Lenient RTI staffers rob the exchequer of Rs 86 cr ..

Right to Information (RTI) is a very unique act in the country which empowers each citizen of the country to call for required information from any public authority ( meaning people who are taking salary from the tax paid by each and every citizen of this huge country). For this reason all govt employees are being looked at as servants of the people and not their masters !!

For this matter it is the Cabinet Secretary at the Centre and the Chief Secretaries from the states who are the lead servants and all other employees are lesser servants .. 

If a govt servant fails to respond to a query from a common citizen within a period of a month, he/she has to pay an amount as fine ..

Why does RTI work :-)

Welcome to this portal. RTI is working because of penalty clause. Any violation will not only attract financial penalty of Rs250/- delay per day maximum Rs25000/- per application, disciplinary action can be ordered by the Information Commissions. There is separate and independent authorities in place all over India [exclg J & K]. Attempts are being made to dilute implementation by vested interests and RTI activists are strongly resisting such efforts.

From www.rtiindia.org

It is said that RTI staffers have been lenient and have not collected the fine @ Rs 250 per day from public servants who have not supplied the relevant information to the public and this uncollected backlog has increased to Rs 86 crores.

It is the fear of imposing penalty and disciplinary action which is the most important factor for the public servants to part with information and conduct themselves properly the next time. For the effective implementation of RTI, fines need to be collected from the wilful defaulters by the RTI functionaries without fear or favour.

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