Use of RTI in different areas by an educated youth
5 Apr, 2012
Mr. Harshvardhan Reddy, a young student of Pune-based MIT School of Government (MITSOG), has emerged as a prolific RTI user with over 300 RTI applications and over 200 first appeals within a short span of two years. Hailing from the Karni village in Mahabubnagar district in Andhra Pradesh, the 20-year-old engineering student first used the Right to Information (RTI) Act when he filed an application against the delay in the processing of his passport application for over two years.
The RTI applications filed by him includes those against withholding loan applications of farmers, not issuing birth certificates, land record statements, passbooks, title deeds of land etc. The public authorities include the public sector banks, rural water supply office, revenue divisional office, district supply office for rice meals, ESI office, pollution control office, district water management agency, food inspector office, zilla parishad, district collectorate office and the revenue department.
He has claimed a 90% success rate, which includes 60% after direct application and 30% after first appeal.