Govt officials' willingness must for RTI to be effective

Government officials, as service providers,  should willingly and proactively disseminate development work related information to the general public to strengthen democracy and good governance, a discussion was told yesterday.

Top administration and law enforcement officers of Dhaka district made the observation, speaking on International Right to Know Day at the Dhaka Deputy Commissioner's (DC) office.

They discussed implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2009.

Tanvir Mohammad Azim, executive magistrate of Dhaka, said the DC office received 22 RTI applications this year, and all were answered within the stipulated time of 20 days. The Dhaka DC office received 15 applications in 2013 and 43 in 2014, said office sources.

"Public servants have failed to open up," said Monirul Islam, additional superintendent of police of Dhaka. He also said government websites were not updated.

Md Tayub Ali, deputy director of the district information office, said since junior officers were designated to provide information, they feared that their seniors might not permit dissemination of certain information.

Citing an example of government officials seeking information about their retirement benefits, Md Jasimuddin, additional district commissioner (general), Dhaka, said those on the giving end of information would soon find themselves on the receiving end.

According to the Information Commission's Annual Report 2014, 8,315 and 127 RTI applications were made to the government and NGO offices that year. Out of them 7,870 were provided with information, 542 were not answered, and 30 were still under the process of being answered.

Information Commissioner Nepal Chandra Sarker told The Daily Star over the phone that government offices often did not provide information in stipulated time because either the data were not preserved properly or people did not apply in proper manners. Yet RTI act's implementation is better in Bangladesh compared to most South Asian countries, except India, he said.

Ruhi Naz, senior programme officer of the Research Initiatives Bangladesh, said, "Initially it was mostly people from the less-privileged class who used the RTI to know about their pensions or social safety net entitlements, but since 2013 more and more applications have been submitted by conscious citizens asking questions relating to governance." While she voiced optimism about the increased use of the act, Transparency International Bangladesh expressed concern about laws running counter to the RTI act.

In a statement, the TIB chief said, "The National Broadcasting Regulation, Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act, and the draft Cyber Act have lots of contents that might constrain free flow of information and freedom of expression."