Reject fictitious RTI applications, Jawed Usmani to PIOs
Jawed Usmani, chief information commission, UP, said that checking fictitious RTI applications was the biggest challenge in proper implementation of the Right to Information Act. Usmani expressed these views while speaking at a national seminar on RTI organised by Foundation for People’s Right to Information.
“It is our responsibility to ensure proper implementation of the RTI Act. A powerful tool to combat corruption, this must not be misused,” Usmani said.
Usmani asked public information officers (PIOs), who are the first to entertain RTI applications, to reject fictitious pleas. “In the training programmes of PIOs in UP, we have made them aware of their right to reject fictitious RTI applications,” he added.
Citing several examples, Usmani stated that during court hearings, he had come across several RTI applications which appeared fictitious at a glance. “Fictitious RTI applications not only clog the system but are also detrimental to genuine applications,” he asserted.
Also present on the occasion was RK Mathur, central chief information commissioner, who laid stress on the need to check misuse of RTI. “About 35,000 cases are pending with the central information commission, of which 5,000 have been filed by 75 people,” Mathur pointed out, adding that there was one person who had filed 600 complaints. “Some complaints are only mischievous in nature,” he said.