Break-up info to be submitted before Nov 20: SIC

Tirupati, Nov 11 (UNI) State Information Commissioner C D Arha after a review of the Right to Information Act (RTI) today cautioned the officials concerned that stern action would be taken against them if they fail to send break-up information to the State Information Commission before November 20.

Briefing mediapersons after a review of the Act with the officials of Chittoor and Nellore districts here, Mr Arha expressed satisfaction over cooperation from all quarters for the implementation of Right to Information (RTI) Act and the rural people had made an increased use of the Act, if statistics of the last two years were taken into consideration.

RTI Act is an instrument for the common man to know about the governance but one should ensure that it isn't misused, he said.

As compared to other states, Andhra Pradesh stood first in making maximum use of the Act, he said the geographical spread of people seeking information under the RTI Act was 43.48 per cent in coastal Andhra, 42.47 per cent in Telangana and only 14.05 per cent in Rayalaseema region.

The periodical reviews on performance of the Act had already been conducted at Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam, Vizianagara, East Godavari, Vijayawada and Guntur, he said adding that the next review meeting will be held at Kurnool and later at Hyderabad.

The Commission has received 20,019 complaints or appeals and out of which 17,276 were solved and remaining 2,743 are in various stages, he informed.

Earlier, Mr Arha and Information Commissioners R Dileep Reddy, Ambati Subba Rao and K Sudhakara Rao, have reviewed the implementation of the Act here with the officials from two districts including Chittoor district Collector Ravi Chandra and Superintedent of police Lakshmireddy and several other officials.

Mr Dileep Reddy observed that most of the applications received were related to revenue, education, Panchayati Raj, municipal administration and such departments, which deals with public regularly.

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