RTI Act can’t redress complaints

NEW DELHI .  As a consumer, can I use the Right to Information Act to get redress? How do I use the Act effectively as a consumer?
 
The Right to Information Act gives you, as a citizen, the right to seek and get information from a public authority. The Right to Information Act is not meant to provide redress of your grievance or complaint, so you cannot use it for that purpose.
 
However, the RTI Act can give you crucial information that will take you towards redress of your grievance or help you with important information that will strengthen your case before the consumer court.
 
Let’s say you want to lodge a complaint (before the consumer court or any other court) against the civic authority for supplying contaminated water, unfit or unsafe for consumption. You can then use the RTI to get some basic information to support your contention that the water supply authority is negligent in its service. For this, you can seek specific information from the authority on the water purification procedure adopted, the standard practices followed (or not followed), the periodicity of testing the water, the results of such tests, the water-storage facilities, the frequency of inspection of the facility, inspection reports, the age and location of the pipes used for supplying water, complaints against water received by the authority, their response, etc. In other words, you can make out a case of negligence on the basis of the information collected through the RTI and seek compensation, through the consumer courts, for any suffering caused to you or your family on account of supply of contaminated water. You can also use this to seek a general direction from the court to the water supply authority to provide only clean, safe and potable water.,
 
Similarly, if you want to hold the power supply undertaking accountable for the damage caused to electric and electronic gadgets in your house on account of steep voltage fluctuations in the power supply, you can get through RTI, all the basic information that you will need to prove the steep fluctuations and the reasons for it too.
 
Take road repair work, as another example. Through the RTI, you can get information on the contractor who was entrusted with the job of repairing the road in your locality, the amount of money given to him, the terms of the contract pertaining to the quality of repair work and maintenance, etc. Using this, you or a group of consumers or citizens or the Residents Associations in your locality can hold the contractor and the civic authority accountable for the poor quality of repair work.
 
In short, information is power and you can acquire that power through the RTI. The basic objective of the RTI Act is to promote transparency and accountability in the working of the government, thereby curbing corrupt practices and thereby increasing efficiency.
 
What is the procedure for filing an application? Do I have to pay for the information?
 
The procedure is quite simple-depending on what information you require, you need to make your request in writing to the designated Public Information Officer (PIO), accompanied by a postal order or a demand draft for Rs 10 towards the fee. You can also pay the amount in cash to the Accounts Officer or the Assistant Public Information Officer. Your application can be sent through post or through electronic means or through the Assistant PIO. It can also be handed over personally. If you are seeking information from any of the Central Government departments, you can even pay the fee online through a credit or a debit card and file the application too online through the portal: :http://rtionline.gov.in You can also see on this portal, the status of your application.
 
You can get the name of the PIO to whom the application should be addressed, from the portal of the public authority from whom you are seeking the information.
 
The public authorities have designated some of their officers as Public Information Officers (PIO) and the PIO has to give the information within 30 days of receipt of the application (within 48 hours in case it pertains to life or liberty). If the information is not received within that time or if the information received is unsatisfactory, of if the request is rejected for some reason, one can file an appeal before the First Appellate Authority, within 30 days of the expiry of the time limit for sending the information by the PIO or within 30 days of receiving the information. The second appeal, if necessary, lies with the Central Information Commissioner. You can get all the information pertaining to the RTI on these websites: http://indiaimage.nic.in or www.rti.gov.in or http://cic.gov.in or rti.india.gov.in