After enjoying perks, babus quietly skip RTI anniversary celebrations

NEW DELHI: They lobbied hard and pulled strings to get themselves appointed as transparency watchdogs. But nearly three out of four state information commissions across the country quietly skipped celebrating the RTI law’s ninth anniversary in October.

The department of personnel & training (DoPT) — which funds and oversees implementation of the right to information law — said commissions in only eight states had approached the Centre for ` 3 lakh assistance available for state information commissions to com-

IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT RETIRING BUREAUCRATS LOBBY TO BECOME INFORMATION COMMISSIONERS FOR THE PERKS THE POST OFFERS

LOKESH BATRA, RTI activist

memorate the RTI week during October 5-12. It had funded only seven because the eighth state, Punjab, had not provided utilisation certificates of funds provided to it in previous years. The seven are Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Mizoram and Sikkim

The Centre had asked all state commissions to send in their proposals earlier in August for taking up various activities. RTI activist Lokesh Batra who accessed the information under the information law said the lackadaisical approach of the commissions was shocking.

“It is well known that retiring bureaucrats lobby to become information commissioners for the perks the post offers... But we had hoped for some commitment to the cause of transparency too,” said Batra.