DK government departments have not indexed their records – RTI activist Prakash Bhat

DK government departments have not indexed their records – RTI activist Prakash Bhat

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Nov 10, 2011: Delivering a talk on the Right to Information Act (RTI) of 2005, RTI activist Prakash Bhat said that no government department in DK has indexed its records fully. The talk was organized by Lions Club Cauvery in Mangalore, the district coordinator of RTI, and Issues and Concerns Magazine.

Speaking further, Mr. Bhat said that he had been fighting against officials in the tahsildar’s office for the past 2 years on this issue and that the case is now pending in court.

Revealing information regarding the indexing of records, he said that it is specified under Section 4(1) (a) and (b) and enables the public to know what sort of information is available. Stating that the deadline to index records ended a long time back, he said that records need to be indexed and a name and a number should be given to each file. Moreover, the indexed records need to be updated every December, he added.

He even suggested that the indexing might have been delayed deliberately.

Further, he said that the above-mentioned section makes it mandatory for government departments to disclose information such as the names of public information officers, appellate authorities, department assets, officers’ salaries, vehicle and vehicle driver details, vacant posts, bank account number of the department, government funds granted and their expenditure.

Mr. Bhat also said that, even though officials claimed that certain records were lost and even though FIRs were registered following court directives, the police merely maintained that records are maintained, but files are lost. He also informed that a law has been passed to penalize officers who lost records during their terms. 

B. R. Bhat, the GM of Corporation Bank, and J. K. Rao, the previous president of IMM, were also present.