Imphal, October 06 2010: On the 2nd day of the Bharat Nirman Campaign, organized by the Pree Information Bureau (PIB) at the Loyalakpa Laibung, Keinou, Thokchom Surbala, Retd District & Session Judge, Imphal East, enlightened the gathering on the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

She provided a guideline to the said act by highlighting its significant aspects.

18 central government agencies dealing with intelligence and security are exempt from the purview of the RTI act 2005, the list of which is given in the 2nd Schedule of the act.

Even here, when it comes to cases of bribery and infringement of human rights, these organizations are liable to provide information.

What constitute information under this act? Under this act, the public can seek information about the working of the government, in terms of records, memo, e-mail, opinion, suggestions of experts, press releases, circulars, orders, reports, contracts, books, and other information stored in electronic format like discs, video tapes etc.

To implement this act, every government department has a designated Public Information Officer or PIO who is helped in the discharge of his duty by the assistant PIOs, all of whom function under the State Information Commissioner.

A person seeking information under the RTI act should submit an application to the PIO of the concerned department specifying the particulars of the information sought along with a fee of Rs 10/-.The PIO concerned after deciding whether the information sought can be given under the provision of the act should do so within 30 days and if the information sought is from a third party the concerned department will give 5 days to the party.

But there are certain information pertaining to the sovereignty and integrity of the state, parliament, state legislatures, intellectual property rights, those liable to endanger the life of an individual, cabinet meetings, etc are also kept out of the purview of the act but if the public good outweighs the withholding of such information, these too should be made public.

Thokchom Surbala, informed the gathering that in the event of withholding of information or providing misleading information, the PIO is liable to a penalty of Rs 250/- to 25,000/- Even though the Supreme Court and the High Court can have limited jurisdiction over the act, the lower courts have no say in the implementation of the RTI act.

Calling the RTI act, one of the most enabling act for the citizens of this country, Thokchom Surbala called for spreading awareness about the act and use it effectively to bring about a better society.

Taking some concrete examples, she said people generally talk about not getting the rightful wages under the NREGS and by using RTI they can find out what how and where did the money went.

Further, she said, one generally talk about contractors not executing works properly, we can find out exactly how much money has been sanctioned for a work, what is the material he is using, is it in conformity with the requisite quality under the contract etc and make him accountable.

In the appeal she appealed to the general public to learn more about the act and use it effectively to fight corruption and other misuse to make a better society to live in.

During the interaction, she was asked what could be the next step if the PIO refuse to part with the information sought, answering which she said as per the provision of the act the concerned PIO can be penalized with the fine starting from Rs 250/- to Rs 25,000/- .

Considering there have been instances when RTI applicants have faced threats to withdraw their applications, one participant wanted to know if the identity of the applicant can be kept confidential.

Thokchom Subala informed that under the RTI act it cannot be done but if the identity of those threatening is known they can be prosecuted under various sections of the IPC.

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