Bhubaneswar: Odisha based activist Akhand has created a national record and entered the Limca Book of Records for receiving the highest number of replies from a single organisation on a Right to Information (RTI) application regarding Internal Complaint Committees (ICC) to deal with sexual harassment cases at workplace for women.
Akhand had filed a petition under the Right to Information Act, 2005 with the Department of Posts of Government of India on January 22, 2016 asking whether ICC has been formed at various divisions of the Department as per Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
In less than three months between February-April 2016, he received 333 replies from the Department, making it the highest number of replies received from a single organisation on an RTI petition.
He had also filled RTI application for the same matter with the Home Ministry, Defense Ministry, Railways, External Affairs Ministry and Department of Women and Child under Government of India and Higher Education, Mass Education, Home, Health departments of Odisha Government. But he got the maximum number of replies from the department of posts.
“After filling of RTI application, many public offices became aware of such committees and formed the same. Almost all the Public Information Officer had provided information,” said Akhand in his reaction after entering the Limca Book of Records for the 2017 edition.
“It sensitises the Public authority to provide as much information as they can for transparency to the applicant,” he added.
Akhand, who has been working in the field of human rights for the last one decade, uses RTI as a tool for his works.
Ms Kalinga