With merely 0.7 per cent of the Right To Information (RTI) applications being rejected, the Nagaland Information Commission (NIC) has been rated as "one of the best" Commissions in the entire country.
This was revealed by Nagaland Chief Information Commissioner, Bukchem Phom while addressing the decade celebration of RTI Act in the state on the theme 'RTI: Trust Through Transparency' in Kohima yesterday.
Recounting the activities of the Commission in the last 10 years, Phom said the Information Commission in the state has been working under the policy of 'Trust through Transparency' and has involved NGOs such as Nagaland Voluntary Consumers Society to undertake a study on how RTI has impacted Nagaland.
Of the total number of 92 public authorities audited, he said two were described as 'highly transparent', 45 as 'reasonably transparent', 43 as'limited transparency' and two with 'poor level of transparency', he said.
Nagaland State Commission along with Chhattisgarh has conducted gender break-up records and also the economic profile of applicants through the RTI applicants, he said.
As transparency regulator in the state, he said the Commission has been conscientiously enforcing the Act in its entirety in letter and spirit, without fear and favour.
The CIC said a total of 186 hearings have been held in
last five years by the Commission.
There are, however, some pending cases, because of the "deliberate failure" on the part of the Public Information Officers and Appellate Authorities as well as information seekers to comply with the decisions of the Commission making it difficult to close, the CIC said.
As per law, defaulting PIOs and deemed-PIOs were penalised in 36 cases for not furnishing information to the seekers within the stipulated time, he said, adding, the accumulated amount of penalties realised from such defaulting officers was Rs 5,70,750.
The CIC said in the last 10 years the total applications recieved under RTI were 16,026.
He stated that 69 percent of the appeals received by the Commission were against inaction and 32 percent were against unsatisfactory decision.
Expressing concern over instances of malafide and frivolous RTI applications by misuse of the RTI Act and without social or public interest causes, he reminded the public to be responsible users of the law.
Gracing the occasion as chief guest, Chief Minister T R Zeliang said RTI Act has been hailed as landmark legislation with the objective to bring about transparency in all public offices and thereby, reduce corruption and also empowerment of the common people.
"The real purpose of the RTI Act will be served when the working of the public offices are systematized, better system of record keeping and their retrieval are introduced, when there are more transparency in the decision making processes," he said.
However, cautioning against misuse of RTI Act by people with ulterior motives, the chief minister urged the Commission to distinguish genuine and non-genuine information seekers.
Zeliang also released the '10th Anniversary Souvenir', 'The Impact of RTI in Nagaland during the last 10 years' and 'The Audit of Proactive Disclosures of Public Authorities in the state for 2015-2016' (showing level of transparency) on the occasion.
