Publish Date: | Fri, 25 Feb 2022 07:15 AM (IST)
Jabalpur, New Dunia Rep. Right to information is being played with the dignity of advocates by not treating them as citizens. Cases like this are coming to the fore one after the other, in which the public information officers refused to give information by keeping the advocates out of the definition of citizen, while interpreting the RTI Act arbitrarily. Recently, apart from the Jabalpur CMHO office, the Public Information Officers of the Satna Municipal Corporation and the Revenue Department of Madhya Pradesh have raised questions by giving similar absurd answers. Even before this, complaints have come to the notice of Public Information Officers from different parts of the country to avoid giving information by adopting the same attitude.
As per the Advocates Act, every advocate can collect information from various sources to put forward his side firmly before the court. Since the implementation of the Right to Information, advocates have used it properly with this intention. In such a situation, such irrational answers of Public Information Officers are condemnable.
-Sanjay Verma, Advocate High Court
The attitude of refusing to give information by treating the advocate as a citizen is dictatorial. This is proving that the corrupt bureaucracy does not hold back from flouting even a well-intentioned law. It is necessary to oppose such an attitude in every possible way.
– Brahmanand Pandey, Advocate High Court
All such inappropriate answers of Public Information Officers should be collected and petitioned in High Court and Supreme Court. Before this, a letter should be sent to CJI, CJ and Law Minister. Advocate community will not tolerate insult.
– Sachin Pandey, Advocate High Court
“It has been 17 years since the Right to Information Act-2005 came into force. Even after this, this level of knowledge of Public Information Officers is extremely worrying. It is also a sign of extreme illiteracy. God is the owner of the departments of these Public Information Officers who interpret the RTI Act arbitrarily. This attitude clearly shows the intention of not giving and withholding information. No public information officer in my area has ever given such an answer. Although some people seeking information under RTI consider it to be a nuclear bomb or a vehicle without brakes, which can be mounted or tossed anywhere, the officer of good intention understands very well that he is not obliged to give every information sought. This is because the RTI Act is not unbridled.
Actually, in the RTI Act, what information has to be given to the Public Information Officer and which is not, the whole thing has been written in just two paragraphs, which if read properly, then the public information officer concerned can not answer like not considering the advocate as a citizen. Will give
-Vijay Manohar Tiwari, State Information Commissioner
Posted By: Ravindra Suhane