The Hindu: New Delhi: Monday,
October 10, 2016.
People even
wanted to know the speed of Internet at PMO and the PM’s spend on spices and
vegetables.
Annoyed with
the non-stop flow of applications under the Right to Information Act (RTI),
most of them flippant, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has recently put out a
primer on what it is obliged to do and not to do under the law.
A recent
‘advisory’ made it explicit that the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO)
of the PMO is obliged under the RTI Act to provide only such information which
is held by it or under its control and related to its function(s) as defined
under the Business Rules, 1961.
Growing
numbers
According to
a senior functionary in the PMO, the provocation for the primer was the
realisation that all kinds of applications seeking information on everything
“under the Sun and on the earth” were being made. The current PMO receives on
an average 1,500 RTI applications daily and since Prime Minister Narendra Modi
took office in the last week of May 2014, the number of applications handled so
far has already crossed 10 lakh.
Making it
clear that it is authorised to part with information which is in its possession
or related to the functioning of the Prime Minister and his office, the
advisory has said matters relating to Ministries/department of the Central
government will be transferred to that other public authority.
In case of
doubt in regard to allocation of work among the Ministries/departments of the
Central government, the applicants may refer to the Government of India
(Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, which delineates the work allocation for
each Ministry and department.
Applications
for obtaining information which pertain to multiple public authorities
(involving more than one Ministry/Department) shall not be transferred to such
other public authorities and the request of the RTI applicants in such cases,
is liable to be rejected.
Likewise, on
matters relating to State and Union Territory governments, the applicants have
been asked to address their applications to the public authority concerned in
the respective jurisdictions.
The advisory
said the CPIO is also not required to furnish information which requires
drawing of inference; obtaining information held by other public authority; or
furnish replies to hypothetical questions.
A sample of
questions directed at the PMO, available on its website, show that most of them
are irreverent. The first on the list is not non-serious but actually triggered
a controversy. It was about the percentage of marks PM obtained during his
graduation in 1977.
But others
are a category in themselves. For instance, spending on spices and vegetables
used by the PM, what was the speed of the Internet at the PMO (which is 34
mpbs), which company manufactures the teleprompter that the PM uses and who
pays for the expense, even questions like if the PM has read the Indian
Constitution.
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