TN police stns don't have PIOs as stipulated

CHENNAI: Police stations in Tamil Nadu still don't have public information officers or assistant public information officers as stipulated under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, which was enacted on June 15, 2005.
While the Act stipulated that every department should designate PIOs and APIOs in "all their administrative units" by 2005 itself, the police department in its reply on May 10, 2011, to an RTI application by this correspondent said it did not appoint PIOs and APIOs at police station-level.
In Chennai city, PIOs exist only at the Commissionerate, Central Crime Branch, Armed Reserve, motor transport division, intelligence section and, north, south and central divisions of traffic and at police district-levels at Washermenpet, Pulianthope, Flower Bazaar, Anna Nagar, Kilpauk, Triplicane, Mylapore, Adyar and T Nagar, the RTI reply said. There is no one at the 89 police stations.
In other cities in the state, the deputy commissioner of police (headquarters) concerned is designated as PIO. At the district-level, additional superintendents of police (crime) do the task, according to the RTI reply.
Presently, Tamil Nadu has about 800 police stations.
Since the Act says information relating to life and liberty should be given within 48 hours (while the time frame is 30 days for providing other information) to the applicants, RTI campaigners want PIOs appointed at the police station-level so that people can file RTI applications at the local station and get information without delay.
Former Tamil Nadu chief information commissioner S Ramakrishnan told The Times of India that the commission in 2009 passed an order directing the police department to have a PIO or APIO at all police stations. The department also informed the commission that it had designated "writers" at the police stations as APIOs and the respective deputy commissioners of police as PIOs, he said.
"We have reiterated it in two to three appeals that every government office including police stations and even offices like village administrative office should have a PIO," Ramakrishnan added.
Section 5(1) of the RTI Act says, "every public authority shall, within 100 days of the commencement of this Act, designate as many officers as Central Public Information Officers or State Public Information Officers, as the case may be, in all administrative units or offices under it as may be necessary to provide information to persons requesting for the information under this Act."