Hans News Service Vijayawada

Statechief information commissioner Sajja Srinivasa Rao made it clear that the provisions of Section 4(1)(b) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act must be implemented in every government office without exception, warning that any negligence in enforcing the law will not be tolerated.

He conducted surprise inspections at several government offices in Gollapudi in Vijayawada Rural on Friday to review the implementation of the RTI Act. He visited the office of the commissioner of the endowments department, Gollapudi gram panchayat office, Directorate of Prosecutions and the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) office on Bandar Road.

During the inspections, he reviewed the implementation of RTI provisions, examined RTI registers, records, and the information systems maintained for citizens, and issued necessary instructions to the officials concerned.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief information commissioner said the inspections were aimed at assessing how effectively the RTI Act is being implemented in government offices.

He noted that the commission has been receiving a large number of complaints in recent months alleging poor implementation of RTI rules in various government departments across the state. Among the common deficiencies identified were the absence of display boards carrying the details of Public Information Officers (PIOs) and First Appellate Authorities, and the failure to display job charts and citizen charters.

To address these shortcomings, the State Information Commission has launched a special monitoring drive. As part of the initiative, each Information Commissioner has been assigned responsibility for two districts and directed to conduct surprise inspections of government offices.

Srinivasa Rao said the primary objective of these inspections is to improve awareness of the RTI Act and ensure its transparent and effective implementation. He warned that strict action would be taken under the law against officials if inspections reveal negligence, dereliction of duty, or violations of RTI provisions.

Endowments commissioner K Ramachandra Mohan briefed the chief information commissioner on the implementation of the RTI Act in the endowments department.

After examining the records and information presented by officials of the Gollapudi gram panchayat, Directorate of Prosecutions and APPSC, the chief information commissioner expressed satisfaction with the overall implementation.

APPSC chairman Prof C Shashidhar, secretary Pattamsetti Ravi Subhash, Gollapudi panchayat secretary Chintalamma, public information officer V V S K Prasad of the endowments department, joint commissioner Ratna Raju and officials from the concerned departments were present during the inspections.