Tripura launches RTI website

Agartala, Jan. 8 : To facilitate prompt filing of complaints, hearing and disposal of cases under the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005, the state information commission of Tripura has launched a website — www.rtitripura.nic.in.

The outgoing chief information commissioner, B.K. Chakraborty, said this today while interacting with the media at the state information commission’s office.

“I do not know whether the process of filing complaints and disposal of cases online has been introduced anywhere else, but we have done it in Tripura, and I consider it one of the biggest achievements of the state information commission during its tenure of five years,” he added.

Chakraborty said though the RTI Act had received presidential assent on June 19, 2005, it became operational in Tripura from January 19, 2006, after framing of rules.

During the past five years, 20,000 applications seeking information had been filed with state government departments and a vast ma-jority of them had been answered at the departmental level.

“The state commission had received 302 complaints against errant departmental authorities and altogether 151 second appeals, of which 431 have been disposed of. We have also imposed fines on six government officials,” Chakraborty said.

The commission is about to be reconstituted. A final decision will be taken at a high level meeting on Tuesday.

It will be attended by the top brass of the state, including chief minister Manik Sarkar and leader of Opposition Ratanlal Nath.