Deputy Commissioner, T. Venkatesh, said recently that officers had to respond to applications filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act within the stipulated period.
He was speaking at a training programme on consumer awareness for officers of various government departments including Food and Civil Supplies and District Consumer Information Centre, here.
Mr. Venkatesh said it was incumbent on officials to give whatever information they had, when an application was filed under RTI Act. If they were not available to give the reply, they should specify the reasons whey they could not do so. If not, they would have to face action from the Karnataka Information Commission.
Sakala was another important programme, which the officials should be aware of. They had to provide services under Sakala within the stipulated time. Udupi district was already standing second in the State in the implementation of Sakala.
‘Create awareness’
It was essential that even people were made aware of consumer rights. There were usually complaints of measuring weights used in the shops, Mr. Venkatesh said.
Priyanka Mary Francis, CEO of zilla panchayat, said there was no dearth of rules and regulations. The challenge lay in implementing them effectively. It was essential that case workers in the government departments had knowledge about RTI Act.
Even cooked food given during midday meals in schools had to be checked for quality. It was necessary to work out a process to check this food and the accessibility to labs, she said.
S. Yogishwar, Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies, welcomed the gathering. Dinakar Babu, President of Zilla Panchayat, presided over the function. Veena, Child Development Project Officer, proposed a vote of thanks.
