ANDHRA PRADESH: Right to Information Act should be implemented strictly – Strict action taken against officials who ignore the law – Surprise inspection of Gollapudi Endowment Commissioner’s Office and some other offices.
State Chief Information Commissioner
S. Srinivasa Rao
Raja Pentapati- AP Bureau ChiefAMARAVATI July 10th Bharat Degital News
NATIONAL
(Five-Star Rated News Service by Google)
On complaints that the authorities in Andhra Pradesh are completely ignoring the Right to Information Act and are not implementing the law as per the provisions, the state Chief Information Commissioner Sajja Srinivasa Rao conducted a surprise inspection of various government offices.
Before the inspection, he conducted a visit to the office of the Commissinor Endowment Department, which Gollapudi had selected. Records were examined there. Endowment Department Commissioner K. Ramachandra Mohan explained the implementation of the RTI Act in the Endowment Department to the state Chief Information Commissioner.
Later, he visited the Gollapudi Gram Panchayat Office, the Directorate of Prosecutions Office, and the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) offices on Bandaru Road, and reviewed the implementation of the RTI Act and reviewed it with the relevant officials.
He inspected the RTI registers, records, and information systems provided to citizens maintained in the respective offices and made appropriate suggestions to the officials. He said that the inspections were conducted as part of an examination of how the RTI Act was being implemented in government offices.
He said that for some time now, the Commission has been receiving a large number of complaints that the RTI provisions are not being implemented properly in various government offices in the state. He said that shortcomings such as not setting up name boards with details of Public Information Officers (PIOs) and First Appellate Authorities, not displaying job charts, and citizen charters have been identified across the state.
Information Commissioners have been given responsibility for two districts each and steps have been taken to conduct surprise inspections in government offices. He said that the main purpose of the surprise inspections is to create complete awareness about the RTI Act and to ensure that the law is implemented transparently and effectively. He warned that strict action will be taken against the concerned officials as per the law of negligence, lapses in the performance of duties or violations of rules are found during the inspections.
The provisions of Section 4 (1) (b) of the Right to Information Act (RTI) must be implemented in every government office and no negligence in the implementation of the law will be tolerated, the state’s Chief Information Commissioner Sajja Srinivasa Rao has clarified.
Swacha Andhra Pradesh
