Centre to ensure proactive disclosure by govt depts under RTI

New Delhi: Concerned over non-adherence of mandatory proactive disclosure under the RTI Act, the Centre is working on a “time-bound plan” to ensure that all public authorities adhere to the provisions of the transparency law.

Officials of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which acts as a nodal agency for the implementation of the Right to Information Act, said a directive in this regard will be issued to all public authorities (commonly referred to government departments mandated to give information).

The move assumes significance as the Central Information Commission and civil society organizations complained to the government about continuous non-compliance of mandatory proactive disclosure provisions mentioned in the RTI Act even after six years the law came into force.

Section 4 of the RTI Act makes it an obligation on every public authority to maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed and publicise it in a manner and the form which facilitates the right to information by citizens within 120 days after the Act comes into being.The RTI Act was enacted by the Parliament in 2005.

“The DoPT is working on a time-bound plan to ensure that all public authorities follow the provisions mentioned under Section 4 of the RTI Act. A directive in this regard will soon be issued to them,” a DoPT official said.

Both the government and the transparency watchdog, however, do not have updated details on the status of the compliance of the Section 4 of the RTI Act by public authorities. In its latest annual report, the CIC has observed that in course of hearing of various appeals or complaints that although the RTI Act had been in place for six years, one of the key element of the law - Section 4 of the RTI Act - was not being implemented in letter and spirit.