MLAs and councillors to make funds info public

Abhinav Garg, TNN, Feb 17, 2011,

NEW DELHI: From next month, residents of the capital will be able to find out how their area MLA and councillor spend their local area development funds every year ?

Thanks to the Central Information Commission (CIC), from March 15 this information on expenditure details may be widely available to everyone on a notice board installed prominently in every ward by the Delhi government and Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

In two landmark decisions last week, the CIC ordered the Delhi government and MCD to install boards in every ward of the city displaying these details. Information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi fixed March 15 as the deadline to comply with his order and also said the information must include details of funds spent last year, to be provided on these boards in Hindi. Details of each project, including total amount sanctioned, date of start of work, date of completion of work, name of contractor and actual expenditure on work, must also be provided on the board which has to be maintained and updated every year, as per the CIC order.

"The RTI is a fundamental right of citizens and it envisions that all citizens shall receive information primarily by suo moto disclosures by public authorities," Gandhi observed in his order that came on complaints filed by Satark Nagrik Sangathan, a citizens' group, which uses the RTI Act to access information and prepare report cards on the performance of elected representatives.

While directing the chief secretary and MCD commissioner to put up boards in every ward, Gandhi viewed the failure of both authorities to disseminate information on expenditure as a violation of the RTI Act. He reminded them that providing this information was a basic obligation under Section 4 of the RTI Act and that this obligation should have been met by October 2005.

In its complaint, the Sangathan drew CIC's attention to the fact that every year, over Rs 400 crore is spent through MLA & councillor LAD funds and yet the city government has not put in place a mechanism to provide information on utilization of these to people suo moto. .

"Due to lack of transparency, we find that these funds are often spent on non priority works while basic development needs of people remain largely unaddressed," Anjali Bhardwaj, the complainant, submitted before the commission. The complaints were filed following a state-wide public hearing organized by SNS in September 2010 wherein people had demanded that information on local area development funds of MLAs and councillors be proactively provided by the government on boards in Hindi. Bhardwaj hoped the CIC orders, if implemented properly, will go a long way in ensuring that MLA & councillor local area development funds are utilized in a transparent, consultative, participatory and accountable manner.