>
> Editorial of The New Indian Express, Bangalore Edition
> dated 15.6.2009 is reproduced below:
>
>
> UNDERSCORING ACCESS RIGHTS
>
>
> It is doubtful if many of our readers noticed a
> small news item of last month from the Karnataka Information
> commission, the appellate authority for the state on
> enforcing the national Right to Information Act. The Order issued by
> Commissioner J S
> Virupakshaiah, is most welcome; it addresses a recent and
> deplorable trend in government offices through the country,
> to restrict public entry. The
> motivation is, as always, due to a real problem; in Delhi
> Offices, for instance, it is possible ingress of
> terrorists. The result is strict
> rules on ingress and time of entry and so forth, well
> policed. The idea is to keep the
> public out, or at least not farther than the reception
> counter, and to allow any entry only under strict limits.
> Touts and the like seem to get
> around these things, but that is a different issue; the
> legitimate, law abiding public gets intimidated, as is the
> purpose. And now comes this order, in which the KIC directs
> the issue of orders to ensure easy access for RTI applicants
> to Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha, the two big secretariat
> buildings.
>
> It isn’t indiscriminate access, but at
> prescribed timings, and only for RTI applicants; even they
> were being shooed out or away till now.
> Still, it is a beginning, on the basic pri9nciple
> that citizens must be given reasonable access on all days to
> meet officials of the state, which functions in their name
> and with their money. It is a
> principle that in countries such as India seem to often
> exist only in theory, even if those you seek to meet are
> officially known as public servants.
> The notion that the stat is accountable to its
> citizens needs to be fleshed out in various ways: one of
> these has to necessarily be the right to reasonable and
> prompt access to those staffing state agencies. And, needless to say,
> getting an effective
> response. That is the not-so-obvious implication of the
> Karnataka Order; RTI applications are all about these, or
> the initial failure of the state to respond to these
> rights. One way forward is for
> all of us to get familiar with the RTI law and its use; that
> will lead to reforms in the procedures and, finally, in the
> functioning of government and the strengthening of a culture
> of accountability. It starts
> with the right – not a concession given reluctantly – to
> enter state offices and to reach its functionaries.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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