RTI Appellate authority orders training for information officers

Thiruvananthapuram: An Appellate Authority in the Industries Department under RTI Act has directed State Information Office and Assistant Information Officer of the Administrative wing of the Department to undergo training on RTI because of their failure to respond to an RTI application properly.

It is rarely that the appellate authorities, who are from the same departments, take an independent decision— they usually repeat the stand taken by the State information officers of their department. In this case, what is more interesting is that the applicant D. B. Binu himself will now be imparting the training to the officers.

Advocate Binu had sought the biodata of K. Shamsudin, who was appointed as Managing Director of the public sector Kerala Electricals Limited (KEL) from Industries Department after failing to get it from KEL. The Information Officer informed the applicant that the information sought did not fall under the purview of her office.

The Appellate Authority K. Sudhir (Additional Director) observed that as per office memorandum issued, the Information Officer should have forwarded the application to the public authority concerned who has the information, if her office did not have the information, or intimate the correct address of the State Public Information Officer who has the information. The Officer had also failed to communicate the address of the Appellate Authority while rejecting the application.

“The action on the part of State Public Information Officer of this office is not found to be deliberate but was due to lack of awareness on the RTI Act. Hence, the State Public Information Officer of this office is instructed to be more vigilant on the provisions enshrined in the Act”, the Appellate Authority said.

He ordered the Officer to forward the application immediately to Industries (D) Department at the Secretariat and Managing Director of KEL who shall provide the information to the applicant free of cost besides directing her and assistant to attend training on RTI.

The officers would now be undergoing training at the Institute of Management in Government. By virtue of his being a lawyer, RTI activist and general secretary of Kerala RTI Federation, Mr. Binu is a guest lecturer at the Institute. He will be taking classes for them shortly.