DoPT orders 2019 - Guidelines of suo motu disclosure under Section 4 of RTI Act, 2005

DoPT orders 2019

Guidelines of suo motu disclosure under Section 4 of RTI Act, 2005

No. 1/6/2011-IR
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training

North Block, New Delhi
Dated the 7th November, 2019

OFFICE MEMORANDUM 

Sub: Implementation of suo motu disclosure under Section 4 of Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 – Issue of guidelines regarding 

The suo motu disclosure of information to public is mandated under Section 4 (2) of the RTI Act, 2005, so that the public have to resort minimally to the use of this Act to obtain information. Section 4(1)(b) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 lays down the information which should be disclosed by Public Authorities on a suo motu or proactive basis. Section 4(3) prescribes for wide dissemination of every information, in such form and manner which is easily accessible to the public.
The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department’s O.M. of even number dated 15th April, 2013 and to reiterate the guidelines therein (Copy enclosed), duly incorporating a slight revision to Para 4.4 of the above guidelines allowing for third party audit by any Government Training Institute, in cases where no Training Institute exists under the concerned Ministry/Department/Public Authority.

Central Government Ministries/Departments are advised to undertake suo motu disclosure based on these guidelines, in compliance to Sections 4(1)(b) read with Section 4(2), 4(3) and 4(4) of the RTl Act, 2005

The enclosed guidelines may be brought to the notice of all Public Authorities under the Ministry / Department including those in their Attached Offices, Subordinate Offices, Constitutional Bodies, Statutory Bodies, Autonomous Organizations and Public Sector Undertakings.

(Varsha Sinha)
Director

Source: DoPT

Lok Sabha passes the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Lok Sabha passes the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019

Government is fully committed to transparency and accountability; No question of decreasing autonomy of Information Commissions: Dr. Jitendra Singh

22 JUL 2019

Lok Sabha passed the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 today. In this amendment, it is proposed to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005 so as to provide that the term of office of, and the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of, the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners and the State Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information Commissioners, shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
Participating in the debate on the Bill, Union Minister of Statefor Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that this Government is fully committed to transparency and accountability. Following this principle, the Government has encouraged suo motu dissemination of maximum information by Government Departments in order to reduce number of RTIs.

In addition to this, the Minister said that the Government is focussing on grievance redressal through citizen involvement. This has strengthened the underlying principle of RTI and has consistently reduced the pendency of RTI applications in the last 5 years, the Minister informed the House.
Assuring the members that the Government is not misusing its powers to frame rules regarding State Information Commissions, Shri Singh said that according to the original RTI act of 2005, the power of framing rules in respect of Information Commissions does not fall under the purview of either the Union or the State or the Concurrent lists. Hence, framing rules, even for the State Information Commissions, falls under the Residuary powers of the Union Government, the Minister said.

Replying on the issue of comparison of service conditions of Information Commissions and Election Commissions, Shri Singh said that the Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions are statutory bodies established under the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005. Therefore, the mandate of Election Commission of India and Central and State Information Commissions are different. Hence, their status and service conditions need to be rationalised accordingly.Further, the Minister said that there has been no change in the section of the original act dealing with the appointment of Information Commissioners. Thus, the question of decreasing autonomy of the Information Commissions does not arise, the Minister added.

PIB

Uploading of RTI replies on the respective websites of Ministries/Departments

Uploading of RTI replies on the respective websites of Ministries/Departments 

F.No. 1/1/2013-IR
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Personnel and Training
***

North Block, New Delhi
Dated the 7th October, 2016

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject:- Uploading of RTI replies on the respective websites of Ministries / Departments

Attention is invited to para 1.4.1. of the enclosed guidelines referred to in this Deptt.'s O.M. No.1/6/2011-IR dated 15.04.2013, for implementation of suomotu disclosure under Section 4 of the RTI Act, 2005, which states as follows:-

All Public Authorities shall proactively disclose RTI applications and appeals received and their responses, on the websites maintained by Public Authorities with search facility based on key words. RTI applications and appeals received and their responses relating to the personal information of an individual may not be disclosed, as they do not serve any public interest.

2. Further vide O.M. No.1/1/2013-IR dated 21.10.2014 on the issue of uploading of RTI replies on the respective websites of Ministries / Departments, DoPT had requested that:

RTI applications and appeals received and their responses relating to the personal information of an individual may not be disclosed, if they do not serve any public interest.

3. Now, keeping in view the directions dated 20.11.2013 of Hon'ble High Court of Kolkata in Writ Petition No.33290/2013 in the case of Mr. Avishek Goenka Vs Union of India regarding personal details of RTI applicants, it is clarified that while proactively disclosing RTI applications and appeals received and responses thereto, on their website, the personal details of RTI applicant/appellant should not be disclosed as they do not serve any public interest. It is further clarified that the personal details would include name, designation, address, e-mail id and telephone no. including mobile no. of the applicant.

(Gayatri Mishra)
Director(IR)

To
All Public Authorities
Original Circular

Success Stories of the Right to Information Act, 2005 - regarding

IMMEDIATE

No.11/20/2014-IR
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training

North Block, New Delhi
Dated: 23rd August, 2016

To
The Head of All State ATIs (As per list attached)

Subject: Success Stories of the Right to Information Act, 2005 - regarding

Sir / Madam,
I am directed to say that RTI Act has been instrumental in ensuring greater and more effective access to information to all citizens of the country, especially the marginalized sections of the society. On the occasion of completion of more than 10 years of implementation of RTI Act, 2005, the Central Information Commission, New Delhi is going to hold Annual Convention in October, 2016 to mark its contribution under the Right to Information Act, 2005. To mark this event, the Commission proposes to bring out a volume titled "Success Stories of the Right to Information Act, 2005", which would be released for public by the Hon'ble Prime Minister during the Annual Convention. Central Information Commission has entrusted the work of compilation / preparation of Success Stories volume to M/s  YASHDA.

2. In this regard, the State ATIs are requested to forward all the documented Success Stories maintained by their Institute/Academy to YASHADA at the earliest to enable them to compile a volume titled "Success Stories of the Right to Information Act, 2005". The State ATIs are also requested to participate in the National Workshop to be held in last week of August, 2016 in YASHADA.

Yours faithfully,
(Gayatri Mishra)
Director (IR)