State Information Commissioner A. Abdul Hakeem has called on the public to effectively use the Right to Information (RTI) Act for strengthening democracy.
He was speaking after a sitting of the commission at the district collectorate conference hall here on Saturday.
On the occasion, Mr.Hakeem also flagged a growing tendency to use the RTI Act unnecessarily. “Some use this law to intimidate government officials. On the other hand, some officials find loopholes not to provide the accurate documents in the government file. The public and government officials should not use the RTI Act to fight each other,” he said.
Out of 15 complaints received during a sitting of the State Information Commissioner here during the day, ten were resolved. The remaining five were adjourned for further action in the next sitting. The commissioner, meanwhile, directed the District Police Chief to take action against the officers of the Manimala police station who did not appear before the commission. He also directed the officials concerned to appear in person at the next sitting to be held at commission’s headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram on October 6.
