| Font Size |
Yet the low response to the RTI does not make the state chief information commissioner Arun Bhattacharya cringe. He says West Bengal is far ahead “qualitatively” when it comes to furnishing information under the RTI Act despite lagging behind “quantitatively”.
When asked to specify, Bhattacharya’s said the website of the information commission in the state had much more to offer in terms of information. Only one-tenth of the 15,000 applications filed were sent to the office of the state chief information commissioner for complaints or second appeals.
“Of these, 90 per cent cases were responded to,” said Bhattacharya. But the commissioner could not come up with even an approximate estimate of the percentage or the number of cases that were responded to. “We have been late starters in this field. There is also a general lack of awareness about the RTI in the state,” said Bhattacharya, speaking on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industries on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, speaking on the occasion, the V-C of Calcutta University, Suranjan Das, urged the state government for additional funds to set up adequate infrastructure necessary for the effective implementation of the Act. He said there should be a uniform rule across the country in the implementation of the RTI Act in the education sector .
Discuss this story on expressindia forums
|
|