Good Practices relating to RTI

Implementation in India                      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prepared for the Regional Workshop: “Towards More Open and Transparent Governance in South Asia”

(April 27-29, 2010, New Delhi)

 

By the 

 INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 

I.P. ESTATE, RING ROAD, NEW DELHI

 

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction

3-4

2. Background to the paper

4-5

3. Good Practices in Use of ICTs to strengthen the implementation of the RTI Act

5-22

4. Good Practices in Effective Use of the RTI Act to improve Access to marginalized population to specific government schemes

22-26

5. Good Practices in Implementation of suo-motu provisions

26-33

6. Good Practices adopted by Information Commissions

33-38

7. Good Practices implemented by Government to make information available to the people and for generating awareness

38-47

8. Conclusion

47-49

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Introduction

Right to Information (RTI) is a fundamental human right; it refers to the right of

every citizen to access information held by or under the control of public

authorities. It is also the launching point for the realization of other human rights:

civil and political rights such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression,

and equality before the law; and economic, social and cultural rights such as right

to adequate food, right to water, right to highest attainable standard of health,

right to education.

In India, the RTI (Right to Information) Act came into being in 2005; a landmark

event that made the governance processes of the country accessible to its

citizens. The Act is based on the principle that all government information is the

property of people. It takes democracy to the grass root level and is also a step

towards ensuring participatory governance in the country.

Some of the areas of impact of this Act are seen below:

In the political sphere, it contributes to the ability of citizens to become aware of

and involved in the activities of government. Overall, this raises the level of

political debate and leads to a more productive process of policymaking.

In the economic sphere, transparency increases efficiency by making the

investment climate more reliable and allowing capital to better calculate where

and when it can best be invested.

In the sphere of public administration, transparency improves the decision

making of public servants by making them more responsive and accountable to

the public and controls corruption by making it more difficult to hide illegal

agreements and action. It also improves the legitimacy and trust in government in

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the eyes of the people, allowing for the more effective implementation of public

policies.1

It can be said that information is the basis of democracy. If people do not know

what is happening in their society, if the actions of those who rule them are

hidden, then they cannot take a meaningful part in the affairs of the society.

Access to information not only promotes openness, transparency and

accountability in administration, but also facilitates active participation of people

in the democratic governance process.

This legislation provides opportunities to Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), as

well as the media to be involved in governance and social transformation

processes by using the Act as a method to monitor, review and evaluate

Government policies, programmes and schemes. In this manner, both the media

and CSOs can infuse greater transparency and accountability in the

administration of developmental programmes and arrest the abuse of power and

misuse of public resources.2

Background to the paper

As part of the activities undertaken under the Governance Partnership Facility’s

grant in support of Right to Information (RTI) regimes across the South Asia

Region (SAR), a Regional Workshop bringing together key RTI stakeholders

from countries in the region is being organized in New Delhi (India) on April 27-

29, 2010. The purpose of the Regional Workshop is to build consensus and to

promote the exchange of information and experiences between different

countries in SAR on RTI legislation and implementation issues, with the ultimate

goal of setting a common agenda to support the advancement of RTI at the

regional and country levels.

                                                            

1 Srinivas Madhav 2 Internet report on CGG meeting/2007

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The Regional Workshop will bring together country delegations from India,

Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan, with India as

host.

This paper compiles the good practices in India, at both Central and state levels

relating to some of the RTI Act’s key issues. This paper has been commissioned

with the purpose of contributing to the upcoming Regional Conference;

accordingly, the paper describes good practices related to RTI implementation

focusing on the following key aspects:

(a) the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) to strengthen the

implementation of the RTI Act;

(b) effective use of the RTI Act to improve access of marginalized population to specific government schemes - specifically NREGA and PDS;

(c) the implementation of suo motu provisions;

(d) appeals case management, strategic plans and mechanisms by Information Commissions; and

(e) monitoring and reporting of the RTI Act implementation, the roles of Information Commissions and government agencies.

I Use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) to strengthen the implementation of the RTI

IT Initiatives of the Andhra Pradesh Information Commission (APIC), URL:

www.apic.gov.in 3

Model Website: The APIC has a well-designed, comprehensive and functional

website. It contains information about role and responsibilities of commissioners,

distribution of work among commissioners, activities undertaken by the

commissioners, procedure for request for information, frequently asked

                                                            

3 Report of National Sub Committee of Central Information Commission, July 2008, pp 13-14, APIC Annual Report 2008, p. 10-11; APIC Annual Report 2007, p. 9-10

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questions, success stories, decisions on appeals, search facility, directory of all

public authorities in Andhra Pradesh with the details of PIOs, APIOs and

Appellate Authorities, links to other SICs, CIC and RTI related web sites. This

website is developed and maintained by CGG.

Internal Tracking of Appeals & Complaints: APIC has implemented an internal

file tracking system. From 01.11.2006 onwards “File Tracking System” has been

introduced in which all the tappal received at Reception / Inward level are being

entered online in the proformae prescribed in the computer through auto

generated tappal numbering system and acknowledgement slip is being issued

instantly across the table to whoever present their applications in person in the

office. The status of the cases is also being updated from time to time and after

disposal of the case, the final result in the form of order is also being placed in

the File Tracking System, so that the applicant can know the status of his case

and final order passed from the click of the button.

As and when an appeal or complaint is received in the commission either in

person or through e-mail the details are keyed into the system and a unique

number is given by the system to that appeal or complaint which will be passed

on to the citizen. At each stage the concerned authorities will be updating the

status of the appeal. This number can be used by the citizen to know the status

of the appeal, date of hearing, decision etc. This system developed by CGG also

generates all the required reports for the commission.

The system generates a register for each Commissioner, giving the month-wise

status of the applications received. Internally the staff of Commissioners process

the appeals/complaints received and update the status regularly. This status is

then made available to the enquirer through sms.

The internal tracking system provides various types of MIS reports for the

commissions such as:

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• Commissioners wise

• Yearly and Monthly reports

• Register book for Commission

It helps in the generation of an updated cause list; when an application is posted

for hearing, the ICs update the status. To know when an application is posted for

hearing, the user has to select the period. Accordingly, the details, both

Commissioner-wise and date- wise is displayed with time of hearing.

Annual/Quarterly reporting system: APIC, with the help of CGG, has also

enabled an online reporting system on RTI tracking to facilitate the commission

to prepare the Annual Report. District level officer under each Head of

Department have to collect the data about number of RTI application and their

status from PIOs of the public authorities under his jurisdiction and reports to the

system. The system aggregates the data at HOD, secretariat Dept and state

level. This system also provides analysis of rejected applications at various

levels.

Status of Appeals through SMS: The Andhra Pradesh Information Commission

in association with the Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad has designed

and developed the system of ‘Status through SMS’. CGG has enabled citizens

to know the status of appeals through SMS facility. Citizens who have pending

appeals or complaints with the SIC can know the status of such

appeals/complaints by simply sending an SMS to APIC on a particular mobile

number citing the appeal number and the year. A reply SMS indicating the status

of the appeal/complaint will be received by the citizen within 2 minutes. Public

can know the status of appeal/complaint filed in A.P. Information Commission

instantly through this system. Whenever an applicant files an appeal/complaint

with the commission, he is given an acknowledgement with a unique_id year-

wise. The applicant uses this id for tracking the status of his application on

mobile. The process is “SMS: APIC>Space>Regd No>space>Year> to 99896

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51152”. System will receive the SMS and search the records in the database and

then give an instant return status through SMS on computer generated auto

response. The SMS modem then sends the status message to the applicants

through a return SMS, after receiving the appropriate answer from the server.

The response to the applicant is received as either of the following:

“Under process” - When the application is in process;

“Disposed Off” - When the application is disposed;

“Taken on file for Hearing” – When the application is posted for hearing by the

IC.

Through this facility, the status of any complaint or appeal filed before the

Commission could be known, round the clock 24 x 7 without any human

interface. This is a pioneering effort and has been operationalised for the first

time in the State of A.P. The Central Information Commission, Govt. of India has

strongly recommended such practice and facility to be emulated throughout the

Country. Between March 2008 to April 2009 319 people used this SMS service.

(APIC 3rd Annual Report 2008 pp. 177-183)

The above IT initiatives has enabled Andhra Pradesh Information Commission to

cover the entire spectrum of the activities of commission and help them in

disseminating the decisions status of appeals and complaints, status of RTI

applications in the state, preparation of annual report. Implementation of these

systems will help the Information Commissions in implementing section 4(1)(a)

since most of the information held by them will be in digitized format.

