The public information officers (PIOs) appointed under the Right to Information Act have no power. This is a major drawback, admitted officials speaking at the interactive session held by RTI commissioners at the Jubilee Hall on Saturday. The situation in the education department in particular, was pointed out to be pathetic. Meanwhile, Chief Information Commissioner Jannat Hussain said that by 2013, the pendency of cases will be brought down to three months from the current time of three years.
The revenue department, followed by the municipal administration, education, police and panchayat raj departments topped the list of those departments which had the largest number of petitions pending. “Currently, between 60 to 100 cases are being disposed of per day and appeals for the year 2010 are still being heard. We aim to bring down the pendency to below three months by June 2013 and also to start taking some appeals on priority basis,” said Mr Hussain.
One of the main flaws of the act is that the first appellate authority has no accountability. This makes it too soft on the authority while there is too severe a punishment for the PIOs, even as they have no powers to command and get the information. “Much needs to be done towards empowering the public information officers as they are the most important functionaries in the implementation of the RTI Act. Faced with opposition and non co-operation from within their own organisation, they are often helpless. Specifically, in the education department, the situation is pathetic. When it comes to aided colleges and institutes, the PIOs have no access to information at all,” pointed out state information commissioner S. Prabhakar Reddy.