rti act gives a time of one month to pio to give the information which i think is too much in foreign countries the required informatin is provided within two days in india the time limit should be maximum 7 days this suggestion should be taken up with concerned oqaters the process in india is very slow  the mental block is very much evident most of the pio or petty officals or higher officers donot want to give the information under one pretext or the other pio needs through traing only efficent dedicated and commited officer should be appionted

If you know the details of official vehicles sanctioned to ministers, politicians and bureaucrats, you will jeopardize their physical safety! This is not a wild assumption, but a response advanced by Motor Garages Department to a Right to Information (RTI) activist in Kashmir. Given the wanton misuse of official vehicles by the families of ministers, politicians and bureaucrats, Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat convener of Jammu and Kashmir Right To Information Movement had sought number of official vehicles attached with ministers and IAS officers in the State. Besides, Dr Bhat had asked for a list of ministers, politicians and IAS officers with name, designation and the number of vehicles allotted with each. In its response to Dr Bhat’s application, Director General State Motor Garages Department vide letter number RCD-794/5301-02 has said: “The information sought can not be provided to the applicant as it will jeopardise the physical safety of the concerned ministers and others in view of the security scenario of the State.” With the mundane excuse “security scenario of the State” the department has informed the applicant that his application is rejected. “You are at liberty to prefer appeal against this order before the Commissioner/Secretary to government Transport Department within a period of 30 days,” reads the reply given by Director General State Motor Garages Department.

rti act is now four years old what it is still a tabu for most the govt officalseither the information is denied on one pretext or the otherthe time limit for providing information is 30 days  what it is deliberately not providedor provided on the last day or incompelete of incoorrect or misleading information is providedon last day the babus in offices needs to be punshied more traning is needed the information should be provided within 5 day  heavy fine should be imposed on pio or public authority appelate atuhority should also be held resposible for that

Justification sought for absence of teachers’ attendance records, ethics questioned

Chandigarh
September 13, 2009

What is the justification for not having an attendance system for marking daily attendance of the PU’s teaching faculty when the non-teaching employees in the same university are made to mark an attendance daily? Do you think teachers are above other employees in the university?

Why the teaching faculty of Panjab University is reluctant to mark daily attendance? Do PU teachers think it beneath their dignity to sign an attendance register daily? Do PU teachers care about the complaints by students that many teachers do not take classes regularly?

These are some of the questions posed to the PU Vice-Chancellor R.C. Sobti and Punjab University Teachers’ Association president Professor Manjit Singh by members of RTI Users Chandigarh in an open letter sent to them yesterday.

Panjab University, replying to an RTI application filed by a former PU scholar Dr Manpreet Singh, had last month admitted that it did not follow the practice of marking its teaching faculty’s daily attendance and therefore no records of teachers’ attendance were maintained. No system was in place to monitor teachers’ presence in their respective departments, the RTI reply had revealed.

The open letter to the VC, citing media reports of PUTA seeking more incentives like teachers’ promotion, house renovation and higher medical benefits for the teachers, stated: “Isn’t it shocking that the third of global poor live in India. 42 per cent of Indians lived below the international poverty line of Rs. 21.6 a day in urban areas and Rs 14.3 in rural areas. And, the Panjab University teachers, the chosen ones, earn thousands in a day, but still don’t seem content enough.”

The open letter questioned: “How could the PU teachers pressurize for all these incentives when they don’t even care to fulfill the basic requirement of any job world over, that is, to mark their attendance daily as they report for work?

“It is shocking, both morally and professionally, that teachers are reluctant to mark daily attendance and the Vice Chancellor is mum about the issue. The students continue to be at the receiving end and the university is losing its reputation,” said Dr Manpreet Singh.

The open letter for PUTA’s president Professor Manjit Singh questioned: “Don’t you think that the absence of a system to mark and monitor teachers’ attendance is being exploited by some ‘black sheep’ from the teacher’ community in the university? Do PU teachers care about the complaints by students that many teachers do not take classes regularly?”

Calling the absence of any system to mark teachers’ attendance in the Panjab University a mockery of the basic professional and ethical standards in the university, an RTI activist Dr W. Ibomcha Singh, former scholar of PU’s Department of History, said: “The teachers and the PU authorities must do some soul searching on this serious issue of teachers’ attendance. The teachers must show in their deeds that they can be the role models for the students and the society. Parroting high ideologies while doing the opposite brings bad name to the Panjab University’s academia.”

The RTI Users hoped that teachers would listen to their conscience and voluntarily start marking daily attendance on high moral and ethical grounds, just like the Supreme Court judges recently decided to make public their assets.