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IT Initiatives of the Punjab State Information Commission (APIC) url:

www.infocommpunjab.com4

The State Information Commission, Punjab has developed and adopted an

information system in consultation with National Informatics Centre (NIC), Punjab

and Technorite Consultants, Mohali, Punjab. To enable the storage and retrieval

of huge volumes of information, a three-tier system was developed and adopted.

Local Area Network (LAN): This is a proprietary system connecting workstations

and personal computers of various functionaries of the Commission. The LAN is

capable of transmitting data at very fast rates, much faster than data can be

transmitted over a telephone line and many users can share data simultaneously.

Management Information Software (INCOMS): This system can generate the

following reports:

Daily Case Register/ Cases registered in a period

Allocation of cases to various benches

Issue of Hearing Notice

Details of cases in progress

Cause List

Status/History of a Case

Department-wise Distribution of Cases

Public Authority-wise Distribution

Website: The Punjab State Information Commission was possibly the first State

Commission in the country to launch its functional website on 11th May, 2006. It

contains information on RTI Act, Punjab State Government Rules and Forms,

cause lists and MIS, like number of appeals registered, and disposed of in the

                                                            

4Report of National Sub Committee of Central Information Commission, July 2008, pp 13-14

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Information Commission on a monthly basis. All the orders given by the

Commission are also available on the web. Facility to search the orders is also

provided.

Internal Tracking of Appeals: The Punjab State Information Commission has

implemented a client-server based IT system for tracking the appeals filed in the

Commission. As and when an appeal is received in the Commission a Diary

number is given to the applicant and at the end of the day all these details are

keyed into the system and a unique number is given by the system to each

appeal or complaint. At the end of day after the hearings the status of appeals

are being updated. This system generates all the required reports for the

Commission.

Access to information through the Chhattisgarh E-Panchayat Project2

Chhattisgarh has an e-Panchayat project which connects all 146 Janpad

Panchayats and 16 Zila Panchayats in order to promote more effective

monitoring of the implementation of rural development schemes, including

monitoring finances. Accordingly, computer infrastructure is supposed to have

been provided at each Janpad Panchayat and Zila Panchayat. The Chief Minister

inaugurated the project on 26 January 2005. This project is being carried out in

collaboration with the Chhattisgarh Directorate of Panchayats and National

Informatics Centre (NIC) and NICSI. The expected benefits from this project

include:

Compilation of basic information of Gram Panchayats facilitating

enhanced decision-making;

                                                            

2 Sohini Paul & Charmaine Rodrigues, The Right to Information and PRIs: Chhatisgarh as a case study, CHRI, 2006. For more information visit the website of the E-Panchayat Project at: http://epanchayat.cg.nic.in.

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Collection and compilation of data regarding resources, financial

resources and income sources of Gram Panchayats;

Compilation of Gram Panchayat funds received through government aid,

people’s participation and donations;

On-line monitoring of rural development schemes down to panchayat

level;

On-line monitoring of beneficiary schemes, employment generation

schemes and other government schemes;

Compilation of data regarding work schemes, administrative management

and accounts.

Using the telephone to make information accessible

Project "JAANKARI"-A Facilitation Centre Approach5

Visualizing the ramifications of the RTI Act for people’s empowerment and its

effectiveness in reduction of corrupt practices in government offices, which result

mostly due to holding of information and avoiding transparency, the State

Government of Bihar decided to make provision of RTI Act more broad based

and easily accessible to ordinary people. It was decided that ICT (Information,

Communication and Technology) be innovatively and effectively employed for

expanding the base of the RTI access and that a Facilitation Centre called

"JAANKARI" for RTI be set up, for the first time in India. Inputs from "Parivartan"

and Sri Arvind Kejriwal helped in better formulation of the Project.

It is for the first time that a Facilitation Centre has been established to benefit the

citizens of the state under the provisions of Right to Information. This is a unique

experiment, first of its kind in India, and is aimed at “information empowerment”

                                                            

5Chanchal Kumar, “Project Report on Project ‘JAANKAARI’ An ICT Initiative through Facilitation”, http://cic.gov.in/.

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of the people. Various technology issues and RTI knowledge base issues are

continuously being handled to ensure quality and coverage. To overcome the

digital divide and illiteracy incapabilities, the Government of Bihar has utilized the

most usual of all communication i.e. voice communication over phone line. Ease

of Communication is the key to this project’s success. Now all the relevant

information is a phone call away. This innovate use of RTI Act will also promote

e-governance by disseminating useful information among the masses, especially

the disadvantaged sections. “JAANKARI” Facilitation Centre” Project is a win-win

situation to citizens, government and BSNL.

Bihar Government's RTI Facilitation Centre “JAANKARI” for filing RTI application

(RTI application filing dial number (RAN) 155311) with the concerned State

government Department works on premium rate services of BSNL. The system is

designed to enable a citizen wishing to file an application for seeking any

information under RTI Act, without any hassles of physical movement for

purchase of postal order (for the requisite RTI application fee of Rs.10/-) and

going to the designated RTI Officer of the concerned department. The primary

and mandatory requirement was to charge RTI application fee (Rs.10/-) from the

citizen without physical transaction of money. This could be fulfilled with the help

of BSNL Premium Rate Services, by paying at a premium rate i.e. higher than

the normal Call tariff. Later the Premium Service Provider gets his share of

revenue from BSNL consolidated over a month. Besides premium rate call

number, another five digit number dial (155310) for help line on normal tariff was

also made available for general enquiry on RTI and application status etc. Both

these numbers have been widely publicized for public knowledge and

consumption. During the two years of its existence, the call centre received

22,600 calls of which 7,070 were to submit applications under RTI, 3016 calls for

filing first appeal and 1,400 calls for filing second appeals before the state

information commission.

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The operation has been outsourced to a government neutral agency. The

Facilitation Centre executives are not from government and hence unbiased. The

Facilitation Centre executives were trained and sensitized. They are to receive

calls and convert the voice demands into "electronic format", compatible with the

RTI Act. Since issues involved varied with each request and it was difficult to

pinpoint the exact PIOs dealing with the issue, one senior administrative officer is

also made available to the Facilitation centre to help in co-ordinating with PIOs

and departmental heads. The official is well versed with the governmental system

and its "Rules of Executive Business" which assigns specific work to a

department and also mentions its delegated powers.

The fully equipped Facilitation Centre for RTI was pre-tested first and then

inaugurated by the Hon’ able Chief Minister on 29th January 2007. The

Facilitation Centre is operational since then on all working days. 30 Callers can

be heard and assisted on RTI Application Number (RAN) line at a time. RTI Help-

line Number (RHN) is being effectively manned for rendering all assistance on

RTI matters.

Procedures for filing “Request for Information”:

The Government after realizing a Facilitation Centre, advertised two

phone numbers to the public. One of the numbers is RTI Help-line Number

(RHN) and the other number is RTI Application Number (RAN).

RHN is an ordinary number with hunting line facility with normal Call

charges. If any citizen wants to get any help about how to use RTI, he can

use this number.

When a person calls up RAN, he is asked to give his name, address, what

information does he want and from which department does he want that

information. This conversation is voice recorded and also typed on

computer simultaneously by the Facilitation Centre executive receiving the

call request.

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If the citizen does not know the department concerned, then the

Facilitation Centre staff will help him identity it. But in some rare cases,

even the Facilitation Centre staff would not know about the exact

department. To deal with such cases, the Government has assigned a

government official to oversee the operation-centre. The official knows the

functioning of each department and the relevant issues connected with it.

So, he can supervise the operations at the centre and can facilitate in

ascertaining the correct PIO/APIOs.

Many ordinary citizens may not even know what types of information to

ask for. They would just know their problems. Facilitation Centre staff are

trained to help and deal with such cases. A good amount of handholding is

required to help the not-so-literate people. A patient, effective

conversation with a caller results in generation of one application.

Once an RTI application has thus been filled, the Facilitation center (FC)

will confirm its contents with the caller again & then take two copies of it

and send the first copy to the applicant. Each of these generated

applications will have a unique reference number, which will be assigned

by the computer S/W, itself. This reference number can be quoted on the

helpline to ask for the application's content (with proper mechanism to

respect one's privacy and address the security issues).

