<p>It was welcomed by people whose cases have been pending before the KIC for several months. The KIC had remained headless ever since the CIC K K Misra retired on July 7, 2010. The contempt of the State government towards the RTI Act was quite evident from the fact that it took six months to appoint CIC after the retirement of Misra. <br /><br />The KIC was further weakened with the State’s failure to appoint adequate number of Information Commissioners to hear and dispose of cases. After the retirement of Information Commissioner K A Thippeswamy on October 27, 2010, the KIC was left with only two information commissioners H N Krishna and J S Virupakshaiah.<br /><br />In the absence of CIC for six months and in the absence of adequate number of information commissioners for the last several months, the KIC was taking its own time to hear and dispose of cases which amounted to defeating the spirit of the RTI Act.<br /><br />In a majority of cases, the Public Information Officers (PIOs) do not furnish information even months after filing application and even when the appeal/complaint is filed with the KIC, they fail to make any impact.<br /><br />“It is the State’s responsibility to appoint CIC and ICs on time. Since the governments generally have no respect for RTI Act they keep on delaying the appointment leading to huge pendency,” remarked RTI activist and environmentalist Deepak Gala. In a reply to another RTI activist Shaikh Shafi Ahmed, the KIC had stated that cases pending before the Commission as on November 2010 was a whopping 13,626. This huge pendency was being handled by only two ICs. On an average about 60 cases are registered by the KIC per day. An information commissioner hears 12 fresh cases in the morning and as many adjourned cases in the afternoon. <br /><br />As per Section 15 (2) (a) of the RTI Act, the State Information Commission shall have one CIC and as per Section 15 (2) (b) the State government shall appoint Information Commissioners not exceeding 10, as may be deemed necessary. With the State government’s decision to appoint four more ICs, the number of ICs will go up to six apart from the CIC. This is said to be enough for the KIC to deal with new and pending cases.<br /><br />Shafi Ahmed felt that there was a dire need to appoint Zonal Information Commissioners as has been in Maharashtra to avoid people rushing to Bangalore to attend hearing. <br />Though the proposal of appointing zonal commissioners at Gulbarga, Belgaum, and Mysore has been under government’s consideration no decision has been taken yet.</p>
<p>It was welcomed by people whose cases have been pending before the KIC for several months. The KIC had remained headless ever since the CIC K K Misra retired on July 7, 2010. The contempt of the State government towards the RTI Act was quite evident from the fact that it took six months to appoint CIC after the retirement of Misra. <br /><br />The KIC was further weakened with the State’s failure to appoint adequate number of Information Commissioners to hear and dispose of cases. After the retirement of Information Commissioner K A Thippeswamy on October 27, 2010, the KIC was left with only two information commissioners H N Krishna and J S Virupakshaiah.<br /><br />In the absence of CIC for six months and in the absence of adequate number of information commissioners for the last several months, the KIC was taking its own time to hear and dispose of cases which amounted to defeating the spirit of the RTI Act.<br /><br />In a majority of cases, the Public Information Officers (PIOs) do not furnish information even months after filing application and even when the appeal/complaint is filed with the KIC, they fail to make any impact.<br /><br />“It is the State’s responsibility to appoint CIC and ICs on time. Since the governments generally have no respect for RTI Act they keep on delaying the appointment leading to huge pendency,” remarked RTI activist and environmentalist Deepak Gala. In a reply to another RTI activist Shaikh Shafi Ahmed, the KIC had stated that cases pending before the Commission as on November 2010 was a whopping 13,626. This huge pendency was being handled by only two ICs. On an average about 60 cases are registered by the KIC per day. An information commissioner hears 12 fresh cases in the morning and as many adjourned cases in the afternoon. <br /><br />As per Section 15 (2) (a) of the RTI Act, the State Information Commission shall have one CIC and as per Section 15 (2) (b) the State government shall appoint Information Commissioners not exceeding 10, as may be deemed necessary. With the State government’s decision to appoint four more ICs, the number of ICs will go up to six apart from the CIC. This is said to be enough for the KIC to deal with new and pending cases.<br /><br />Shafi Ahmed felt that there was a dire need to appoint Zonal Information Commissioners as has been in Maharashtra to avoid people rushing to Bangalore to attend hearing. <br />Though the proposal of appointing zonal commissioners at Gulbarga, Belgaum, and Mysore has been under government’s consideration no decision has been taken yet.</p>
