Dear Leslie 1) I seems you picked the wrong Guru.
2) Penalty is not (and never was) the "teeth" of this Act. ergo, this Act never had any teeth in the first place. 3) Previously, in Delhi we had (have) a State RTI Act. It had absolutely no penalty provision whatsoever. It was only because of the personality of the Appellate Authority (Mrs Shailaja Chandra) that citizens like me got information because of the respect / rapport she had with the officers. In each and every case I got information and never had any P/A refusing information or challenging it in High Courts. Of course there were many people like Arvind Kejriwal who had very bad experiences with this lady because she could see through their posturing / motives immediately, and she made sure they got minimal info to harass her officers. 4) The problem are the Chief Information Commissioners, they are without exception spineless, slimy and corrupt individuals, and the P/As have absolutely no respect for and/or fear of them. And for that matter neither do we. 5) There is no need to "prop up" RTI. This Act should be demolished as soon as possible. Sarbajit --- In [email protected], LESLIE ALMEIDA <lesals2...@...> wrote: > > Concrete steps urgently needed to ensure citizens get information under > RTI,and > save RTI act  as many RTI activists/supporters are of the strong opinion > that > SICâs/CICâs are going soft of PIOâs. No penalties imposed, I strong > believe that > some of these SICâs/CICâs are corrupt, today more and more PIOâs refuse > to give > information or give vague information, for the know too well that nothing > will > happen to them, this trend need to be arrested, My Guru who I adored stated > at > every RTI seminar he had âTHAT THE TOOTH OF THE RTI ACT IS THE PENALITY > clause > OF RS 250 PER DAYâ today this Guru of mine becoming a CIC and goes on to > say > âPenalties are the tooth of the act but you cannot go on biting every one, > Why > not, if guilty every PIO should be penalised why only certain PIOâs. ( > The RTI > act is clear ) If one applies their mind they will get the answer. SIC, s/CIC > ,are sabotaging the RTI act, (discretion powers) RTI is becoming a toothless > tiger. Even if penalties are imposed PIO do not comply, complains to SIC/CIC > fall on deaf ears , wake up dear citizens and help prop up the RTI act (Jo > dara > tho mara ) > Leslie Almeida >
