Information commissioners murderers of RTI: Kumbhar

Blames it on IAS officers whose sole interest is power, perks and do not study the Act

DNA Correspondent

Right to Information (RTI) activist Vijay Kumbhar on Sunday said the bureaucracy dominated by IAS officers has been trying to defeat the purpose of the Act since the very beginning.
He added that information commissioners, who belong to this lobby, are the real murderers of the Act.
Kumbhar was awarded the Sajag Nagarik Mahiti Adhikar Purskar as a recognition of his work in the field of RTI for 2008. The award consists of a memento and Rs11,000. Former justice PB Sawant presented the award.
Kumbhar in his acceptance speech said the IAS officers have never accepted the responsibility as a public information officer but have succeeded in occupying posts of information commissioners considering the perks and privileges.
Many information commissioners do not study the RTI Act even after their appointment. Hence their orders some times do not conform to the legal provisions.
He said the commissioners do not want their work to be scrutinised by public, as they believe that they have occupied the supreme position.
He said state chief information commissioner Suresh Joshi could not give a satisfactory explanation to RTI activists when asked about the thousands of pending appeals before the commissioners in the state.
"He is more interested in holding on to the chair," Kumbhar said, and added that the chief information commissioner has misunderstood his position. He considers other state information commissioners as his subordinates. He does not co-operate with them and facilities are denied to them even after doing a good job.
Sawant in his speech said the right to information is the basis of all other rights. Without information, no problem can be solved and hence other rights would become useless without RTI, he said.
He said the RTI is a constitutional right, as it is an integral part of the right to expression, a fundamental right. "One can use this right to file a writ petition in the high court if information commissioners are not performing their duty," he said.
RTI activists KD Pawar and Chandrakant Lande were felicitated