The Second copy will be sent to the concerned PIO by one of the following

methods :

If the PIO has access to e-mail, it will be sent through e-mail. This

is the quickest and cheapest way to transmit application.

If he does not have access to e-mail, the application will be faxed to

him.

If the neither has access to e-mail nor to the fax, it will be sent to

him by post.

The PIO will have 35 days (from the date of receipt of application in CC) to

provide information. During this period, the PIO should prepare

information and send it to the applicant directly.

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The Facilitation Centre will have provisions to remind the PIO on 34th day,

as delay in reply without adequate reasons may invite penal action from

the appellate authority or the information commission.

If applicant has not received the information or is not satisfied with the

information received, he can call up the Facilitation Centre again and

express his dissatisfaction after telling his reference no.

His dissatisfaction will be voice recorded and typed. This will become his

first appeal, which would be forwarded to the first appellate authority in the

same manner as the RTI application was done in the first place, with a

reference number.

The first appellate authority will deal with the appeal as he normally does.

The results will be communicated to the applicant directly.

If the applicant is not satisfied with the first appellate order, he can

similarly file his second, appeal. This will be submitted to State Information

Commission.

Both first and second appeal will have the requisite charges of RAN i.e,

Rs.10/per Facilitation. Suitable amendments were made in the Rule by the

state government to make similar fee for 1st and 2nd appeal.

Advantages to Citizens:

1. Sitting at home-Power of information is just a phone call away. Project

application was designed after wide consultations. Citizen is the focus of the

initiative,

2. No hassles of physical movement to PIO Office for filing RTI application,

3. Money saved by way of travel time/lost as well as for making drafts/Postal

order from Bank and Post offices,

4. Government bears the cost of the Facilitation Centre, cost of transmitting

the application to the concerned PIOs as well as substantial cost on

providing the premium call service,

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5. The Project keeps in mind differences in local culture when seeking to

engage citizens,

6. Even writing the application is done by Facilitation Centre executive,

7. Citizen's handicap arising out of linguistic variations can also be overcome

by the Facilitation Centre executives, who would screen and do the

necessary handholding,

8. No need to know the dynamic “Rules of Executive Business” of the

government i.e. which issue is to be referred to which department.

Advantage to Government:

1. Empowerment of common man, resulting in better compliance,

2. Unique application of a combination of state of the art communication

technologies for providing facilitation to citizen,

3. Man-hour saving for collection of RTI application in individual Departments

by centralizing it at The Facilitation Centre,

4. "JAANKARI"-first device of its kind in the country, announces the positive

intentions of the government loud and clear,

5. Introduces transparency in government,

6. Creates peer pressure and enabling environment for the government's

delivery system,

7. Project data analysis also indicates area of improvement as well as sectors

demanding state intervention.

Advantage to BSNL:

1. Opportunity to exploit technology for public facilitation and empowerment,

2. Additional source of Revenue in terms of revenue sharing,

3. Additional popularity among public.

 

 

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Bihar wins national e-governance award for RTI initiative

Bihar has won the national e-governance award 2008-09 for ’Jankari’, a Bihar

government initiative to empower people with information under RTI over

telephone. 6The award was given to the Bihar government’s unique project,

Jankari Call Centre under Right to Information Act (RTI), on February 12, 2010 at

the national conference on e-governance in Goa. The operators receiving the

calls in call centres draft the applications under RTI and send it to the public

authorities for providing requisite information to applicants. The award was given

by the Department of Administrative Reforms under Ministry of Personnel, New

Delhi.

Bihar helpline 7

Bihar has also launched a new helpline in January 2009, by using which people

can file complaints against the government officials who harass them for seeking

information using the RTI tool. CM Nitish Kumar dedicated the helpline (0612-

2219435) for public use. The CM himself made the first complaint using the

helpline against Rajnagar block supply officer in Madhubani district. "The CM

secretariat has received complaint from one Dhirendra Mahto of Karaiya

Panchayat in which the complainant claimed that an FIR was lodged against him

with the Rajnagar police station in August this year after he tried to seek some

information about public distribution system from the block supply officer," Nitish

informed the person attending the call on the newly launched helpline and asked

the call attendant to inform his secretary about the action taken. He immediately

got a complaint number (0001). Incidentally, all such complaints received would

be monitored directly by the state home secretary and DGP and emphasis would

                                                            

6 Shweta Singh, Bihar wins national e-governance award for RTI initiative, January 29, 2009, http://jaibihar.com/bihar-wins-national-award-for-e-governance/20092922.html 7 Sanjeev Kumar Verma, State launches helpline to file RTI complaint ,TNN, Nov 13, 2009, 07.43am IST http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/State-launches-helpline-to-file-RTI-complaint/articleshow/5224667.cms

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be to expedite the complaint redressal. "Officials found guilty of harassing

applicants would be dealt with sternly and, if needed, the government would not

hesitate to dismiss such officials from the service," Nitish told the gathering which

responded with thunderous applause. Nitish also launched the Phase-II of

Jaankari which would allow applicants to file RTI applications using e-mail. For

this, one needs to open the website biharonline.gov.in/rti in which one would get

an icon for filing RTI application through e-mail.

RTI Call Centre in Bangalore – Manjunath Trust8

The RTI call center in Bangalore which is maintained by Manjunath Trust is

another example where the telephone has proved to be a handy tool for the

speedy receipt and despatch of information relating to RTI. The number of this

national help line is 080- 666- 00- 999 (toll free only in Bangalore, for rest of

India, STD rates are charged). This center has five lines which is run by a

professional call center. The professional call-handlers who manage the calls

have been trained by Parivartan. The details of the information asked for by a

person are recorded immediately by the call center professionals and a daily

document can be accessed, if required. For those questions, which cannot be

answered by the call center professional, a technical expert on RTI is also

available.

A caller can ask for information related to RTI Act 2005, State rules of Karnataka,

list of Public Information Officers and appellate bodies in Karnataka, procedural

details of application and appeal, name and addresses of RTI activists from all

over India. The call center receives over 150-200 calls per day.

                                                            

8 Information accessed from PRIA report – ‘Tracking RTI in 8 States’, 2007

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Haryana -Helpline for RTI and NREGS9

The Haryana Government, which has emerged as the fourth best e-governed

state in the country has added another facility for the benefit of those seeking

information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and the National Rural

Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Act. Keeping in mind the difficulties of

the rural poor, the government decided to create a helpline for RTI and NREGS

will empower villagers to obtain the required information without hassles.

While the helpline for NREGS has become operative earlier, the RTI helpline has

become operational in March 2010. The panchayat and village development

department has launched the toll-free helpline number for NREGS —

18001802023. Villagers from any part of the state can register their complaints or

seek information about NREGS with the help of this number.

The NREGS helpline will keep a record of the complaint. A code number of the

complaint will be given to the information seeker. The helpline will facilitate

passing of the required information to the Government personnel concerned, the

BDO or the panchayat officer. For providing information under the RTI Act, a 24-

hour helpline, separate counters at e-Disha centres and post offices will be set

up. HARTRON has prepared a detailed action plan about providing information to

the consumers.

The RTI helpline will be manned by a call centre in the state. A team of qualified

personnel, having full knowledge of governance and procedures, will be given a

toll-free number with eight to 10 phone lines. Sources with HARTRON say the

system will have an automotive voice recording system (AVR) and the call will be

                                                            

9 Besides helpline, separate counters at e-Disha centres and post offices planned, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/no...aryana/402928/; http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/11405-now-helpline-right-information-haryana.html

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attended by an employee of the centre. The NGOs in the state have welcomed

the government’s move to facilitate information under the RTI and the NREGS.

RTI helpline in Gujarat10

On May 12, 2006, Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP), a group committed to

spreading awareness about RTI, launched a helpline in Gujarat to facilitate easy

access to information and help with consumer queries about RTI. As it celebrates

its third anniversary, the helpline has answered 38,269 phone calls on RTI-

related issues so far. The number of calls that the RTI helpline received indicate

that farmers seem to be the maximum users of Right to Information Act. Pankti

Jog, coordinator, MAGP, said, "Rural people know more about RTI. We also

receive more queries from them as compared to the urban population. Panchayat

members too use the helpline to get answer to their queries. In fact, the helpline

has been so successful that even public information officer (PIO) and appellate

organisations contact us to ensure transparency in processing the applications."

