tag on profile.
We appeal to the citizens of Himachal Pradesh to support us and Support Digital India
As a part of the Action Group below
To the chief Information Commissioner.
Please provide me with below information.
1. Does your state have a web portal supporting the spirit of Right to Information Act. Similar and at least providing the same functionality as https://RTIOnline.gov.in where
- Any Citizen of India can go online and file RTI appeal to Information Commission or any of the administrative unit's SPIOs electronically and get an RTI tracking ticket similar to RTIOnline.gov.in.
- Pay the prescribed fee online using Net Banking, Credit Cards.
- Track the status online and get the response on the online portal electronically.
- File First and Second appeal in case RTI response is not satisfactory electronically using the same portal.
2. If answer to query #1 is Yes for all the points, please provide the web portal name.
3. If Answer to all or any of the Query #1 is No.
a.) Please provide details on why even after 10 years of RTI Act in place and after multiple years of RTIOnline.gov.in online and working as a benchmark developed by NIC for central government ministries (NIC or similar agencies manages all your state web portals as well) your state is not able to provide this service.
b.) If you have already planned for a similar or better service than RTIOnline.gov.in to serve RTI needs for your state please provide the expected time frame when Citizens of India can start using it.
The Above RTI is for public purpose.
Below is the reply we received :
Please refer to your RTI application received in the commission on 13.06.2015 the information sought by you is as under. Information sought at S.No. 1 to 3 of your RTI Application is that as per HP right to Information Rules 2006 (available on web site of Govt.of H.P www.himachal.nic.in) citizen of India can not file RTI application to the public authorities of H.P, 1st appeal and second appeal on line. The information sought at S.No.3(a) of your RTI are questions and the information in this regard is not available in the record- hence it can not be Provided.
Below are our observations on this RTI response :
1. The response was pretty quick. However, the replies were unsatisfactory to say the least.
2. The response says - "As per HP right to Information Rules 2006 (available on web site of Govt.of H.P www.himachal.nic.in) citizen of India can not file RTI application Online" - It is dismaying to see how existing rules were cited to deflect our question - about a better process which could be used. Who knows, this rule book might have been taken as an excuse for NOT moving in the direction of Online RTI portal!
3. The response to our 3rd question (regarding the timelines by which the Online portal might be ready) is that "No information is available on record". This means that no one in the Himachal Pradesh Information commission has even talked about a possibility of an online RTI portal, let alone initiating the process! The longer this takes, we can expect more and more wastage of resources. These wastages will only rise exponentially as the number of RTI Applications increase year on year.
Any one reading the RTI request can see it had good motives and was aimed at public welfare considerations. We sincerely hope that thru this RTI, the Himachal Information commission could at least take cognizance of the issue at hand and take steps in the right direction. We will be following up with them in the future too to see how things stand. We request the citizens of Himachal Pradesh to join us in this endeavor .
And this is the whole reason we want all the states to be on board rti.gov.in or a similar platform base-lined at least on existing service by central government.
Citizens of Himachal Pradesh, Join this action group and take charge of making your state RTI system transparent and citizen friendly!
