Kerala

`Shortcoming' of an Act

Though the Right to Information Act (RTIequips a citizen to seek and secure information from Government and public institutions, an individual who has invoked it to get information on the movement of a file concerning his grievance has found a `shortcoming' in the Act.

He would not have invoked the Act if his complaint/petition against a case of encroachment on public space had been duly redressed without much delay, says T. Asafali, president of the People's Council for Civil Rights, which works for creating public awareness on the Act. Two years after filing the petition, he sought information on its latest position. The copy of the file with notings provided to him under the Act showed that the file has been moving back and forth between the office of the Revenue Divisional Officer at Thalassery to and the village office there. A specific answer to a specific question as to the distance between the two offices has disclosed that the distance is yet to be measured and recorded. The village office is a stone's throw from the RDO office. But the RTI Act has no provision that allows a person to ask for getting the distance measured, Mr. Asafali said.

Mohamed Nazeer

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