MAGP conducted an analysis of the calls which showed that a major part of calls

involved complaints about receiving partial or misleading information (15%),

followed closely by those about receiving information after the stipulated period

of 30 days (12%). Other complaints included applications being rejected,

applicants being threatened and information denied by the PIO.

An analysis of people calling up the helpline revealed that most of them were

farmers who had questions related to their land. Teachers, public information

officers, differently-abled people, social workers and small entrepreneurs also

formed a sizeable number of callers. This study shows that while the RTI helpline

has been largely successful in spreading awareness, a lot still needs to be done

                                                            

10 RTI helpline completes 3 years today, TNN, May 12, 2009, 03.43am ISThttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/RTI-helpline-completes-3-years-today/articleshow/4511403.cms

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to increase understanding of the service and to ensure honest and speedy

delivery of information.

RTI Helpline at DU11

There is help at hand for Delhi University (DU) students keen on unearthing facts

through Right to Information (RTI) Act. And it's just a phone call away. Any

queries about the Act and its use can now be addressed by a helpline launched

for DU students. RTI is a popular tool to seek information on marksheets,

examination and the moderation system. The helpline was launched by the YTF.

At DU, students have quite often used it to get information that the administration

does not otherwise provide. Through the helpline, the YTF aims to make the

process of filing an RTI query simpler. Apart from providing the names of the

concerned Public Information Officers (PIOs) in different DU colleges and

information on how to file a query, the helpline will also help students draft

questions.

Multiple channels to file RTI pleas12

Filing a Right to Information (RTI) application may no longer mean multiple trips

to government offices and suffering the indifferent attitude of babus. A

government report has outlined multiple channels for acceptance of RTI

applications like post offices, common service centres, RTI portal and call centre

to streamline the process of providing information to people. If recommendations

are accepted, RTI pleas could be filed at a service centre or in comfort of home

even as one finishes up household chores.

                                                            

11 DU students get RTI helpline, Fri, Jan 22 11:00 AM, http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20100122/1053/tnl-du-students-get-rti-helpline.html 12 Himanshi Dhawan, Multiple channels to file RTI pleas, TNN, Jul 16, 2009, 04.31am IST http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Multiple-channels-to-file-RTI-pleas/articleshow/4782568.cms

  22

Common service centres (CSCs) are single window outlets for many government

services that are being opened under National e-Governance Plan. The scheme

envisages 1 lakh CSCs or approximately 1 CSC for 6 villages that will facilitate

citizens with RTI applications. The report ‘Understanding the key issues and

constraints in implementing RTI Act’ prepared by Pricewaterhouse Coopers in

association with IMRB has suggested that post offices in states be allowed to

accept applications. As done by states like Bihar and Haryana, the report has

urged the Centre to initiate a national level helpline and has urged setting up of

an RTI portal. The study suggested that Centre and states should earmark 1% of

their budget for implementation of these recommendations. The report has

suggested use of RTI complaint standard templates that will ensure quick and

reasoned orders and reduce margin for error.

II Good practices relating to the effective use of the RTI Act to improve access of marginalized populations to government schemes

The Right to Information Act is not the only law that gives a right of access to

information. Beyond the Right to Information Act, there are some stronger

provisions in other laws which promote transparency.

The PDS (Control) (Amendment) Order, 2004, which entered into force on 29

June 2004, enables citizens to directly seek information from a fair price shop

owner. Punishment for withholding information may extend up to three months

imprisonment.

Another historic law, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has built in

transparency prerequisites. The nodal Ministry goes one step ahead in facilitating

transparency by reducing time limit for disclosure of the records requested under

the Right to Information Act to just ‘seven days’ and further fees for obtaining

information to ‘photocopying costs’. It is a pleasant surprise to know that the

invocation of section 8(1) is not allowed at all.

  23

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005(NREGA) Operational

Guidelines 2008, 3rd edition, Ministry of Rural Development. Para 11.1.2 states

as follows: Requests for copies of NREGS-related documents submitted under

NREGA should be complied with within seven days. No request should be

refused under any circumstances. In particular, no information should be withheld

by invoking Clause [section] 8 of the Right to Information Act. All NREGA-related

information is in the public domain.13

Using proactive disclosure to improve the Public Distribution System in Surguja District14 In October 1996, a programme was introduced to increase the transparency in

the public distribution system through public scrutiny of the distribution of

essential commodities like rice, sugar, wheat and kerosene oil supplied by fair-

price shops in Surguja district. All fair-price shops are required to maintain three

registers – a Stock Register, Sales Register and Ration Card Register. It is the

duty of the shop to prepare a copy of the register and get it certified by the lead

co-operative in the region.

In support of the transparency programme, copies of the registers are now made

available to the people at the tehsil office. Any resident can obtain a copy of the

register within 24 hours on payment of Rs 3. Before implementing the

programme, special Gram Sabhas were organised in all of Surguja district’s

Gram Panchayats, where public leaders and officials explained the merits of the

scheme to the villagers. In the very first month the programme was implemented,

it was reported that there were about 2,50,000 kilograms of stock unused in the

district and leakage to the black market was reduced. The Sarpanch has been

given the responsibility to ensure proper custody and maintenance of records

                                                            

13 Srinivas Madhav 14 Chhattisgarh Infrastructure Development Corporation, “Chhattisgarh Vision 2010”, Raipur, referred in Sohini Paul & Charmaine Rodrigues The Right to Information and PRIs: Chhatisgarh as a case study, 2006, CHRI

  24

and registers of the Gram Panchayat and to ensure that all the statements and

reports required are properly prepared.

Proactive disclosure about how panchayats implement rural development schemes The National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) has released a publication,

“Implementation of Rural Development Programmes - Role of PRIs in the context

of the Right to Information Act”15, which is meant to provide information to locals

about how to access information from panchayats about all major rural

development schemes run by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). MoRD

implements a number of rural development and poverty alleviation programmes,

which support infrastructure in villages, offer employment and provide subsidised

food grains, shelter and drinking water to villagers. It is primarily the responsibility

of Panchayati Raj Institutions to implement these schemes. However, the

implementation role of Gram Sabhas and panchayats at village, block and district

levels in relation to these programmes is often not known by villagers, and in

many cases is not even known by elected panchayat members themselves. The

NIRD publication is intended to fill this information gap by disseminating

information about the role of panchayats (particularly the Gram Sabha) in the

implementation of rural development programmes. It is directed both at the public

and at elected panchayat members It also includes a chapter explaining the

salient features of the RTI Act.

Proactive Disclosure about the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) 200516

The Punjab Government initiated the process of giving jobs to the rural

unemployed youth under this scheme in 1,317 villages in Hoshiarpur district on 2

                                                            

15referred in Sohini Paul & Charmaine Rodrigues, The Right to Information and PRIs: Chhatisgarh as a case study, CHRI, 2006. The publication can be obtained from NIRD - Address: Rajendranagar, Hyderabad – 500030; Website: www.nird.org.in. 16 referred in Sohini Paul & Charmaine Rodrigues, The Right to Information and PRIs: Punjab as a case study, CHRI, 2006

  25

February 2006. On that day it was also discussed that mini secretariats would

be set up in each village which would be equipped with modern libraries and

digitisation of all panchayat records would be undertaken under this scheme.

Commitment to transparency and accountability runs throughout the NREGA,

which was enacted soon after the Right to Information Act 2005 became fully

operational throughout the country. There is a separate chapter on Transparency

and Accountability: Role of the State in the Operational Guidelines document.

The key points stated here are as follows:

Request for copies of REGS related documents submitted under NREGA

should be complied within seven days. All the documents are in public

domain and no information should be refused by invoking Section 8 of the

RTI Act.

Key documents related to NREGA should be proactively disclosed to the

public without waiting for anyone to ‘apply’ for them. A list of such

documents should be prepared by the State Employment Guarantee

Council, and updated from time to time. For the purposes of regular

monitoring and reviewing the implementation of this Act at the State level,

every state government shall constitute a State Employment Guarantee

Council. Whenever feasible, these documents should be made available

on the Internet.

Public access to key records and information must be ensured at all

levels. Some of these include: updated data on demand received;

registration; number of job cards issued; list of people who have

demanded and been given/not given employment; funds received and

spent; payments made; works sanctioned and works started; cost of works

and details of expenditure on it; duration of work and person-days

generated; reports of local committees; copies of muster rolls.

