A section of RTI activists in Haryana have objected to an order of chief state information commissioner Vijai Vardhan in which he has ordered against phone calls to the personal staff of the state information commissioners about pending complaints or appeals. The RTI activists insist that the information commission should even set up a helpline to facilitate the appellants instead of asking them not to make calls to the personal staff of the state information commissioners. In an order which was communicated to the parties concerned recently, Vijai Vardhan said: “.all the complainants/appellants may also be advised not to make phone calls to the personal staff of the state information commissioners to furtively ferret out information about their pending complaints or appeals as the same tantamount to interfering in the functioning of the Commission. These instructions may be issued forthwith as in the past some complainants/ appellants have unfortunately been indulging in such undesirable behaviour. However, in case any complainant/ appellant wishes to communicate regarding his/ her complaint/ appeal, he/she may be advised to submit his/ her submission through e-mail at cic@hry.nic.in or ussichry@yahoo.co.in .” In his order, Vijay Vardhan, a former chief secretary of Haryana and retired IAS officer, also advised the registrar of the Commission to issue directions (and also upload the same on the website of the Commission) that henceforth “no appellant/ complainant shall call at the personal mobile numbers of any state information commission to pursue their complaints/appeals pending with the Commission”. The order passed on December 12, 2022, added: “It may also be mentioned in the advisory that no sms/whatsapp message shall be sent by the appellants/ complainants in pursuance of their appeals or complaints at the mobile phones of information commissioners as the same tantamount to harassing, badgering and pressurising Commission.” However, the RTI activists say the Commission should offer more ways to the appellants to find out status of their appeals as they approach the panel when they fail to get adequate information from the government officials or face negative attitude of the officials. According to the activists, sometimes some people particularly from rural areas are not well versed with the functioning of emails and in such cases there should not be any objection if they call the staff of the Commission. Haryana Soochna Adhikar Manch state coordinator Subhash says: “Sometime, an applicant is not able to know the status of an application for months whether his appeal has been accepted or not. In such scenarios, what is wrong if a person makes a call to the staffers of the Commission.” Haryana Soochna Adhikar Manch is a platform of RTI activists in the state. Subhash claims that as many as 5,000 activists are associated with their body. Subhash has also objected to the trend of appointing former bureaucrats as information commissioners for the state information commission.
