Right to Information Day September 28
About 95% Ministries Declared RTI Details in
2015-16
Nidhi Sharma, ET
WORTH THE EFFORT For the first time, the number of public
authorities following the rulebook has crossed the 90%-mark; it had hit
all-time low of 67.5% in 2010-11
These statistics that are included in CIC annual report will
be made public next month.
Over a decade after the implementation of the Right to
Information (RTI) Act, the government has finally fallen in line.
After refusing to divulge statistics on RTI applications
for years, a record 94% of central ministries and departments have followed the
rulebook in 2015-16, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has revealed.
According to statistics collated by the CIC, the final
appellate authority under RTI Act, 94% of the public authorities have reported
in 2015-16 on how they have been implementing the RTI Act. These statistics are
included in CIC's annual report of 2015-16, which would be made public next
month. This is the first time that the number of public authorities following
the rulebook has crossed the 90%-mark.
Every year, a department has to register itself with the
CIC and submit four quarterly returns during a year for assessment of their
performance. These returns include the number of applications received,
disposed of, applications rejected, grounds of rejection, number of first
appeals filed and the pendency at each ministry . This reflects on the efficacy
of the RTI system in the government.
So far, the number of ministries which have reported on
the implementation has declined steadily . In the first year of the
implementation of RTI Act 2005-06, the most number of public authorities had
reported their implementation figures. In that year, 89.23% of the public
authorities had submitted the statistics. This has declined to an all-time low
of 67.5% in 2010-11. It became a shade better last year when 75.27% of the
ministries and departments submitted their quarterly returns.
The number has increased after concerted efforts by the
CIC, which put in place a system to ensure all public authorities registered
and reported their statistics.
A followup was done every month. A senior CIC official
told ET, “The statistics are very important because they reflect on the health
of RTI how effectively is it being implemented.We have been following up with
the ministries and told them to instruct subordinate offices to report on RTI
Act implementation. We have even told the ministries that if this is not
reported, we will start the exercise of naming and shaming the authorities in
the annual report.“
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