20 policemen guard KIC office! At Rs 15 lakh to exchequer

Y Maheswara Reddy | NT

It seems Karnataka Information Commission (KIC) keeps hitting the headlines for all wrong reasons. The KIC was in the news for its inability to clear around 30,000 applications during the last year. Now, the KIC is in the news for having posted around 20 policemen at its premises and restricting visitors.

The visitors, most of them are Right To Information (RTI) activists or applicants, complain that around 10 policemen are posted at the Karnataka Information Commission entrance and they have become a hurdle for them.

“I do not know why the authorities concerned have posted such a number of policemen, instead of putting them on law and order duty, at the KIC office. It is not only under utilising the services of policemen but also making RTI applicants feel uneasy while entering the KIC office,’’ said a RTI applicant on a condition of anonymity.

Coming down heavily on police authorities and KIC chairmen for wasting tax-payers’ money by posting around 20 policemen at the KIC office, Veeresh BH, a RTI activist has said that even Sessions Court Judges have no armed guards. “There are 10 Information Commissioners and each of them is provided with an armed guard. There are about 10 policemen at the KIC entrance. The salaries for these policemen may be around Rs 15 lakh per month. Whose money is this?’’ asks Veeresh.

He recalled an unpleasant incident that took place a few days ago at the KIC premises. “One of the RTI activists has sought information from the Governor’s Office but in vain. He filed an appeal with the Information Commissioner. I wanted to accompany him but the police stopped us at the entrance and asked many irrelevant questions. I am of the opinion that there is no need for such a large number of policemen at the KIC office where applicants sought the help of Information Commissioners to direct the negligent government officials to provide information to the RTI applicants,’’ he said.

Speaking with the News Trail, HM Venkatesh, who filed an application seeking information from the Governor’s office under the RTI Act, has said the Chief Information Commissioner was not aware of the deployment of police at the KIC entrance.

“I had filed an appeal with the Information Commissioner directing the Governor’s Office to provide information sought by me. I and other RTI applicants were asked to wait outside the KIC office as there is no sufficient space to accommodate all the visitors and applicants,’’ said Venkatesh.

He said that the Chief Information Commissioner had assured him to look into the matter.

It is learnt that a complaint has been lodged with Karnataka State Human Rights Commission against deployment of policemen at the KIC office premises.