REGS- related accounts of each Gram Panchayat should be proactively

displayed and updated twice a year. Summary accounts should be

displayed through various means, including paintings on the walls at the

  26

Panchayat Bhawan, postings on notice boards and publication in Annual

Reports available at cost price.

Report Cards on local works, employment and funds should be posted by

the Gram Panchayats on its premises and by the Programme Officer at

the Panchayat Samiti/ Programme Officer’s office, and for the whole

district by the District Programme Coordinator at the District Programme

Coordinator/Zila Parishad office.

III Good Practices relating to the Suo-motu disclosure of

information Under section 4 of the Act every Public Authority is to maintain its records

systematically, and, as far as possible, to computerize these records and connect

them through a network all over the country on different systems. Further, Public

Authority is to publish complete details of its functioning, its powers,

responsibilities, duties, the name of all its employees, their salaries, the

documents held by them, the budget available etc. and the facilities for the

common public to access information in all these offices. As many as 17

manuals in which complete information regarding the functioning of every

Department and Public Authority has to be published on the public domain. The

Authorities are required to provide reasons for their administrative or quasi-

judicial decisions to affected persons. The remaining portions of section 4, that is

sections 4 (2), 4(3) and 4(4), require the Public Authorities to provide suo motu

information to the Public from time to time, to disseminate such information

widely in such form and manner as is easily accessible to the public, and place it

to the extent possible in electronic format. The Central Government as well as

the State Governments had repeatedly expressed their commitment to

computerization and adoption of information technology. Substantial funds had

also been set apart under various projects and schemes of the Central and State

Governments for this purpose.

  27

The Bhoomi Project 17

The Revenue Department of Karnataka has digitized and put online its land

records for their electronic management. Bhoomi arose out of the need to create

a system that would prevent as far as possible the inaccuracies that marred the

manual system of maintaining land records. This is a Central scheme

implemented by the state Revenue Department through its Deputy

Commissioners of districts. The land records of 177 taluks were computerised.

Under Bhoomi, land records are updated and changes made online so that when

farmers request a record of rights, tenancy and crops (RTC), the information is

current. The software incorporates the updation of land ownership details in its

business process itself so that there is no lag in the updation method. This

system allows officials to add other information to that which already exists, see

all pending work in their inbox, provides enough inbuilt help to recover data from

a crashed system, and has an inherent state of the art security system to protect

the system and records from any sort of manipulation. Today farmers can directly

access 20 million digitised land records that were earlier maintained by 9000

village officials manually.

Significant initiatives undertaken by Public Authorities

Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Ministry of

Parliamentary affairs, Department of Bio-Technology, and Ministry of Mines

have used their websites to disseminate information about activities of their own

departments/ministries. Department of Administrative Reforms and Public

Grievances has used its department website (http://darpggrievances.nic.in) to

facilitate lodging of grievances by any citizens from any web based facility

anywhere in India.

                                                            

17 CIC Annual report 2005-06, p 31

  28

Ministry of Mines has reported that its existing Public Grievance Redressal and

Monitoring System (PGRMS) are being upgraded to a more comprehensive

monitoring system that will become operational shortly to users.

Proactive Disclosure by Zila Parishad, Ludhiana18

The Zila Parishad of Ludhiana district has disclosed the following

information on its website proactively (http://ludhiana.nic.in/dept/local-

zila-parishad.html);

Composition of the Zila Parishad including the list of names and

addresses of all the elected members;

Names and addresses of Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons of all

the Panchayat Samitis in Ludhiana district;

Names and contact details of government officials of the Zila

Parishad i.e. the Chief Executive Officer and his deputy besides

others;

List of properties owned by the Zila Parishad; and

Important schemes being run by the Zila Parishad.

Besides this, the website also provides a brief write-up about the

salient features of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act 1994.

India’s First Transparent Office19

The Information Technology & Communications Department of the Government

of Andhra Pradesh has launched India’s first transparent office. Citizens can

access documents, files, orders and status of applications, and so forth, online,

anywhere and anytime by visiting the office at <http://kmbank.ap.gov.in>. Other

departments in the State are expected to follow suit. The Information Technology

& Communications Department of the Government of Other initiatives include:

                                                            

18Sohini Paul & Charmaine Rodrigues, The Right to Information and PRIs: Punjab as a case study, CHRI, 2006 19 Information accessed from CGG report – ‘Innovations/Good practices in implementation of RTI 2005, 2009, as well as from PWC report –‘ Understanding the Key issues and Constraints in implementing the RTI ACT’, June 2009

  29

All the Government Orders are being made available at

<http://goir.ap.gov.in/Reports.aspx>

Entire Gazette is being made available at < http://gazette.ap.gov.in/>

Citizen to Government Interface, to enhance responsiveness among public

authorities, was developed by the Centre for Good Governance at

<http://webapps.cgg.gov.in/gms/welcome.do>, which enables citizens to

register their complaints online and know status of the complaints.

Nagaland tops RTI survey list of states

A ‘National Assessment of the degree of compliance to suo motu disclosure

provisions under RTI Act 2005’ conducted by Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore,

has shown that Nagaland is at the top in terms of suo motu disclosure by its

Public Authorities. The survey identified Nagaland as being RTI compliant

especially in suo motu disclosure of its Public Authorities with 62% followed by

Delhi (56%), Bihar (55%), Punjab (51%) and Andhra Pradesh (49%).The survey

further showed that Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam had a zero

percent score, as seen from their respective websites.

The same survey has shown that in the Government of India, Department of

Commerce and Ministry of Panchayati Raj top scored with 87%, while Ministry of

Agriculture and Cooperation and Ministry of Environment and Forest at 11%.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation contained no information what

so ever, as the website contained no information. The survey conducted in

December 2008 took a view of 500 websites to arrive at the findings.

Self-Disclosure of Panchayats in Madhya Pradesh20

In a significant move to empower people with information, Samarthan, a Bhopal

based nongovernmental organisation, motivated 5 Panchayats each in Sehore

                                                            

20 Information accessed from CGG report – ‘Innovations/Good practices in implementation of RTI 2005, 2009.

  30

and Ajaygarh to prepare self disclosure manuals in accordance with the Section

4 (1) (b) of the RTI Act 2005. These documents were prepared and were kept at

the Panchayat so that the Gram Sabha members could review the document at

any time.

In some other panchayats information relevant to the citizens were put up on

notice-boards for the citizen. Seven panchayats in Ajaygarh block have displayed

cost and physical details of the development works undertaken during the year

on notice boards. This contains information on the works undertaken, the budget

and the actual cost incurred. Five panchayats each in Ichchawar and Pawai

blocks displayed the list of persons benefited under different schemes.

Meghalaya MLA declares suo motu21

A suo motu disclosure made by the MLA of 21 Mawprem Assembly Constituency

in the form of a booklet listing all schemes ( physical and financial) taken up by

him in his constituency under the MLA Scheme during the year 2004-05 and

2005-06. The Commission recommends that Government should make it

obligatory on the part of the implementing agencies to prepare and publish the

list of all the schemes (physical and financial) implemented under MLA scheme

during the year, constituency-wise. The same should be done with respect to

MPLADS.

Audit of Proactive Disclosure – A mechanism developed by CGG and used

by Andhra Pradesh to assess compliance 22

CGG has developed a methodology that has identified 25 parameters for audit

and segregated them into 3 broad categories, based on their relative importance:

There are 10 parameters with high relative importance (A)

                                                            

21 Information accessed from CGG report – ‘Innovations/Good practices in implementation of RTI 2005, 2009. 22 Information accessed from CGG report – ‘Innovations/Good practices in implementation of RTI 2005, 2009.

  31

There are 8 parameters with average/medium relative importance (B)

There are 7 parameters with low importance (C)

Based on the relative importance of the three categories, different weightages

have been accorded to the different categories – 0.5 to high importance

parameters, 0.3 to average importance parameters and 0.2 to low importance

parameters.

Each parameter is rated on a 3-point quantitative rating scale (0:1:2) to assess

quality / extent of compliance on that parameter. Scores obtained on different

parameters are summed to get the category scores and percentages. The

weightages are applied to each category percentage to get the final score which

reveals the overall percentage of compliance by the public authority. Based on

the percentage of compliance, public authorities can be graded into 4 types. The

methodology also enables qualitative feedback on each parameter of proactive

disclosure.

