Sec. 5(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 mandates that every public authority shall designate Public Information Officers (PIO) in all administrative units or offices under it to provide information to persons requesting for the information under this Act. According to Sec. 6(1) of the Act, a person, who desires to obtain any information under the Act should make a request in writing, along with the fee, to the designated PIO.
But some public authorities are misinterpreting this section of the law to make it difficult for the public to get the information they want. For example, Mysore City Corporation has appointed the assistant commissioners in charge of each of the 9 MCC zonal offices as PIOs, but has not appointed any PIO in the main MCC office. As a result, if a person wants information pertaining to MCC as a whole (such as the number of property owners in Mysore who have paid their property tax), he has to file 9 applications to the 9 PIOs. To do it, he has to go to the 9 zonal offices spread all over the city and spend 10 Rs. for each of those applications. He then has to add the numbers given by the 9 offices to get the information he wants. If getting information becomes so difficult, no one will ever make use of the RTI Act and the fundamental reason for establishing the act is lost.
There are some types of information such as births and deaths which are held only by the MCC main office. There is no PIO who handles applications requesting such information.
Therefore, we urge the Commissioner of MCC to designate a PIO for MCC main office so as to not defeat the intention of the RTI Act.
Vishwas Krishna, member, MGP