JOIN USPanel to hear RTI cases via video conferencing
Hitherto, petitioners and information officers from the State personally appeared before the Commission in Bangalore for hearings.
The facility was formally inaugurated by Chief Secretary S V Ranganath on Wednesday.
KIC Chief Commissioner H N Krishna told reporters that the State Information Commissioners will hear cases pending in districts via video conferences from Bangalore by making use of the studio facility available at the deputy commissioners’ offices and the offices of the chief executive officers in the zilla panchayats.
Krishna and his colleague J S Veerupakshaiah heard cases from Belgaum, Karwar, Shimoga and Gulbarga, after the inauguration.
Veerupakshaiah ordered issue of show-cause notice to an executive engineer of PWD for providing incomplete information to an applicant.
Tahsildar rapped
In another instance, Krishna took the Koppal Tahsildar Vijaykumar to task for inordinate delay in furnishing information to an RTI applicant.
The applicant had sought the number of group ‘D’ employees working in the taluk.
However, the tashildar, who is also the public information officer, had not furnished answers to the applicant even after six months.
The State information commissioners themselves had to face some embarrassing moments during the video conference, when a petitioner, Chandrakanth from Shimoga, blamed the KIC for gross inefficiency.
“The KIC has failed to discharge its duties. I will petition the Governor to dismiss the KIC,” Chandrashekar said and added that even the video conferencing had been rehearsed the previous day.