Role of NGOs and civil Society organizations in Proactive Disclosure 23

A number of NGOs in various states are organizing Jansunvai (Public Hearings)

and RTI camps, spreading awareness about the RTI Act throughout the state

with particular emphasis on disadvantaged group. The basic objectives of these

camps and public meetings is to motivate people to use RTI act as weapon for

realizing their rights, ensuring implementation of the RTI Act in letter and spirit

and Monitoring compliance of public authority with the provisions of the Act. The

public hearing (jansunvai) is one of the most powerful public tools to demand

accountability from local governance units.

                                                            

23 Learning Visit to a “Best Practice” Area on Decentralization “Jansunvai”

  32

Public Hearing or Jansunvai is open-air hearing where official records of state

development projects are exposed to the scrutiny of the intended beneficiaries.

To refer to the genesis of jansunvai as a tool for promoting accountability in local

administration, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in Rajasthan which is a

working example of transparent organization, triggered the conceptualization of

jansunvai by building the grassroots movement for transparency of government

functioning and people’s Right to Information (RTI).

In Delhi NGOs like Parivartan and National Campaign for People’s Right to

Information (NCPRI) are organizing such public hearings. Residents of

resettlement colonies, concerned officials, NGO activists, media and members of

UNIAWGD are present to attend the jansunvai. A panel of eminent citizens is

invited to preside over the proceedings which generally include retired Judges,

community leaders, NGO activists, Journalists, Representatives from GoI etc.

This panel seeks modes of accountability to resolve some of the problems to be

thrown up during the public hearing.

Despite the new Panchayati Raj Acts in each state of India in conformity with the

provisions of 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments and the Right to

Information Act, information regarding the local administration accounts is difficult

to come by for local people. This culture of secrecy fosters corruption, which has

led not only to denial of public facilities to the common man but also development

officials paying contractors for non-existent works. The mode of jansunvai

exposes these links and enables ordinary citizens to have their voices heard.

Excitement and energy is built in by the artist co-workers of the organizing NGO

by using a combination of songs, slogans, and puppetry to highlight such finer

points of the subject of jansunvai, thus setting in the tone for everyone to actively

participate in the hearing. The basic objective of these public hearings is

“Hamara Paisa, Hamara Hisab”.

Usually photocopies of the records of works of the concerned department using

the RTI Act is obtained and this information is disseminated amongst the

  33

residents of locality, to begin the process of verification of works. Then the

residents of the locality are invited to voice their comments related to verification

of actual work done. This helps in the evaluation of work done on the spot. The

jansunwai has demonstrated the proportion of embezzlement and the urgency

with which, the issue needs to be tackled. It clearly demonstrates that most of the

time, it is not the inadequacy of funds but leakages, which are responsible for

poor development. The jansunwai has had tremendous impact on the psyche

and morale of the people. The community, this way, becomes aware that it is

possible to hold the government accountable in full public glare in this manner.

Due to efforts of the RTI campaign and local organizations, there have been

public hearings of this kind in rural areas in several states. There have also been

public hearings on a range of subjects including human rights, democratic rights,

environmental concerns and issues of governance.

IV Good Practices adopted by the Information Commissions:

The Central Information Commissions have taken a number of innovative steps

not only for the timely disposal of complaints/ appeals but also to generate

awareness among the public. These steps by the information commissions are of

vital importance in the context of their roles and responsibilities under the RTI Act

and have direct impact on the implementation of the RTI Act.

Information Dissemination by Central Information Commission 24

The Central Information Commission launched its web site (http://www.cic.gov.in)

to make free access of information possible to the citizens of the country about

its activities. Since then the website has been made more user friendly and

comprehensive in terms of contents. Now anyone can access all information

about RTI Act, RTI-MIS, decisions of CIC, status of Appeal and Complaints, CIC

                                                            

24 Annual Report CIC, 2006-07, p. 49

  34

Tenders, CIC Notifications, cause list of CIC, press releases etc. Website has

enabled an efficient means of communication between CIC and Citizens. It has

made CIC more efficient, user friendly, transparent and open in functioning. It

has made the task of information dissemination much simpler. Its utility can be

further enhanced by making the same information available in National Language

and also in regional languages.

Use of Video Conferencing technology for reducing cost to Citizens

Central Information Commission is helping large segment of the information

seekers in reducing cost by using video conferencing network for giving

opportunity of hearing while discharging its responsibilities. CIC conducted first

hearing using video conferencing facilities set up by National Information Center

(NIC), New Delhi and NIC, Raipur. Appellant and respondents were at Raipur

and bench comprising of CIC Sh. Wajahat Habibullah and Information

Commissioner Prof. M.M. Ansari were at New Delhi. Since then CIC has

conducted many hearings whenever there is need and depending on the

availability of video conference infrastructure and hope to continue to do so in

future. This effort on part of CIC will save time and money of the citizens in

seeking justice.

Workshop/ Seminar/ Invited lectures attended / delivered by CIC and ICs

The Central Information Commission and Information Commissioners attended

various workshops, seminars and delivered invited talks on subjects related RTI

Act 2005 and other subjects related in various parts of the country as well as

abroad.

  35

Publication of Material by APIC and CGG25

APIC in association with Centre for Good Governance, has printed a number of

material to generate awareness among the public. The copies of RTI Act were

printed and distributed to the various Public Authorities along with the templates

on RTI Act as per Sections 4(1)(b) & 5(1) & (2). At the behest of APIC, Centre for

Good Governance also got printed the following material and distributed to the

Public Authorities; - Users guide on RTI Act; Manual for Public Authorities,

Information Officers & Appellate Authorities; Citizen’s Guide; Guide for Civil

Society Organisations; Media Guide; Pamphlets ; User Guides; Stickers; Posters.

Apart from Government, Quasi Governmental Institutions and Public

Undertakings, many private and Non-Governmental Organizations are also

encouraged to bring out publications to promote awareness among the common

people on RTI Act and its usages. In consultation with the A.P. Information

Commission, several Civil Society Organisations and other Institutions like PRIA,

WAASAN, APMAS, SPACE, ASHA, LOKSATTA, APUWJ, SACIR, FBV, CPF

etc., are carrying out their own efforts for the better implementation of the RTI

Act, 2005. Under the overall guidance of the A.P. Information Commission, the

MCR HRD Institute has also conducted (15) Information Fairs for publicizing the

RTI Act and distributed pamphlets to all the participants and the visitors to the

Information Fairs. Several thousands of people visited these Fairs.

Uttarakhand Information Commission has also brought out several publications

both in English and Hindi for dissemination among the officials and civil society.

The publications are in the form of newsletters, guidebooks and manuals.

                                                            

25 APIC Annual Report 2007, p.7-8 and APIC Annual Report 2005-06

  36

Journal – ‘Kerala State Information Reporter’26

The Kerala State Information Commission (KSIC) has been publishing a

Quarterly journal titled the ‘Kerala State Information Reporter’. This journal

contains all important judgments, rulings and orders of the State Information

Commission, during the three months covering the quarter. This journal can

further include decisions which State Information Commissioners feel are

interesting and which reflect a new point of law or a new situation which needs to

be studied. This journal would provide help to information providers in disposing

cases of similar nature and would further spread awareness of the RTI and

activities being undertaken.

Innovative steps by A. P. Information Commission27

With a view to improve the functioning of the Information Commission, the

Commission took the following innovative steps:

1. Based on the Secretariat Manual, District office Manual and Central

Administration Tribunal's Rules, the Commission categorized the various

disposals and fixed the time limits for the retention of disposals.

2. To avoid delays in identifying the defective appeals/complaints, the

Commission has adopted the system of pre-scrutiny at the reception stage and is

returning defective appeals/complaints immediately on their receipt for

rectification and re-submission.

3. Soon after an appeal/ complaint is admitted for hearing, the fact is being

intimated through notices to the parties and the respondents are being

simultaneously directed to file their affidavits. This has brought in a triple

advantage of (1) the appellant is becoming aware of the status of the appeal/

                                                            

26 Information accessed from PWC report –‘ Understanding the Key issues and Constraints in implementing the RTI ACT’, June 2009 27 APIC Annual Report 2008, p.32

  37

complaint; (2) the respondents are able to submit affidavits indicating the status;

and (3) by the time of hearing, most of the respondents are able to provide the

information. Experience has shown that in many cases the appellants/complaints

are no longer interested to attend hearings before the Commission as they are

already in receipt of information and have withdrawn their appeals.

