Karnataka - Bangalore

Govt. agrees to provide copy of records on payment of cash

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JAN. 3. Nobody can accuse it of being inactive. Barely three months after it was launched, Kriya Katte, the umbrella forum of organisations involved in seeing the Right to Information Act is followed, has managed to wrest an agreement from the Chief Secretary and other Secretaries to the Karnataka Government.

Now if you are unable to get access to information that is in the public domain and concerns you, a copy of the relevant records can be had against cash payment. The government has agreed that payments below Rs. 200 need not be remitted by a demand draft. It has also been agreed that the fee charged should not exceed the actual cost of supplying the information and this will apply to maps or sketches as well.

Information on depts.

Samuel Paul, Chairman, Public Affairs Centre, the organisation behind Kria Katte (the first words is the abbreviation for Karnataka Right to Information Act), who had a meeting with top government officials last weekend, was assured that all government departments and utility agencies will make available all relevant information about their functioning and how a citizen can have complaints attended to. There will be posters and notice boards on office premises and the FM radio and websites will be used to guide citizens.

Review sought

The Chief Secretary, K.K. Misra, requested that the Katte should undertake a review of Citizens' Charters in the police, commercial taxes, Regional Transport Offices and Stamps and Registration Department, Mr Paul said. Several heads of departments have agreed to participate in this audit to be conducted in two phases.

The first phase will be a critical analysis of the contents of the citizens' charters based on the "good charter criteria" (how well it addresses the needs of the citizen/consumer) and the second phase will go into whether the charters are being implemented in practice. Every public organisation that has not yet done so is being asked to draft a charter.

Training programme

Responding to the Katte's requests, the Additional Chief Secretary, Chiranjiv Singh, has said that all future training programmes for government employees can have a module on KRIA. The State Information Department will be asked to launch a multimedia campaign in view of the current low levels of awareness about the Act.

Another concession the Katte has obtained relates Appellate Authorities reportedly refusing to enforce appeals against government officials, thus denying citizens justice. Mr. Singh has said that action will be taken to remedy this situation and pull up appellate authorities reluctant to pass order against erring officials.

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