> > > In a recent interview I heard Arvind Kejriwal opine that the RTI has > too many backlog cases and the Information Commission which is > supposed to fine the officers does not bother to implement this > fine/action**, thereby pushing the RTI towards its slow and imminent > death.
The information on MPLADs and MLALADs as well as use of funds by municipal councillors is often already documented by concerned officials. So also, details of attendance and questions asked are recorded and documented by Parliamentary and Legislative committees. It is simply a matter of the officials compiling this information and giving it. That is how both SNS and Praja have managed in Delhi and Mumbai respectively. They have also used other information sources and analytical methods to arrive at their respective conclusions and develop their databases/information archives. RTI is both a normative and a tactical tool and is utilized in various ways. At the local level, it can be very efficacious, especially in circumstances where information is sought to be concealed, like information about Privatization projects and about land use and land development. At the same time, many people file RTI applications which inconvenience some of the already over-worked officials, especially in the municipal departments. When I was researching an e-governance project in the Mumbai municipal corporation (BMC), the complaint officers who handle the processing and following up of all civic complaints at ward levels showed me the large volumes of information that individuals were demanding from them. This required the complaint officers to collect the data from other departments in addition to sourcing it our from their own. Sometimes this results in natural delays and therefore, the fines can be unjustified in such circumstances. Also, lower level officers tend to get fined more often than the higher level bureaucrats and this could mean a lot not only in monetary terms, but also bringing them under the ire and fire of seniors, particularly in an atmosphere where there is talk of blanket privatization of municipal services and departments, and cutting down on staff (both of which need to be examined contextually and politically). In one case, the secretary to the governor showed me how a lady had filed a RTI application asking about the size of the helipad in the governor's bungalow, the amount of petrol consumed by the helicopter, safety measures, etc. He said he would not mind giving the information but he needed to know why she wanted this information because it could have security implications. Albert O Hirschmann's work titled "Exit, Voice and Loyalty" is very interesting in regard to RTI. Hirschmann analyzes what happens when people have too many options to exercise their "voice" and when too many people decide to express their "voice" in particular circumstances. He tries to understand these patterns in the context of feedback cycles and how these cycles can get skewed in situations when one option is exercised excessively than the other. > I've also heard that the RTI is largely misused but i'd still > like to think its an effective tool if used positively. > As in? What would be the examples. Just curious. > > ** iirc, Kejriwal said the IC is empowered to fine the officer 5 bucks > per day beyond the mandatory 30 days. In some cases this has turned > into a 3 year window. > Would be interesting to know which cases these are. When the organization I was associated with in Mumbai tried to help a person to file an RTI with the metropolitan development authority to know how and where builders had used development rights in the city, we got a blatant response saying, "Here are the contact details of the Appellate Authority. Go an lodge an appeal saying we are not giving you this information." !!! -- Zainab Bawa Ph.D. Student and Independent Researcher Between Places ... http://zainab.freecrow.org
