Bhadas Online:Friday, December 30, 2011.
In a first-ever move to ensure transparency in the functioning of government from state secretariat to Panchayat levels the Bihar State Information Commission on Tuesday called upon the State Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary of Panchayati Raj Department to enforce the system of “voluntary disclosures” under the Right to Information Act-2005.
The Information Commission said: “Voluntary disclosures and their regular updating on the web and internet is the best way to help information-seekers in getting the information they need in a hassle free manner without affecting the day to day functioning of the government offices and officials. This would strengthen roots of good governance and help banish corruption through transparency”.
This was stated by Farzand Ahmed, journalist turned Information Commissioner in an order relating to functioning of three-tier Panchayati Raj system in Khageria district.
Using Commission’s power under section 25 [5] of RTI Act, Ahmed recommended to the head of the state bureaucracy to issue a directive to all development-related government departments to put all information in public domain. He pointed out that Section 4 [1] [i] makes it mandatory for every ‘Public Authority’ to ‘maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and the form which facilitates the right to information under this Act and ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerized are, within a reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerized and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated’.
Bihar state Information Commission has already established itself as the Number One in the country through innovative implementation of RTI Act. Implementation of this recommendation to the Chief Secretary would not only add another feather to its cap but would also go a long way to stop intimidation to Information-seekers and delays, said BSIC sources.
Ahmed made this suggestion in the wake of a case from Khageria. Petitioner Manoj Kumar Mishra, a resident of Gogri in Khageria had sought information regarding general body meetings of Panchayats in different years, decisions regarding development schemes and implementation between 1995-2009. He wanted all these information to be supported with documents and audit reports.
When the petitioner did not get satisfactory information, Information Commissioner Ahmed asked the District Magistrate of Khageria to set up a high-level inquiry Committee with the petitioner as a member. Though the DM quickly informed the Commission about setting up of the committee including Deputy Development Commissioners and BDOs of Blocks concerned as well as the petitioner as a member, he indicated that it might take time as there were other pressing works to do too by the officials.
The DM also referred to some Supreme Court rulings in which it was stated that in course of collection of information day to day work should not suffer.
The Information Commissioner in his order told the District Magistrate that his reply indicated his sincerity as well as his Hamlet-like dilemma to do or not do. He also used a line from Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s famous couplet [Aur bhie ghum hain zamane mein mohabbat ke siwa] to indicate confusion and reminded the District Chief that despite everything Right to Information is the basic right of every citizen and information sought by him must get priority over other things.
He said DM’s sincerity in setting up the committee must be appreciated. But at same time he [DM] must also prove his sincerity by getting the matter investigated. “Such an inquiry may expose huge corruption”.
The Information Commissioner gave the DM three months time for the inquiry to be completed and asked him to send a copy of the report to the Commission too.
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