Divisional benches of State Information Commission in Maharashtra28

In order to strengthen the delivery and reach of its services, the Maharashtra

State Information Commission had introduced the concept of divisional benches.

In this initiative, the State is divided into five regions and for every region a State

Information Commissioner is appointed who is responsible for disposing off the

appeals in his area. Accordingly, the Maharashtra Information Commission has 5

divisional benches in Pune, Mumbai, Aurangabad, Amravati and Nagpur to

enable citizens to approach the most convenient bench.

The State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC) is responsible for general

superintendence, direction and management of the affairs of the State

Information Commission. The State Information Commissioners assists SCIC by

discharging their duties in following cities:

• Pune • Aurangabad • Nagpur • Konkan • Greater Mumbai

Orissa is prioritizing Public Interest Cases29

During disposal of applications and Second appeals, the Orissa State Information

Commission identified two types of disputes; one involving public interest and the

other individual interest of citizens. The State Commission has decided to accord

                                                            

28 Information accessed from PWC report –‘ Understanding the Key issues and Constraints in implementing the RTI ACT’, June 2009 29 Information accessed from CGG report – ‘Innovations/Good practices in implementation of RTI 2005, 2009.

  38

priority to disposal of public interest cases by putting an identifying mark on the

case record as ‘PIC’. These cases are dealt with on a fast track basis on an inter

se first-cum-first-heard basis, subject to the proviso u/S.7 (1) involving life or

liberty of an individual.

Orissa SIC sets up Division Bench for impartial judgments on imposing penalty30

The Orissa State Information Commission hears cases involving imposition of

penalty on erring PIOs/referred PIOs in the Division Bench (so that the

considered opinion of the State Commission can be reflected in the decision).

The erring PIOs who without any reasonable cause have violated the provisions

of Section 7(1)of the Act by not providing information within the stipulated

maximum period of 30 days have been taken to task by the State Commission by

imposing cash penalty on them in accordance with the provisions of Section

20(1) of the Act.

Additionally, the recovery of the cash penalty imposed on such PIOs is also

monitored at intervals by the Secretary, Orissa Information Commission by

holding regular meetings with the officials of the concerned Public Authorities.

V Good Practices in the Implementation of RTI Act by the Central/ State Government to make information available to the people and for generating awareness

Single Window Delivery Services at Suwidha Centre, Nawanshahr District, Punjab31 SUWIDHA (Single User-friendly Window Disposal and Help-line for Applicants)

Centres have been built in all the districts of the state to provide district

administration services to the citizens. In order to streamline the delivery of

                                                            

30 Information accessed from CGG report – ‘Innovations/Good practices in implementation of RTI 2005, 2009. 31 referred in Sohini Paul & Charmaine Rodrigues, The Right to Information and PRIs: Punjab as a case study, CHRI, 2006. See also Based on a paper on “Single window delivery services at Suwidha Centre” written by Mr. Krishan Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Nawanshahr district

  39

government services through a single window for citizens and with the additional

objective of changing the mindset of secrecy that government officers are

habituated to, the district administration of Nawanshahr has set up a state-of-the-

art Suwidha Centre located at the district headquarters. This centre is a two-

storied building with computerised facilities for providing around 100 services

through 26 windows. One of the windows provides information related to the RTI

Act 2005, namely the list of APIOs, PIOs and Appellate Authorities in the district

along with their telephone numbers and other contact details. The major services

include attestation of affidavit on the spot, delivery of birth and death certificates,

passport applications, registration of marriages, counter signatures of

documents, arms licenses, renewal of licenses, driving licenses, registration of

vehicles, collection of electricity and telephone bills, delivery of copy of revenue

records and court orders in a time bound manner. On an average about 1000

people visit the Suwidha Centre on a working day. One of the services provided

at this centre is “patwari at your call” which was introduced in the district from 1

August 2005. Under this service a toll free number 55501 has been provided and

software has been developed incorporating mobile telephone numbers of the

patwaris etc. An applicant desiring to have a copy of a revenue record or to

redress his grievances can dial this number at any time of the day or night. Once

an applicant submits the details on the toll free number, a call is made

immediately to the village patwari to provide such records to the Suwidha Centre.

The latter then sends the documents by courier to the residence of the applicant

within 48 hours from the time the first call was made by the applicant.

RTI Counter – Accepting the suggestion of Haryana State Information

Commission, Haryana government along with NIC has started RTI counter in

every District of Haryana. This RTI counter will be helpful to the people who want

to file RTI application. After opening of these RTI counters the applicants will not

be required to visit the departments again and again to get the information. The

information from the department will reach these counters from where the same

will be passed on to the applicants.

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Haryana to create RTI Cell in CS office32

The Haryana government has decided to create a Right to Information (RTI) Cell

in the office of the Chief Secretary to ensure timely response to RTI queries. The

Administrative Secretaries had been asked to designate one officer in each

department as Nodal Public Information Officer (PIO) who would be part of RTI

Cell and would co-ordinate with other PIOs of their respective departments to

ensure effective implementation of web based RTI system, as well as appeals.

Capacity Building for Access to Information33

Since the year 2006, the Government of India (DoPT) has been executing a

UNDP funded project to build capacity for effective implementation of the RTI

Act. This project covers all states and within each state 2 selected districts.

Under this project, more than 75000 stakeholders including resource

persons/trainers, PIOs/ APIOs, other government officials, representatives from

NGOs and media etc. have been trained across different states in India.

However, this intervention is quite limited in its mandate. There is every need to

upscale this initiative to cover every district in the country.

The Project Components are:

1. Training and Capacity Building: Create a cadre of National, State, District

and Block resource persons and provide training to key stakeholders at

both the supply and demand sides;

2. Research and Documentation: Undertake action research and

documentation on implementation of Right to Information Act and for

building a knowledge bank of case studies and best practices;

3. Mass Awareness Campaign: Generate immense public awareness on

Right to Information, particularly at the grassroots level, through use of

                                                            

32 Information accessed from CGG report – ‘Innovations/Good practices in implementation of RTI 2005, 2009. 33 NiA, A GoI and UNDP initiative, http://www.rti.org.in/nia/

  41

different media vehicles such as pamphlets/brochures, print and electronic

media, road shows/kalajathas etc.

4. Clearing House: Networking among practitioners and project

implementation agencies and dissemination of best practices and

experiences on the Right to Information.

5. Information Fairs/Information Audit: Information fairs or open houses for

citizens to seek information from government agencies at State and

District levels as well as audit of information requests and their disposal.

6. Dissemination and Advocacy: Sensitizing and disseminating information

on RTI to key stakeholders through distribution of RTI Act, user guides

and manuals in local languages, seminars, advocacy workshops etc.

7. Multi-stakeholders workshops: Conducting workshops involving key

stakeholders at National, State and District levels. Some key workshops

planned include a Retreat of Information Commissioners, Media Conclave,

Workshops with State Secretaries, ATI Directors, District Collectors, CSO

representatives etc.

Project Period: Three Years

Project Output

Components Outputs

Planning for Capacity

Building, Project

Implementation, Review

and Monitoring

Project Work Plan

Capacity Building Strategy for Right to Information

Project Management & Monitoring System

E-Tool for Tracking Implementation

Training and Capacity

Building

Preparation of training manuals and guides:

Handbook of Trainers

Manual for PIOs and APIOs

Citizen’s Guide on RTI

Guide for CSOs and NGOs

Guide for Media

  42

Case Studies and Best Practices

FAQs

Training of 1000 Resource Persons at NIA

Training of 12000 Resource Persons - Key

Stakeholders (PIOs/APIOs, Govt. Officials, CSOs,

NGOs, Media representatives, SHGs etc) at State

and District level

Dissemination and

Advocacy

Printing and Distribution of RTI Act, Citizen’s Guide

on RTI, Brochures etc.

Advocacy Workshops, Seminars etc. at State and

District level

Outreach Activities

Information Audit

Audit of Information Requests and Disposal

Information Fairs/Open Houses at State and District

level

Multi-stakeholders

workshops

Retreat of Information Commissioners

Country Strategy for Capacity Building on RTI

State Secretaries Workshop

District Collectors Meet

Conclave of CSOs/NGOs/Media representatives

Other Stakeholder workshops

Coverage: The project is being simultaneously undertaken across 26 States and

52 Districts (2 in each State) in the country with the help of the Administrative

Training Institutions.

