New Delhi:- Seeking to reduce Right to Information applications, all central government departments have been asked to put in public domain information that is frequently sought by citizens under the RTI Act.
They have also been asked to set up ‘Information and Facilitation Centres’ (IFCs) to provide printed publications to citizens mentioning the categories of information that are frequently being sought under the RTI.
The latest directive is based on the recommendations of a committee formed by the government to look into the scope of suo motu disclosure of governance-related information by the central government departments.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has asked each public authority to set up a committee comprising officials with rich experience of dealing with RTI applications and appeals to identify the categories of such information.
“Such information must be disclosed in the public domain to make it more user-friendly and should also be reviewed at regular intervals,” it said in an order to all ministries.
The DoPT has said the task of undertaking transparency audits may be given to the respective training institutes under each ministry or department and across the states and union territories.
The public authorities shall constitute consultative committees consisting of office-bearers of key stakeholder, association on rotational basis to have a systematic and regular interaction between the officials of the public authorities to advice what information to be uploaded as suo motu, it said.
The IFCs may be set up in each public authority, where public dealing is involved to educate the citizens about the information or documents available on the website of the department concerned and to provide printed publications to them the categories of information that are frequently being sought under the RTI Act and provide copies of information as per RTI rules, the order said. .
PTI
