Times of India: Aurangabad: Wednesday, 22 February 2023.
The Maharashtra General Administration Department (GAD) has directed all government establishments to make suo motu disclosure as mandated in the Right to Information (RTI) Act after the State Information Commission (SIC) expressed concerns over the lack of desired voluntary disclosure by public authorities.
The GAD issued a communication to this effect on February 16. The GAD also reminded public authorities about updating the official websites at least twice a year, preferably by January 1 and July 1.
In a letter addressed to GAD on January 10, the SIC, led by the Chief Information Commission of Maharashtra, highlighted that non-compliance with Section 4 of the RTI Act was leading to a deluge of second appeals.
As per the suo motu disclosures under Section 4 of the Act, every public authority is duty-bound to place a large amount of information in the public domain on a proactive basis to make the functioning of the public authorities transparent and also to reduce the need for filing individual RTI applications.
Referring to the letter by the SIC, the GAD directed heads of all government departments in Mantralaya to ensure compliance. RTI activist Vivek Velankar said it is unfortunate that the state government and its departments need to be reminded frequently about the necessary compliance with the enabling provisions of the Right to Information Act in question.
“While the implementation of the Right to Information Act, 2005, is gradually being strangulated in Maharashtra, at least we can talk of suo motu disclosure under the legislation,” he said. “If done proactively, the desired suo moto disclosure would set the regime of transparency and accountability,” Velankar added.
The Maharashtra General Administration Department (GAD) has directed all government establishments to make suo motu disclosure as mandated in the Right to Information (RTI) Act after the State Information Commission (SIC) expressed concerns over the lack of desired voluntary disclosure by public authorities.
The GAD issued a communication to this effect on February 16. The GAD also reminded public authorities about updating the official websites at least twice a year, preferably by January 1 and July 1.
In a letter addressed to GAD on January 10, the SIC, led by the Chief Information Commission of Maharashtra, highlighted that non-compliance with Section 4 of the RTI Act was leading to a deluge of second appeals.
As per the suo motu disclosures under Section 4 of the Act, every public authority is duty-bound to place a large amount of information in the public domain on a proactive basis to make the functioning of the public authorities transparent and also to reduce the need for filing individual RTI applications.
Referring to the letter by the SIC, the GAD directed heads of all government departments in Mantralaya to ensure compliance. RTI activist Vivek Velankar said it is unfortunate that the state government and its departments need to be reminded frequently about the necessary compliance with the enabling provisions of the Right to Information Act in question.
“While the implementation of the Right to Information Act, 2005, is gradually being strangulated in Maharashtra, at least we can talk of suo motu disclosure under the legislation,” he said. “If done proactively, the desired suo moto disclosure would set the regime of transparency and accountability,” Velankar added.
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