Jamshedpur, Oct. 12: The Jharkhand Human Rights Conference (JHRC) has expressed its concern over the poor implementation of the Right to Information Act in the East Singhbhum district and has demanded a panel to monitor it.

The JHRC members today staged a dharna in front of the deputy commissioner’s office in support of their demands. The members handed over a memorandum to the DC and a copy has also been sent to the chief information commissioner.

“The RTI Act is yet to be implemented properly in East Singhbhum district even after one year of its enactment. Information officers are not making any efforts to provide guidelines to the common people,” said JHRC national president Manoj Mishra.

The memorandum submitted to the deputy commissioner says: “In many of the cases, even applications are not being submitted in the office. The applications are accepted only after the recommendation of the information officer, which is in violation of the spirit of the Act. This means that only those applications will be accepted which do not go against the officer and about whom the officer is comfortable.”

In many cases, half or incomplete information is provided to the applicant, which causes confusion, the memorandum said. Many government staff lack proper information about the Act and its details.

As a result, common people are not being able to take its advantage, it said, and added that it would launch awareness programmes on the issue. Mishra has demanded that all the officers and staff be given proper counselling about the Act for the benefit of the masses.