BBMP data: Apply, apply, no reply

Five years after shutting down the centralised RTI cell and directing RTI requests to individual departments, getting information from the BBMP has become difficult

Seeking some details about the survey of children aged between 0-18 in the vicinity of Bengaluru, civic activist Kathyayini Chamaraj approached the Special Commissioner (Administration) of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) with an application under the Right to Information Act (RTI) in October 2022.

However, the Office of the Commissioner did not accept her application. The officials instead asked her to submit it to the Welfare Department, and she did so on October 18. “It’s been almost three months now and we haven’t heard from the civic body till today,” says Kathyayini.

This case is an example of things that have gone wrong with the Right-to-Information (RTI) scene in the city of Bengaluru. BBMP had a centralised RTI cell in its headquarters for 11 years until it was shut down in November 2017 on what the activists term as ‘dubious grounds’. The civic body had stated that the RTIs related to different wards, departments and offices were kept on coming to the head office and transferring them to respective Public Information Officers (PIOs) was taking a lot of time.

Read | Online RTI and voluntary disclosure can help Bengaluru citizens

The BBMP published the name and details of more than 500 PIOs across the city on their website and asked the applicants to directly approach them.

The ordeal

“During 2015 and 2016, the RTI cell was working effectively. The bureaucrats were not comfortable giving all information and were searching for an excuse to close it down. They got one in 2017,” says Ravindranath Guru, veteran RTI activist.

With the centralised RTI cell functioning, anybody could apply directly to the cell even if they don’t know about the particular department or office which must provide the desired information. It was the duty of the cell to transfer the applications to the concerned PIOs and make the process smoother by giving the information within 35 days.

“Now, we have to spend a lot of time to find the correct department or divisions or wards etc and then address the application to them. All these long procedures discourage the public from getting the information,” complains B M Shivakumar, president of Jayaprakash Narayan Vichara Vedike, highlighting the laborious and defeating current RTI process.

“In fact, the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) issued letters to BBMP and BDA in 2017-18 to reopen the cells and strengthen them. But they have not done it and their commissioners go on changing in regular intervals,” notes Guru.

Delays, lack of response

One main problem that citizens pointed out with the city’s RTI scene is the inordinate delay in receiving information or not getting it at all. Most of the PIOs wouldn’t be present at their offices as they are field officers.

Guru says that the PIOs are aware that the appeals of applicants will take more than a year to come back to them and by that time, he/she may not be in the same position and they can escape the consequences.

Veeresh Bellur, an RTI activist, notes that no one in BBMP complies with the orders of first appellate authorities (PIOs) to provide information. “In 90% of the cases, information cannot be obtained at the PIO level,” he adds.

Guru points out that imposing penalties on erring departments for not disclosing information within 35 days has become the last and least priority for the State Information Commission.

The details of more than 500 PIOs across the head office, zonal chief engineer offices and 8 zones uploaded to the BBMP website are available only in Kannada and have not been updated since 2017-18, resulting in the rejection of many RTI applications. Activists and citizens DH spoke to feel the BBMP must reopen the centralised cell and strengthen it.

Guru highlights a provision already existing in the RTI Act about transferring the applications to the concerned PIOs within 5 days and says that no PIO under any department has the right to reject an RTI request.

“BBMP should keep a register of all the RTI applications it received and give a tracking number to the applicant immediately,” demands Kathyayini Chamaraj, adding that this was not being followed earlier as well.

Future of RTI in BBMP

The activists are sceptical about the future of RTI. “Over the years, I have been witnessing a deliberate move by the authorities to systematically scuttle the utilisation of RTI. The Information Commission, which is supposed to be a powerful body, has today become the most complacent and corrupt one. It has become nearly out of bounds for citizens to go and approach officials there,” observes Guru.

“The Information Commission is directly under the control of the chief minister. The Information Commissioner’s post is a political appointment. Anyone who has passed 10th can become the commissioner. A lot of nepotism and favouritism take place,” observes Kodur Venkatesh, RTI activist.

Kathyayini, who is also the trustee of CIVIC Bengaluru, fears that the recently drafted Data Protection Bill that is open for comments now, will also have adverse effects on BBMP’s RTI mandate and make it practically defunct.” The Data Protection Bill proposes to amend the RTI Act to exclude all personal information from RTI’s purview, even if it is something that can be shared with the legislature.

‘Decentralised system works better’

An official who preferred anonymity said that for any RTI request, the PIO should say whether the information is available or not, within five days of application. If it is not available, the request should be sent to the concerned information officer, or the applicant should be informed that it is not available. If the official fails to do this, the responsibility of providing the information falls on the official.

The official says that when the now-suspended RTI cell was functional, the applications took more than 15 days to reach the concerned PIOs, and they took more time to provide the information. He adds that with the current direct RTI approach, the time taken for people to obtain the information has been reduced.. He says that the RTI act did not mandate the formation of such RTI cells, and there is nothing wrong with the current decentralised system.

What about consolidated pan-BBMP level information people seek from the BBMP head office? “Information cannot be created for the sake of RTI. If the BBMP has the information, it will be shared,” says the official.

(With inputs from Shree D N)