AP government websites not complying with RTI Act norms

Deccan Chronicle: Vijayawada: Tuesday, January 23, 2018.

Not all the AP government websites are complying with the norms of  Right To Information (RTI) Act. An audit of websites done by a group of RTI activists shows that very few fared well.

Websites are the only interface between the public and government departments and they play an important role in disseminating information related to government schemes and programmes.

Information technology, electronics and the communication department website top the overall charts with a score of 39 points, followed by the department of agriculture with 38 points.

East Godavari district’s official website, the Chief Commissioner of land administration, and the Revenue department, share joint 3rd spot with 37 points.

Srikakulam district and West Godavari district websites stand last, having scored just 7 and 8 points respectively.

In the case of West God-avari http://www.westgodavari.org/index.html is not registered on the state portal. It’s unclear whether it is an official website or not and it’s also an unconfirmed website.

Around 30 indicators derived from Section 4(1)(b) of RTI Act which stipulates voluntary disclosure of information, Section 4(2)-Section 4(3) of RTI Act which prescribe the method of dissemination of information and guidelines issued by National Informatics Centre, government of India,  government websites were  used for the audit.

Non-information, outdated information, misleading information, are all given zero points,  practical disclosure is awarded 1 point and full disclosure  is given 2 points. The maximum score any website can get is 60 points.

Out of a possible highest score of 60, only 10 websites scored more than 30 points. 7 websites scored below 15 out of a possible score of 60. Only 8 websites contain ‘information citizen charter’ on their websites. District handbooks which are published by the government are rich in information and uploaded only on four district websites, out of 19.  Out of 18 websites, only 11 websites have partial information about the district-­ level officials like the Collector and Joint collector and 7 other websites have no information. The details include  office address, contact details, etc.

“Providing information on websites in both Telugu and English saves a lot of resources both for public information officers and also citizens who want to avail of the Right to Information Act. Each Ministry must have a nodal website which contains all the useful links about the institutions under the ministry. Date of being updated must be prominently published in the websites from time to time,” an RTI activist who led the audit team told Deccan Chronicle.