Unusual Use of RTI Act:Interesting

Today I came across an interesting news in a Marathi newspaper.It was about an unusual RTI request made to Pune collector office by an applicant below poverty line.

Govt of Maharashtra has started citizen services delivery via single window through SETU scheme some 5 years back.These SETU center are located at each Tehsildar and collector offices across all districts of Maharashtra.Citizens can get the services and certificates like caste certificate,domicile certificate,income certificate etc etc through these centers.

This particular applicant in Pune filed an RTI to collector office Pune and requested the entire data and the supporting documentation of ALL SUCH SETU applications made by citizens at Pune SETU office in last 5 years!!!Please note that a typical such application for example one for caste certificate requires supporting documentation of at least 10 pages!..

In one day a typical SETU center receives minimum 50-60 such applications..and more when there is a heavy demand for certificates in June-August period when schools and colleges do ask for such certificates for admissions.So one can imagine ,what will be the number of pages collected in 5 years.....

So collector office calculated the cost of giving such information which came to Rs.13.5 Lakhs!!..However the real problem came when administartion filed the reply to the applicant.Generally,the applicant has to pay Rs 2 per page of information,but as per the RTI act,applicants below poverty line are to be provided the information free of cost...

So now collector office is in a fix and has requested for special aid to Govt for making this information available.

Such incidences also show that the act has been grossly misused and its effect is diluted.
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आय टी चे मृगजळ : काय सत्य काय असत्य !! मराठी पालकांनी करावे तरी काय ?

( प्रस्तुत लेखक स्वतः एका बहुराष्ट्रीय आय टी कम्पनी मध्ये कार्यरत असून ,या क्षेत्राचा १५ वर्षे अनुभव आहे .लेखात व्यक्त केलेली मते वैयक्तिक आहेत. काही मुद्दे कठोर भाषेत मांडले आहेत .यात कुठल्याही व्यवसायाचा अथवा व्यावसायिकाचा वैयक्तिक उपमर्द करण्याचा हेतू नाही .आपल्या मुलाला अथवा मुलीला "आय टी " क्षेत्रात पाठवायला बघत असाल तर नक्कीच वाचा आणि आपल्या पाल्याला वाचायला द्या .लेखाचा विषय तांत्रिक असल्याने जिकडे योग्य मराठी प्रमाण प्रतिशब्द मिळाले नाहीत तिकडे मूळ तांत्रिक संज्ञा वापरल्या आहेत ) आय टी चे मृगजळ : काय सत्य काय असत्य सध्या वर्तमानपत्र उघडले की आय टी क्षेत्रात मंदी आहे आणि हजारो लोकांचे रोजगार जाणार अश्या बातम्या दिसतात . अमेरिकेने आणि इतर देशांनी व्हिसा चे नियम कडक केले असल्याने भारतीय आय टी प्रोफेशनल्स च्या बऱ्याच संधी जाणार अशी ओरड सुद्धा दिसते . या दोन्ही मुद्द्यात नक्कीच तथ्य आहे .पण यासाठी सरसकट आय टी कम्पन्यांना किंवा अमेरिकन सरकार ला व्हिलन बनविण्याआधी काही बाबींचा सर्वांगीण परामर्श घेणे गरजेचे आहे .आपल्या आय टी क्षेत्रा बद्दलच्या क...

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