RTI law
NEW DELHI, Apr 7:
Out of the 2,275 public authorities (PAs) 754 got their suo motu disclosure audited by a third party as mandated under the Right to Information Act, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
Under section 4(2) of the RTI Act, every Public Authority has to take steps to suo motu provide as much information as possible to the public through various means, including internet, so that people need not resort to RTI query for information.
With a view to ensure the implementation of these provisions, guidelines were initially issued in April 2013 and were subsequently amended in 2016 and 2019, when they were made more consolidated and comprehensive.
These guidelines, among other things, mandate a third party audit of proactive disclosure by the public authority, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply.
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has also prepared a software for transparency audit to facilitate the public authorities for their third party audit, he said.
During 2020-21, a total of 754 PAs out of 2,275 got their suo motu disclosures audited by a third party and the outcome was shared with the PAs, the reply said, detailing the action taken in pursuance of the said guidelines.
The year before, a total of 715 PAs out of 2,193 got their suo motu disclosure audited by a third party and the outcome was shared with the PAs, it said. During 2018-19, the sample audit of 838 PAs out of 2,145 PAs was conducted by a committee comprising of a former chief Information Commissioner and a former Information Commissioner and the outcome was shared with the PAs.
To assess the availability/quality of disclosures made by public authorities, the CIC entrusted Indian Law Institute (ILI) to carry out a sample audit of public authorities in 2017-18.
“ILI conducted audit of 1,159 public authorities (PAs) out of 2,079 PAs and the outcome was shared with the PAs,” the reply said.
A Public Authority broadly refers to any authority or institution established under the laws made by the Central or State Governments. (PTI)
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