KATHMANDU: Various stakeholders, including federal parliamentarians have expressed concerns over the low number of citizens using their right to information.
In today's meeting of the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee under the House of Representatives (HoR), Chief Information Commission of the National Information Commission (NIC) Mahendraman Gurung said it was a challenge for the NIC to reach out RTI awareness to the citizens' level.
He said the RTI implementation was a challenge as it was not possible to control corruption, maintain accountability and increase transparency until the citizens themselves asked for information.
In a discussion on the NIC's role, problems and challenges for citizens' access to information, the committee members drew the attention of the to develop a mechanism to trickle down RTI knowledge to the citizens.
The committee members stressed the need for the public bodies to be open, transparent and accountable and disseminate information to maintain good governance.
On the occasion, committee member Dr Toshima Karki drew the government's attention to the need for setting up a mechanism to inform the citizens about their right to information. She said that the citizens should be informed about the necessary procedures to be followed to get information.
Another member Ishwori Gharti underlined the need for all citizens to seek information from public bodies.
Likewise, committee member Devendra Poudel cautioned against widespread misinformation among the citizens as they did not access to information from the official bodies on time. "Misinformation and news are going viral. On the other hand, people from far-flung areas are not getting information", lawmaker Poudel said.
Chief Commissioner Gurung said that the right to information has not reached especially among women and backward classes. He said lack of adequate budget was hampering the fulfilment of its duties and responsibilities.
He demanded the committee to make adequate budgetary provision to expand the scope of the commission.
Gurung also drew the attention to the reluctance in terms of classification of information, lack of willingness in RTI mainstreaming and low budgetary allocation.
The NIC has been insisting that candidates should be allowed to see their marks of the examination published by the Public Service Commission. The Information Commission has already issued an order for this.
According to the NIC, 96.7 per cent or 10,274 appeals have been settled so far. Similarly, 72 percent of the appeals have been received from the local level, it was shared on the occasion.
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