BackChief information commissioner criticizes govt machinery
Authorities have failed to comply with mandatory provisions of giving information under RTI, says CIC
Premium(Pradeep Gaur)
New Delhi: Satyanand Mishra, India’s chief information commissioner on Saturday said that public authorities, which are responsible to give information under the landmark Right to Information (RTI), have “failed" to comply with provisions under the Act.
“The RTI has mandatory provision for proactive disclosure of a whole range of information by every public authority...I must say that almost all public authorities have failed to comply with this mandatory requirement even after seven years," Mishra said, while addressing a national conference on Lokayuktas in the capital.
Mishra was referring to section 4 of the Act which enlists the compulsory provisions that the public authorities have to follow for proactive disclosure or publicising information on their own. Mishra also said that “well kept records and indexing" would further help in disseminating information.
Aruna Roy, RTI activist and member of the Sonia Gandhi led National Advisory Council, also speaking at the conference, highlighted the need for brining the whistle blowers bill.
“We need a whistle blowers bill which is already in the Parliament...however the Lokayuktas should also take cognizance of all the fall outs that comes out of these bills," Roy said.
Both Mishra and Roy were speaking on the role of RTI mechanism and whistle blowers bill in eradicating corruption and bringing in transparency.
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