For the first time since the passage of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the annual report prepared by the State Information Commission (SIC) has refused to give any suggestions to the state government for better implementation of the RTI Act. The non-compliance of its previous recommendations by the state government has been given as the reason by the SIC for no new recommendations being given this time. The annual report is prepared by the SIC to evaluate the implementation of the RTI Act in the state. Other than analysing the RTI usage trend, the report also looks into the way the public information officers and the appellate authorities discharge their duties. The report, which is placed before the state legislature, is supposed to act as a progress report of the state government’s implementation of the RTI Act. [related-post] Recommendations to the state government on better implementation of the Act are an important feature of the SIC’s annual report. These recommendations are based on the experience of the Information Commissioners during the course of discharge of their duties while disposing of the second appeals. Recommendations are made in the form of administrative reforms that would improve the RTI experience of the common man. Since 2006, when the first annual report was prepared, the SIC has issued 60 recommendations for the state government to follow. The recommendations in the past has asked the government to include studying of RTI and other transparency related laws compulsory for the departmental qualifying examinations, setting up of a system to issue documents through e-mail, inclusion of section 4 implementation in the Annual Performance Report of the department head, setting up of contingency plan for working of SICs etc. Implementation of Section 4 of the Act has been a recurring theme in all the last eight reports. While giving reasons for no new recommendation, the report of 2014 says that more than 60 recommendations have been issued by the SIC over the years. “The implementation of the recommendations by the state government has been poor. We hence refuse to give any new recommendations for the state government, but hope they act on the previous recommendations for better promulgation of the Act,” the report read. The SIC’s refusal to suggest new recommendations assumes importance as 2015 marks the 10th year of passage of RTI Act. RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar said, “These recommendations assume importance as they come from commissioners who had worked as senior bureaucrats and know the system. The state government should look into them seriously.” Kumbhar also blamed the SIC for not doing its bit to ensure the government works on the suggestions.
