COMPUTEISATION OF RECORDS, , SUO MOTU DISCLOSURE BY THE PUBLIC AUTHORITIES UNDER SECTION 4(1) (b) OF THE RTI ACT

Public authorities are the repository of information which the citizens have a right to access under the Right to information Act, 2005 The Act casts important obligations on public authorities so as to facilitate the citizens of the country to access the information held under their control. (2) As for proper management of record is concerned, it is of utmost importance for the effective implementation of the provision of the Act, A public authority should therefore, maintain all its records properly. It should ensure that the records are duly catalogued and indexed in such a manner and form that it may facilitate the right to information. (3) Suo motu disclosure:-- Every public authority should provide as much information suo motu to the public through various means of communications, so that the public have minimum need to use the Act to obtain information. Internet being one of the most effective means of communication, the information may be posted on the website (4) Section 4(1) (b) of the Act, in particular requires every public authority to publish following sixteen categories of information:---(a) the particulars of its organization, functions and duties;(b) the powers and duties of its officers;(c) the procedure followed in the decision-making process, including channels of supervision and accountability;(d) the norms set by it for the discharge of its functions;(e) the rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records, held by it or under its control or used by its employees for discharging its functions;(f) a statement of the categories of documents that are held by it or under its control;(g) the particulars of any arrangement that exists for consultation with, or representation by, the members of the public in relation to the formulation of its policy or implementation thereof;((h) a statement of the boards, councils, committees and other bodies consisting of two or more persons constituted as its part or for the purpose of its advice, and as to whether meetings of those boards, councils, committees and other bodies are open to the public, or the minutes of such meetings are accessible for public;((i) directory of its officers and employee;(j) the monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and employees including the system of compensation as provided in its regulations;(k) the budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditure and reports on disbursements made;(l) the manner of execution of subsidy programmes, including the amounts allocated and the details of beneficiaries of such programmes;(m) particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorisations granted by it;(n) details in respect of the informations, available or to held by it, reduced in an electronic form;(o) the particulars of facilities available to citizens for obtaining information, including the working hours of a library or reading room, if maintained for public use ;(p) the names, designations and other particulars of the public information officers (B) Besides the categories of information enumerated above, the Government has issued guidelines that the following categories of information may be published by the public authorities:-- (1) Information relating to procurement (2) public private partnerships (3) Transfer policy and transfer orders (4) RTI applications (5) CAG&PAC paras (6) Citizens charter (7) Discretionary and Non discretionary grants (8) Foreign tours of PM /Ministers and senior officers. (C) In addition, the Government may prescribe other categories of information to be published by any public authority. It need be stressed that publication of the information as referred to above is not optional. It is a statutory requirement which every public authority is bound to meet:-- Er Fateh Chand Guleria, Director RTI welfare Association registered number HPCD, 3552 , Bilaspur Himachal Pradesh phone number, 9459334377