Hindustan Times: New
Delhi: Friday, February 08, 2013.
It is a small
step that can add up to a big change.
A government
department has started putting online important policy files relating to the
right to information law, beginning with documents that provide an insight into
selection of central information commissioners. “We have received approval to
upload all important files on the site persmin.nic.in once the final decision
has been taken and the matter is closed,” an official at the RTI wing of the
Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) said.
The
department that oversees implementation of the information law had last month
come under fire from the Central Information Commission (CIC) for delayed
responses on an appeal filed by HT.
The CIC had
then suggested the public information officer to take directions from his
superiors to upload important files to reduce the spate of RTI pleas.
Incidentally,
the commission has in the past advised public authorities to put out
information released under the information law on its website to reduce their
workload. But the suggestion was never taken up.
But the DoPT
isn’t the only one. The Election Commission too is set to debate the
feasibility of putting out its decisions on the scores of complaints filed
during elections on the CIC’s directions.
The
commission had initially refused to provide this information to a Gurgaon
businessman Aseem Takyar,.
Satyananda
Mishra, who leads the information watchdog, didn’t stop at giving Takyar the
right to inspect the files.
Mishra
said:“If such information is made available on the website... it would help
educate the people about those who contest polls and lead to the selection of
the right candidate”. The panel asked EC to devise a practical system to upload
the documents.
Retired naval
officer Lokesh Batra said such steps were in the right direction, given the
poor track record of the government to make proactive disclosures mandated
under the law.