Arunachal Pradesh Assembly constitutes committee to study RTI Act

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: The Arunachal Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday constituted a three-member committee to make in-depth study on the RTI Act and to recommended suggestions to the government for forwarding to the Centre for amendment, in the guidelines of the Act.

Senior Congress member Ninong Ering, during a short duration discussion, raised the issue of RTI being misused by people in the state for their personal gain and requested the government to amend the guidelines of the Act. Chief Minister Pema Khandu responding to Ering, informed that the Act being enacted by the Parliament during 2005, replacing the Freedom of Information Act of 2002, the state government has no say on its amendment. Khandu, however, suggested for constituting the committee, which was approved by Deputy Speaker Tesam Pongte, who was in the chair.

The committee to be headed by Ering along with BJP legislator Kento Jini and NPP MLA Tarin Dakpe as members, would discuss with various stakeholders, including officials from law department, and submit the recommendations to the state government for taking up in the next session of the assembly, before forwarding to the Centre. Ering, while raising the issue, informed that a major chunk of people in the state use RTI as a tool to gain personal benefits through blackmailing of officers and he suggested for strict scrutiny of the intention of the RTI applicants. "We have to make the Act strong but it does not mean that it becomes a right to income. RTI should not be misused as a tool to halt development," Ering said adding, a proper mechanism should be evolved for its regulation in a proper way.

Several members taking part in the discussion termed the Act as 'Right to Income' and alleged that many individuals in the state use it for their vested interest and urged the government to hammer out appropriate mechanism to check gross misuse of the Act. The members also suggested for enhancing the fee for RTI applications stating that it would check misuse to a certain extent besides identifying the gravity of the cases for quick disposal.

Responding to the members, Khandu informed the assembly that the State Information Commission was set up in August 8, 2006 and since then as many as 2,933 cases were registered out of which 2,433 are still pending. "There are lacunae in the system. If we are clean than why should we be afraid of providing information? If we are sincere, even after sharing information, the RTI activists cannot misuse it," Khandu said. The Chief Minister added that the state government has undertaken training and awareness campaigns at district level for the officers on the Act.

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