What are the duties of a Public Information Officer?

Public Information Officer (PIO) is required to deal with requests from persons seeking information and where the request cannot be made in writing, to render reasonable assistance to the person to reduce the same in writing. If the information requested for is held by or its subject matter is closely connected with the function of another public authority, the PIO must transfer, within 5 days, the request to that other public authority and inform the applicant immediately.

PIO may seek the assistance of any other officer for the proper discharge of his duties.

PIO, on receipt of a request must as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within 30 days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in section 8 or section 9.

Where the information requested for concerns the life or liberty of a person, the same must be provided within 48 hours of the receipt of the request. If the PIO fails to give decision on the request within the period specified, he must be deemed to have refused the request.

Where a request has been rejected, the PIO is required to communicate to the requester:
(i) the reasons for such rejection,
(ii)the period within which an appeal against such rejection may be preferred, and
(iii) the particulars of the Appellate Authority.

PIO is required to provide information in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the Public Authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question.

If allowing partial access, the PIO is required to give a notice to the applicant, informing: that only part of the record requested, after severance of the record containing information which is exempt from disclosure, is being provided; the reasons for the decision, including any findings on any material question of fact, referring to the material on which those findings were based:
- the name and designation of the person giving the decision;
- the details of the fees calculated by him and the amount of fee which the applicant is required to deposit; and
- his rights with respect to review of the decision regarding non-disclosure of part of the information, the amount of fee charged or the form of access provided.

If information sought has been supplied by third party or is treated as confidential by that third party, the PIO is required to give a written notice to the third party within 5 days from the receipt of the request and take its representation into consideration.

Third party must be given a chance to make a representation before the PIO within 10 days from the date of receipt of such notice.

Witth best wishes,

Right to Information Act 2005 - Public Authority

Who is a public authority?

As per provisions of the Right to Information Act 2005, a 'public authority' mean any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted:

- by or under the Constitution;
- by any other law made by Parliament;
- by any other law made by State legislature;
- (a) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government and includes anybody owned, controlled or substantially financed
- (b) non-Government organization substantially financed directly or indirectly by the appropriate Government.

With best wishes,

Keshav Ram Singhal

Right to Information Act - Obligations of Public Authority

As per the provisions of the Right to Information Act, the public authority is required to publish within 120 days of enactment:
- the particular of its organization, functions and duties;
- the powers and duties of its officers and employees;
- the procedure followed in its decision making process, including channels of supervision and accountability;
- the norms set by it for the discharge of its function;
- the rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records used by its employees for discharging its functions;
- a statement of categories of the documents held by it or under its controls;
- the particulars of any arrangement that exists for consultation with, or representation by members of the public, in relation to the formulation of policy or implementation thereof;
- a statement of the boards, councils, committees and other bodies consisting of two or more persons constituted by it. Additionally, information as to whether the meetings of these are open to the public, or the minutes of such meetings are accessible to the public;
- a directory of its officers and employees;
- the monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and employees including the system of compensation as provided in its regulations;
- the budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditures and reports on disbursements made;
- the manner of execution of subsidy programmes, including the amounts allocated and the details and beneficiaries of such programmes;
- particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorizations granted by it;
- details of the information available to, or held by it, reduced in an electronic form;
- the particulars of facilities available to citizens for obtaining information, including the working hours of a library or reading room, if maintained for public use,
- the names, designations and other particulars of the Public Information Officers.

With best wishes,

Keshav Ram Singhal

Freedom of information is a fundamental human right

“Freedom of information is a fundamental human right …….” – Resolution no. 59 (1), United Nations General Assembly 1946.

“Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression, this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideals of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.” – Resolution no. 2200!9XXI), United Nations General Assembly 1966




‘Right to information’ (RTI) is a basic human right and now everyone has a right to know how the government is performing. There are certain questions to which people wish to know their answers. Where is his tax used? What is the amount spent by the government on the road construction? What is the fate of his application?

Openness to governmental processes opens the door to good governance.

A few state governments passed legislations on the freedom / right to information:
- Goa – 1977
- Tamil Nadu – 1997
- Madhya Pradesh – 1998
- Rajasthan – 2000
- Maharashtra – 2000
- Karnataka – Ordinance 2000

The Central Act on Right to Information was passed in May 2002, as the Government of India had the view that this was a central subject.

Why people wish to know? People wishes to know to gain power in democracy. And Knowledge is power. And knowledge is derived from information. A well functioned democracy should have the following three characteristics:
- A well informed citizenry
- An equal and effective right to participation in the affairs of the state (governance) by the citizens
- Accountable public authorities and leaders to the people

Accountability is the foundation of democracy and citizens should be entitled to have information relating to the functioning of the government, public institutions and conduct of public functionaries and authorities. It is required that quality of decisions is improved in the interest of public .

The RTI Act, 2005 came into effect on 12 October 2005. It is one of the most significant legislations enacted by the Government of India. The RTI Act aims to ensure openness and transparency in the governance at Central, State and Local levels.

With best wishes,

Keshav

Know what you want to know

Know what you want to know

You can use the RTI Act 2005 to know what you want to know :
Identify the information that you need. Write down the relevant questions (related to the information you need) on a sheet of plain paper.
Identify which public authority (government department, public sector body, NGO etc) has the information that you want.
Find out the contact details of the Public Information Officer (PIO).
Submit your application to the PIO, along with required application fee.
Don’t forget to get a dated and stamp receipt for your RTI application and fee paid by you.
You should get the information asked for within the prescribed period, usually 30 days.
If don’t get information within stipulated time limit or dissatisfied with the information, you have right to appeals as per provisions of the Act.

More details will be in next post.

Note from the author

The author of this literature has used his skills and knowledge to his best capacity to provide relevant and the latest information. Utmost care has been taken to ensure correctness and accuracy of the contents. However, omissions and errors, if any, in this literature are regretted. Reader’s suggestion for improvement is welcomed. Readers are requested to send their frank opinion, comment, criticism and assessment of this literature.

The purpose of this literature is to create awareness on Right to Information (RTI). The contents are merely for guidance and reference; however, publisher and author are not responsible in any manner for any mistake. In case of any legal use , it is suggested to cross-check the contents with authorized legal publications.