Professor Sh. Lalu Yadav, Railway berths and RTI

Thanks to Milap Choraria for this.

*** Excerpts from Milap’s Email ***

Under the RTI Act, I submitted an application…to the Central Public Information Officer, Ministry of Railways, submitting therein, that I have seen that in some coaches, Indian Railways have extended the number of births in Sleeper Classes from 72 Births to 81 Births, by extending the number of side Births from 2 to 3, and sought Complete Designs of the Newly Extended Side Three Births, which allowed the Railway Board to extend the number of Births in Sleeper Class Coaches up to 81 Births.

The design was supplied to me, vide Memo Letter No. RTI Cel/2008/2003/CPIO-III dated 14/01/2009.

Thereafter, I submitted another application…to Public Information Officer, Ministry of Railways, thanking him for the supply of the design No. CG-K7065, being concerned to Retrofitment arrangement of Seat and Birth on Longitudinal Side for SCN for the newly extended side three Births and wanted the ‘File Noting’ relating to the approval of the aforesaid design and photocopy of the ‘Certificate obtained in consideration of the physically fitness for all the age-group passengers’.

In response to this application, vide Memo Letter No. RTI Cel/2008/2296/CPIO-III dated 20/02/2009 (delivered to me on 1st March, 2009)…Railway Ministry replies that “Ministry of Railways have now decided to discontinue with the scheme provision of longitudinal middle berths in the coaches”. 

Although, as Milap noted:

(the)…main question still remains unanswered i.e. ‘Whether the Railway Minister (Professor) Shri Lalu Yadav, approved the scheme without obtaining a certificate for physically fitness for all the age-group passengers?’, and ‘Who would be responsible for the losses incurred through the implementation of the scheme and thereby harassment being caused to the passengers?’

the fact that he got this far gives me hope and renews my faith in this powerful tool…which had taken some beating following a few recent news-reports.

One of them mentioned how:

…(even) after approximately four years of the act’s existence, the general complaint is that PIOs tend to delay disbursing info, often claiming a lack of knowledge of the act.

and the second that talked about apparent lack of commitment

“There is lack of commitment from public authorities. Information Commissioners across the country have not been able to ensure its implementation. Many state and Central government affiliated organisations are reluctant in abiding by Section 4,” he (Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi) told PTI.

In response to the LiveMint article, Bibha responded with some excellent suggestions:

To make the RTI Act effective, 1. The appellate Authorities should be a higher rank official from another department, not from the same department as to that of the CPIO 2. The erring CPIO and AA should be punished with penalty and disciplinary action for non-application of mind or for following the delay and deny tactics. 3. The efficient CPIOs should be appreciated 4. Manpower should be improved at CIC and SIC. 5. All CPIOs and AAs should be communicated with latest Legal decisions and CIC decisions on popular items. 6. The HCs should be manned with adequate and sanctioned strengh of judges 7. Important decisins should be published and aired and webcast and telecast in popular TV channels and DD channels. 8. Proper training to be imparted to all CPIOs and AAs on RTI Act. 9. Continuous offending CPIOs and AAs may be taken disciplinary action. 10. An aptitude test for transperancy should be conducted before appointing a person as a CPIO or AA. 11. Preferably youth below 40 should handle CPIO or AA posts. 12. Some RTI duty allowance should be granted to all CPIOs and AAs.

I hope these suggestions are considered seriously by the powers that be. If any of you have stories/ personal experiences of RTI, please share them here.

Related Post: A great model of good governance 

Disclosure: I am supporter of Sakshi Trust and sponsored their RTI Guide for Improving the Urban Environment.