What should be the level of the PIO and FAA?
5 Dec, 2011
The debate about the seniority of the officers designated under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has been re-ignited with the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) has changing the level of the Public Information Officers and First Appellate Authority. Now the application shall be filed with the local administrators instead of the estate officers (EOs). Some activists have alleged that the step is retrograde as the applicants would have to approach the Chandigarh-based Chief Administrator of Huda instead of its local administrators in case they want to appeal against EOs. According to Huda, the change has been made to offload the burden from EOs, who carry out dual responsibility of handling development works as well as RTI applications.