Economic
Times: New Delhi: Friday, 29 August 2014.
The Centre is
working on a plan to conduct third-party audit to ascertain the level of
transparency in the functioning of ministries and public authorities as part of
the Narendra Modi-led government's efforts to open up these institutions to
more public scrutiny.
The DoPT has
engaged the central information commission to prepare the legal framework to
measure the extent to which ministries and various public authorities are
disclosing information proactively and maintaining transparency in their
decision-making process.
The DoPT, the
nodal agency for supervising implementation of the Right to Information or RTI
Act, had asked the commission to conduct the audit. However, due to huge
pendency of work and shortage of staff, the commission has proposed formation
of an ad hoc body consisting of experts from various fields for conducting the
audit, a senior official from the commission said, requesting anonymity.
The group
will function under the direct supervision of the commission, the official
said, adding, "The proposal detailing the audit plan was sent to DoPT last
month and we are waiting for the approval. Specifics such as the number of
experts to be engaged, duration of audit, procedure and other details are yet
to be worked out." The audit work is expected to begin in the next few
months. As per the proposed plan, the exercise will be carried out every year
and the outcome of the audit will be made public by publishing it on the
websites of the respective ministries.
The audit
will assess whether ministries are disclosing information related to
procurement, public-private partnerships, transfer policy and transfer orders,
Comptroller and Auditor General's XX and action taken on them, expenditure on
foreign tours of ministers and other such information.
In addition, it
will evaluate mediums like internet, notices, wall painting and others chosen
by the public authority for disbursing the information.
The audit
will also cover compliance with the proactive disclosure guidelines provided in
the RTI Act and suggest if there are any other types of information which could
be disclosed.
As per
section 4 of the RTI act, every public authority should on its own disclose
information relating to its functioning to ensure transparency and to reduce
the need for filing individual RTI applications. However, the quality and
quantity of proactive disclosure is not up to the desired level, the DoPT said
in a circular issued in April 2013.
"It was
felt that the weak implementation of the section 4 of the RTI Act is partly due
to the fact that certain provisions of this section have not been fully
detailed and, in case of certain other provisions there is need for laying down
detailed guidelines," it added.