RTI: Depts have put up manuals online

More on Sarbajit Roy and his Right to Information Complaint against DDA

RTI: Depts have put up manuals online
Manoj Mitta
[ Friday, December 23, 2005 02:20:21 amTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

NEW DELHI: The first-ever hearing by Central Information Commission on a particular matter is going to decide how much water does the RTI law hold.

The RTI law specially provides that where the information sought for "concerns the life or liberty of a person, the same shall be provided within 48 hours of the receipt of the request".

This implies that public information officers will have to attend to such urgent requests even on weekends and holidays. Most departments have made no arrangement yet for complying with this statutory requirement.

The most commonly flouted provision of the RTI Act is the one that prescribes that each department should maintain 17 manuals in the public domain to usher in greater transparency in the functioning of the government.

The departments that have put such manuals on their websites can be counted on fingertips. Each of these omissions and commissions on the part of bureaucracy have been highlighted by the complaint filed before Central Information Commission by a Delhi-based engineer, Sarbajit Roy.

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