The prestigious Central Information Commission (CIC) annual convention in New Delhi in October witnessed Pune becoming a role model for some of its resolutions. Pune is the first city in the country to make a library for RTI. This is located in the Pune Municipal Corporation building and was the brainchild of leading RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar. Open Days in government offices is also a unique feature of Pune. Again thanks to Mr Kumbhar and other activists, the Pune Municipal Corporation keeps all its departments open for inspection of files under Section 4 of the RTI Act every Monday, between 3pm and 5 pm. The Pune Collector’s office is also open for such inspection every Friday. Also, State Information Commissioner Vijay Kuvalekar’s special initiative wherein he brings together the applicant, PIO as well as the first appellate authority for quicker disposal of appeals was well appreciated. The CIC Convention decided to adopt all these three unique practices in other parts of the country.
Sharad Phadke: He suffered a loss of Rs1,000 when he put in his ATM card to withdraw money. He did not get the cash, but the amount was debited from his account. He used the RTI to demand information regarding action taken against the bank officer who did not credit Rs1,000 to his bank account within the mandatory 12 days period as per the Reserve Bank of India rules. Mr Phadke also asked for information about the penalty which the bank had to pay him at the rate of Rs100 per day, for delay in not resolving the issue within 12 days. Bank of India, where Mr Phadke had account, subsequently was compelled to pay the penalty of Rs6,500 for a delay of 65 days. Mr Phadke did not stop at that. Stating that thousands of customers would be going through such harassment of banks, he has been filing RTI against several banks seeking information on the amount of penalty paid by them in such cases. The RBI has now reduced the number of days to 6 for crediting the wrongly debited amount beyond which the concerned bank has to pay the penalty of Rs100 per day to the customer. A couple of banks have installed software wherein the customer’s money gets automatically credited instantly in case of such faulty debit transaction from the customer’s bank account. All this was possible thanks to Mr Phadke’s tenacious campaign.
Moneylife
