the Act. Hence, they are bound to furnish the information you have sought. These authorities cannot escape responsibility by saying that the information sought by the applicant is not available with them, but concerns some other department. Section 3 clearly lays down that the concerned authority should ‘transfer the application to the other public authority which holds the information and inform the applicant immediately about such a transfer’. In fact, they should collect the information from the other public authority and furnish the same to the applicant.
You can either appeal before the Appellate Authority of the authorities concerned or to the Central Information Commissioner as provided under Section 19 of the Act. As you have paid a fee of Rs. 100 and sought information, you have become a 'consumer' under the Consumer Protection Act and therefore you can complain before the District Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum or the State Consumer Grievances Redressal Commission, seeking a compensation from the concerned public authority which has refused information and thus caused 'deficiency in service' to you and also seek a direction to the public authority to furnish the information you have sought under RTI.
Gouri Satya, Mysore
