This office memorandum outlines directives to enhance the suo motu disclosure of information by public authorities, as recommended by a committee of experts and accepted by the government. Key takeaways include the constitution of Consultative Committees to advise on information for uploading, the establishment of Information and Facilitation Centres (IFCs) to educate citizens about available information, and the formation of committees comprising PIOs and FAAs to identify frequently requested information for public disclosure. It also emphasizes the need for proper categorization and organization of proactively disclosed information for easy retrieval, the inclusion of upload/print dates on websites and publications related to Section 4 compliance, and the potential delegation of transparency audits to training institutes. The memorandum is directed at all Ministries/Departments and also copied to Chief Secretaries of State Governments/Union Territories, the Central Information Commission, and NIC for website publication.
SOURCE PDF LINK :
Click to access 1_34_2013-IR-30062016.pdf
Click to view full document content
F. No. 1/34/2013-IR
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
(Department of Personnel & Training)
North Block, New Delhi
Dated the 30th June, 2016
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Report of the Committee set up under the chairmanship of Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi, Joint Secretary, DoPT to examine the recommendations of the Committee of Experts on suo motu disclosure under Section 4 of the RTI Act, 2005.
A Committee of Experts consisting of Shri A.N. Tiwari, former Chief Information Commissioner and Dr. M.M. Ansari, Information commissioner of Central Information Commission was constituted to recommend, inter-alia, measures to further strengthen implementation of Section 4 of the RTI Act, 2005. The Committee submitted its Report which has been accepted by the Government and an OM dated 29th June 2015 was issued to all public authorities to follow the recommendations of the Committee. Thereafter, DOPT has issued instructions to all Public Authorities in this regard vide O.M. No. 1/1/2013-IR dated 9th July, 2015 that the Departments must make an analysis of information which is sought most often from applicants and provide it on their website as suo-motu disclosure.
Competent Authority has further directed that:
- The Public Authorities shall constitute Consultative Committees consisting of office bearers of key stakeholder, association on rotational basis to have a systematic and regular interaction between the officials of the Public Authorities to advise what information to be uploaded as suo motu.
-
‘Information and Facilitation Centres’ (IFCs) may be set up in each public authority, where public dealing is involved to educate the citizens about the information / documents available on the website of the department concerned and to provide printed publications to the citizens, the categories of information that are frequently being sought under the RTI Act and provide copies of information as per RTI Rules, 2012.-2-
(3) In each public authority, a committee of PIOs and FAAs with rich experience of dealing with RTI applications and appeals is set up to identify the categories of information that are frequently asked by applicants. Such information must be disclosed in the public domain to make it more user friendly and should also be reviewed at regular intervals.
(4) Information that is proactively disclosed must be properly categorized and organised in such a manner that it facilitates easy retrieval. Information on the website must be organised in a searchable and retrievable database to enable people to access the records. The Nodal Officer of each Public authority be made responsible for this.
(5) Web site, and other medium and publication of each public authority, relating to Section 4 compliance must carry the date (where appropriate for each bit of information) on which the information was uploaded/printed.
(6) The task of undertaking transparency audits may be given to the respective Training Institutes under each Ministry/Department/Public Authority and across the States and Union Territories.
Gayatri Mishra
Director(IR)
Telefax: 23092755
To
All Ministries / Departments.
Copy to: Chief Secretaries / All State Governments / Union Territories.
Copy also to:
(i) Secretary, Central Information Commission, August Kranti Bhawan, Bhikaji
Cama Place, New Delhi-110066.
(ii) NIC, North Block, New Delhi for placing the Office Memorandum on the website of DoPT.