MPs, MLAs or councillors can’t ignore you now

You were promised a school or a drinking water connection by the MP or MLA in your area. Now, you want to know whether the school is coming up at all or how soon the water connection will be up, but can’t get across to the MP or MLA for that information.
Now, thanks to a directive from the Central Information Commission (CIC), that information will be supplied to you. The CIC has directed the parliament secretariat, all legislative assemblies and municipal authorities to to accept people’s applications under the Right To Information (RTI) Act and answer their queries. Though MPs, MLAs and councillors aren’t ‘public authority’ as understood under the RTI, the bodies they represent on behalf of the people are liable to answer queries about any development work that was expected of them in the constituency.

This directive comes in the wake of a group of appeals filed by people who failed to get any response from Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other lawmakers on development work in their constituencies. In 2007, one AwdheshMishrahad written to Rahul Gandhi asking him whether he had sent his recommendations about assistance to NGOs to the ministries concerned. When he didn’t get a reply, Mishra went to the Lok Sabha speaker, asking that Gandhi comply with the RTI. The Lok Sabha secretariat said the MP isn’t a ‘public authority’ under the law.

Then Girish Mishra, a lawyer, sought an appointment with Ms Gandhi over a plan to root out corruption. He didn’t get a reply, so he invoked the RTI. Later, one Radhey Sham approached the CIC saying, “Sir, under the law for public welfare, kindly direct or order Sonia Gandhi to supply the information.” He had requested Ms Gandhi for an appointment in October 2007 but didn’t a reply.

To determine whether elected representatives are covered under RTI, the CIC consulted attorney-general Goolam E Vahanvati and senior lawyers. According to the CIC, MPs, MLAs, councillors or members of panchayats are not public authorities, but, the organisations and committees in which they fulfil their obligations are and information on the work promised by elected representatives should be accessible to people under RTI.