Public authorities failed to comply with RTI provisions: CIC

NEW DELHI: Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra today slammed public authorities for failing to comply with the suo-motu disclosure provisions of the Right to Information Act even after seven years of the implementation of the Act.

Referring to section four of the RTI Act which mandates public authorities to make proactive disclosures and organise records within 120 days of enactment of transparency law in 2005, Mishra said these statutory provisions are not complied with even after seven years.

"The RTI has mandatory provision for proactive disclosure of a whole range of information by every public authority. I must say that almost all public authorities have failed to comply with this mandatory requirement even after seven years," he said at 11th All India Lokayukta Conference here.

Section four of the RTI Act mandates all public authorities to maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed, publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies, provide reasons for its administrative or quasi-judicial decisions and publish within 120 days 17 point information about the authority.

Terming RTI Act as defence mechanism against corruption, Mishra said, "Well kept records and indexing" would further help in disseminating information and curbing corruption at all levels.

Member of National Advisory Council, Aruna Roy said there was a need of bringing other supportive legislations like Whistleblowers' Bill, Grievance Redressal Bill among others to curb corruption.

"We need a whistle blowers bill which is already in the Parliament. However, the Lokayuktas should also take cognizance of all the fall outs that comes out of these bills," Roy said while speaking on the role of RTI mechanism bringing in transparency.