The challenges of filing RTI petitions online

The Hindu

2 days ago

Every time 20-year-old Ahil Adithyaa drives from Mahindra World City in Chengalpattu where he lives, he has to pay up at Paranur toll plaza. The reluctance with which Ahil hands out the cash is understandable.
'Residents staying within a five-kilometre radius are eligible for exemption from toll fee payment and I live within a two-kilometre radius from the plaza,' says Ahil, a student of a college in Potheri.
The youngster has also heard that the lease period of the toll plaza has run its course. Keen on getting the details about this, Ahil, who recently attended a Right to Information (RTI) workshop conducted by Tambaram Makkal Kuzhu, made a postal application with the Chengalpattu taluk office.
Though the digital native would have preferred to make the application online, the traditional snail mail is being used for various reasons including the lack of a mechanism at various government departments at the state and district level.
Although any digital submission is supposed to make things easier and faster, the State Government's RTI site would leave any user frustrated.
The home page of rtionline.tn.gov.in constantly 'alerts' users with a message that reads: 'Petitions and First Appeals addressed to the departments of Secretariat may be entered here. Action is being taken to extend this facility to the Heads of Departments, District Offices and the offices down below, in a phased manner.'
It further adds, 'RTI petitions relating to the offices where the facility has been implemented can be sent through this portal and the petitions and appeals relating to the offices wherein this facility has not yet been implemented may be sent manually to those offices at present and not to file those petitions in this web portal.'
Slow digital adoption
B. Savadamuthu, who conducts free online RTI workshops for Chennai-based Nallore Vattam every Monday, says digital platform for RTI applications in Tamil Nadu has a long way to go.
'On July 4, 2024 based on many representations I made, the Commissioner of Revenue Administration communicated to all districts collectors to accept online applications and create 'credentials' for the public information officer (PIO) handling the department,' says Savadamuthu, who retired as an executive from a public sector bank and also served as PIO and appellate authority for RTI.
In the last one year, Savadamuthu has filed many RTIs to find the number of applications that were answered online and only four districts responded.
While no department will refuse to accept applications online, this process is complete only when a credential is also created for the PIO. 'A government office may have at least 10 departments and for every PIO they need to create a user name and password so that a petitioner can address him/her directly. This ensures faster response,' he says. Besides reduction in cost and time, the chances of digital submissions going missing are low.
'We encourage citizens to opt for digital submission, but many departments are yet to make the process easy for citizens,' he says.
Experts on how to draft a compelling plea
Saroja Sundaram, executive director of the Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG), says among what ought to be kept in mind while drafting an RTI application are specificity and conciseness. 'Questions should be targeted. One question could be broken into multiple ones to avoid ambiguity and make it easy for the department to respond. If you are asking information about an infrastructure try to give as many details as possible otherwise the answer would be yes/no. You can also give a table and list the details you need as some departments give information in the format that we ask for,' says Saroja adding that CAG had conducted awareness workshops in the past.
V. Santhanam, who has filed close to 2000 RTI applications, says one must know the functions of the department before filing a petition. 'If residents in a street want to get answers to an infrastructure work I ask a group of people from the area to file the RTI, so the department is forced to give answers,' says Santhanam.
Youngsters need to come forward to file RTIs and they could start with small issues concerning their neighbourhood.
'For instance, the ration shop in your neighbourhood is not stocking various items. One can file an RTI to understand how the system works, where the questions could range from the population the ration shop covers to how many kilos of certain items a household is entitled to,' adds Saroja.
They conduct free RTI workshops
Tambaram Makkal Kuzhu (Tambaram People's Forum), a civic organisation, conducted its first RTI workshop in June and plans to conduct them periodically. Two RTI activists addressed the participants on how to draft RTI questions. C.R. Bharathi Kannan of the Forum says a majority of the participants for the first workshop were students. He says they also plan to conduct follow-up meetings to help people with any nagging questions they might have.
The next workshop will be held on a weekend at Thagai Community Centre in Tambaram. Those keen on being part of the workshop can call 9498488645/ 9986316106.
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For close to a year now, Nalloorvattam has been conducting online sessions on RTI every Monday at 7.30 p.m. An average of 15-20 people attend these sessions conducted in Tamil and English for people from across Tamil Nadu. The main focus at these workshops is to train participants on submitting an application digitally. Interested participants are required to share details such as name, email ID and residential address to get the link to the meetings. Depending on requests, these workshops are sometimes conducted offline as well. For details, call 89034 32714.
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Over the last three years, Arappor Iyakkam has conducted at least 100 workshops to educate people on how to file an RTI. The workshops cover aspects such as how to frame RTI questions, ways to address the authorities and how to go on an appeal. An extension of this initiative is the 'My vote Is Not For Sale' campaign; the pilot programme has spread to various districts in Tamil Nadu. Currently, in Chennai its workshops are held once in three months. Interested persons can either write to [e-mail] or call 7200020099 to know about the upcoming sessions.
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Chitlapakkam Rising conducts these awareness sessions periodically. The citizens group is planning one in September. In 2022, during one such workshop, they brought active RTI champions from Chennai to speak to the participants. They included social activist from Chromepet V. Santhanam; banker Perulli Viswanathan; activist Kasi Mayan; civil engineers R. Pandiraja and Dayanand Krishnan.
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Social activist and Chromepet resident V. Santhanam is invited by many institutions to conduct awareness workshops where he shares his experiences and the various battles won by filing an RTI. He also conducts them for small groups of two to five. Those who are interested may call 9444254850.