Role of National Implementing Agency-NIA (CGG-YASHADA)

The following role is envisaged for the National Implementing Agency:

Preparation of a detailed implementation and partnership strategy for this

project;

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Preparation of log frame matrix, work plan and budget for the entire scope

and duration of the project;

Periodic reviews, preparation of annual work plans and budget;

Preparatory/background work necessary for implementing the various

activities under the project;

Close monitoring of the project with reference to the work plans, including

periodic reports of physical and financial progress; and

Any other operational and substantive support that would be required for

the project.

RTI on Wheels

The feedback obtained was that the training had helped in brining about

awareness of the provisions of the Act, but its coverage was limited especially in

the rural areas. So in order to enhance mass awareness, MATI in Meghalaya

state took up the RTI on wheels to the Deputy Commissioners of the concerned

districts i.e. Jaintia Hills and West Garo Hills. A Government vehicle loaded with

IEC materials in local dialect, resource persons from the district were engaged

for the purpose of spreading awareness about Right to Information. The

programmes were conducted during weekly market days and people of

neighboring villages who visit the market were exposed to RTI. Special

attractions of the program were skits, street plays and songs performed by local

youth to spread the message of RTI to the people. The turnout and results were

overwhelming. RTI on wheel was also conducted at two other districts by SIA at

2 Districts i.e. EGH & Ri Bhoi Dist.

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National RTI Awards, 2009 34

National RTI Awards 2009 commemorates the spirit of the Right to Information

(RTI) Act. The award felicitates the key players who work closely with each other

to make the Act a success. National Right to Information Awards have been

constituted to honour those Information Commissioners, Public Information

Officers and Citizens of India who have been actively involved in successful

implementation of the Right to Information Act 2005 in the country. There are

                                                            

34 National RTI awards instituted, TNN, Jun 14, 2009, 03.51am IST, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/National-RTI-awards-instituted/articleshow/4653740.cms; Access information at http://www.rtiawards.org/

  45

three categories of the Awards this year, namely Best Information Commissioner

of the Year, Best Public Information Officer of the Year, and Best Citizen of the

Year Award.

Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF) has invited nominations for its

National Right to Information (RTI) Awards, 2009. Instituted in 2009, the awards

will be presented in November every year to those who have displayed

exemplary commitment to RTI. There are five awards in three different

categories. One award would be given to an outstanding information

commissioner, who enables access to correct and complete information to a

maximum number of appellants. Two awards would be given to public

information officers who provide comprehensive and accurate information to a

maximum number of applicants within the prescribed time limit. The other two

awards would be given to citizens who create a maximum impact by using the

RTI Act. To honour and recognise the contribution of the bureaucratic

community as a whole to gather relevant data, which could go a long way in

identifying the shortcomings in the current system of the RTI as well as

suggesting possible reforms. Each award carries a citation, a plaque and a prize

money of Rs 2 lakh. Apart from the awards, at least a dozen citations would be

given away to information commissioners, public information officers and

citizens.

All information commissioners in the country are automatic nominees, however,

nominations are being invited from public information officers and citizens. They

can either nominate themselves or can be nominated by someone else.

Nominations can be sent online at www.rtiawards.org or through forms obtained

from National RTI Awards Secretariat, A-119, Kaushambi, Ghaziabad-201010,

Uttar Pradesh, and forwarded by post. The last date for filing nominations is June

30.

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Ranking of Public Authorities on basis of compliance by Uttarakhand Information Commission

The Uttarakhand Information Commission (UIC) has developed criteria for

reviewing the compliance of the Public Authorities in the state. Indicators have

been identified by the Information Commission and the officials on the RTI

ranking matrix. These indicators and the weightage given to the same in brackets

are as follows:

1. Existence of RTI Cell (1)

2. Registration of RTI applications (1)

3. Usage of standard formats and (2)

4. Fee receipt book (1)

5. Information Board (1)

6. Contact details of PIO, APIO, AA (5)

7. Departmental RTI disclosure manual(5)

8. Information on Annual report (1)

9. Maintenance of records (1)

10. Compliance to UIC’s directions (1)

11. MPR to the UIC (5)

12. Training (3)

In the manner described above, UIC has ranked 76 Public Authorities in the

state. While doing so, it has provided significant feedback to the departments

(especially those lagging behind), on conducting training and polishing

procedures and systems, so as to be RTI compliant.

Proactive Contact with Public Authorities by Andhra Pradesh State Information Commission (ASIC) 35

The Andhra Pradesh State Information Commission in order to ensure

compliance to Right to Information Act 2005 has taken up a pro-active role vis-à-

vis the State Administration and other Public Authorities at all level viz.

                                                            

35 Information accessed from PRIA report – ‘Tracking RTI in 8 States’, 2007

  47

secretariat level, heads of Department level and District level. For this purpose,

the Commission has visited all the districts in the State and conducted review

meetings with Collectors, Superintendent of Police, 1st Appellate Authorities and

Public Information Officers and reviewed the compliance of Section 4 (1) b, 5 (1)

& (2) of the RTI Act.

Reviewing the implementation of RTI Act with the officials of Krishna, East and

West Godavari districts in Nov, 2007 at Vijayvada Chief Information

Commissioner Shri C D Arah had advised the officials to initiate steps to

implement the Act effectively. He asked the officials to submit the district-level

annual report on the implementation of the Act by December-end as the

Commission has to submit its second annual report to the Government.

Conclusion and Lessons

Since 2005 when the RTI Act was enacted, attempts have been made in several

states and at the centre for implementing the Act in letter and in spirit. For the

statutory ‘right’ to information to become a living reality both the centre and the

state governments have undertaken many innovative measures, some of which

have been discussed in this paper. The principles and the lessons that emerge

out of these experiments provide a set of general principles that need to inform

any new institutional design or process.

The first principle relates to the ease and cost of obtaining information. Any

measure that significantly lowers the transaction costs of seeking information to

the citizen goes a long way in making the right an achievable reality. The

Jaankari system of Bihar places the least demand on the citizen in terms of costs

related to time, physical movement, information costs etc. The citizen with just a

complaint or enquiry and access to a phone can seek information. Similarly a

mobile centre which reaches the doorsteps of villagers, especially in remote and

difficult areas in the North-Eastern regiems, provides similar advantages to the

  48

citizen. Seeking information through post offices, which have a wide spatial

coverage in this country, is another way of reducing the costs to the citizen.

Second, the type of information and the manner in which it is made available are

important to the citizen. She is interested in matters which affect her like land

rights, amount of tax to be paid and the status of her complaint. But she needs

confidentiality also. Several systems which allow the citizen to access

information related to him only, but are placed by the authorities in the public

domain are extremely useful. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s Website, for

example, enables the automatic calculation of property tax liability, based on a

set of parameters to be entered by the citizen, and generates a ‘challan’ or tax-

assessment statement, which can then be paid either on-line or through

designated bank branches. The Bhoomi project similarly, by meeting the most

important information requirement of farmers has become extremely popular.

Cause lists also fall in this utility category.

The other type of suo motu disclosures relate to information which may be

needed by the citizen for interfacing with the government. This would include

step by step directions of the process to be followed, the names and contact

numbers of concerned officials, the forms, and so on. These are information

which are not person specific and therefore is now increasingly being put in the

public domain by municipalities, by passport offices, the railways, the tax

departments and others. The citizen can know and prepare, according to law

and regulations, the required documents.

A ‘right’ must finally be justifiable. The Act therefore provides for punishment to

act as a deterrence. But the process of providing justice must be quick and

efficient. Various information commissions have therefore relied on improved

case management systems where complaints can be monitored and tracked

through various stages of processing till satisfactory disposal. The tracking and

monitoring systems of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and the Central Information

  49

Commission are significant innovations. The system followed by Maharashtra,

by expanding the spatial coverage of the State Commission, is also an attempt at

increasing the speed of administration of justice. The training of the staff of the

Commissions, which should include emphasis on motivation and attitudes, as

well as the office-management procedures, are areas that perhaps need a little

more attention.

Finally, since constant vigilance in the price for freedom, the role of NGOs, the

media, the courts and the civil society are critical. India has been fortunate to

have a very active and vigilant civil society movement and a media which has not

been afraid to highlight deficiencies or deviations. Their role in the spread of

awareness has been exemplary. Acts, rules, systems and procedures can all be

subverted unless an atmosphere of freedom and accountability is allowed to

prevail.