After receiving several complaints from RTI applicants, M M Kutty,principal secretary,Delhi government,has written to top officials of government agencies,asking them to take the Right to Information Act seriously. In his letter,Kutty urged senior bureaucrats to follow Right to Information in letter and spirit. A number of complaints of delayed responses to RTI applications have been received, the letter stated. Kutty said there were complaints of officials not sending RTI applications to relevant departments. A senior official,who had received the letter,said,Due to various reasons,officials have started taking RTI replies lightly. Most of them keep sending files from one department to another and tell the applicant that the file had been sent to other departments. Many officials have avoided taking responsibility. The RTI Act has to be followed to keep the working of the government transparent. Delay in sending a reply can betray the purpose of the Act, Kutty stated in his letter. He asked secretaries and commissioners to ensure that pending RTI pleas are cleared as early as possible.
