What is information under the Right to Information Act?
What is information?
Till today, the information was not available. Copy of signature stamp, information was received from the notice board outside the office. Asking for other information, asking the seniors, bring the permission of the seniors, the information is confidential and cannot be given, the employees were trying to shirk their responsibility by answering that I do not have the right to give information. But the Right to Information Act has made it easier to get all the information. The information officer does not need anyone's permission to provide this information. But he is expected to communicate with everyone in the office. As an information officer, he is obliged to provide any information requested by the citizen
. What is the right to information?
These terms give citizens the right to information, including inspecting work documents, obtaining official copies of documents or records, taking notes, extracting, obtaining transcripts, obtaining samples of certified materials and Interpretation CD , In the form of floppy, tape, video, cassette, etc., or if this information is stored in the computer, the right to get a print out of it is expressed. For example, any citizen now has the right to check whether the construction of a building or a road or a dam is carried out using certified equipment as per the conditions sanctioned as per the rules. Citizens can now ask for and get samples of equipment used in that work.
Where can I find information?
It has been made public under Section 2 of this Act. The word public authority simply means any office. From the Gram Panchayat in our village to the Rashtrapati Bhavan of this country, all these authorities come under the definition of public authority. In short, a publicly owned organization is a government-controlled organization that receives a large portion of the resources needed to run an organization.
All such organizations are public authorities. This definition includes an authority or body created by the Constitution of India or created by an Act of Parliament or Legislative Assembly or established by a notification issued by the Central or State Government. Our organization is not a government but we do not count in any of the government or semi-government establishments, municipalities, gram panchayats, corporations, government industries, co-operative societies. The reason is that NGOs think that this law does not apply to them, but it is not.
The definition of public authority includes not only government-owned, government-authorized authorities, but also all government-funded NGOs. However, if such organizations are reluctant to provide information, then the Charity Commissioner where these organizations are registered Information of such organization can be sought from the office under RTI. Public authority also includes medical colleges, government-funded engineering colleges, vocational corporations, government-aided schools, and ashram schools.
Restrictions on Public Authority
As per Section 4 of this Act, every public authority (office) in the country is required to self-disseminate (voluntarily) complete information about its working method to the public. In this, information on 17 issues is to be made available to the public by each office through any means possible.
* Disclosure of details of your composition, functions and duties in the office.
* Putting the rights and duties of your officers and employees on the board.
* Disclosure of the working procedures of the office decision making process. Provide rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records used by employees.
* Disclosure of existing system details regarding policy formulation and implementation.
* Declare the method of payment of monthly salary and compensation to every employee, officer in your office.
Details of all schemes, announcement of proposed expenditure on the table.
Grant distribution and list of beneficiaries should be posted on the notice board. All electronics details.
* Details of facilities for obtaining information to announce the working hours of the library.
To publish other information to be prescribed and to update the publications every year.
Informing the affected persons of the reasons for the administrative decision.
Every public authority should make continuous efforts to provide information to the people through internet and all other media.
* Update and release information. It is mandatory to make all this information available to the citizen for free. If the above information has not been disclosed by the public authority, such complaint can be made to the Information Commission.
Who will get the information?
Pursuant to Section 5 of this Act, it is mandatory for each office to appoint a Public Information Officer in its office. There are many employees working in any public authority, to whom should the citizens ask for information,
who should give this information to him?
If this information is not received by the applicant in time, then one or more questions arise as to who should be held responsible, therefore this precaution has been taken in this Act. It is mandatory for each office to appoint a Public Information Officer and an Assistant Public Information Officer in its office. Not only this, it is mandatory to put the name board of the public information officer on the front of the office. Central Public Information Officers have been appointed in the Government and Semi-Government Offices of the Central Government and Information Officers have been appointed in the Government and Semi-Government Offices of the State Governments. Citizens can get information from them. It is mandatory for the information officer of any office to provide the information requested by the citizen.
How many days will the information be available?
As per Section 7 of this Act, the citizen will get the information as soon as possible after receiving the request for information and within 30 days from the date of request in any case. However, if the information relates to a person's living freedom, it will be provided within 48 hours of receipt of the request. Detailed description of the fee regarding the relevant information after the citizen has applied The citizen will be informed. The citizen should keep in mind the following example while calculating 30 days
. Suppose a citizen applied for information on the 1st. The concerned Information Officer informed the citizen about the details of the fee after extracting the information. The applicant received the letter on 5th. If the applicant pays the fee on the 20th, the 20th will be the 6th day out of these 30 days, i.e. from the day the information officer informs the citizen to pay the fee and the middle days between the day the citizen pays the fee are excluded from the 30-day calculation.
What information will not be available?
The law states that giving information is the rule and denying information is the exception. Although it is mandatory for the citizen to provide the requested information, if anyone asks for information about the matters mentioned in Sections 8 and 9 of this Act, it can be denied.
The following information cannot be made available as per Section 8-9.
1) Information that may affect the sovereignty and integrity of the country.
2) Information banned by the court or information that would be contempt of court.
3) Information that the rights of Lok Sabha or State Legislative Council or members will be violated.
4) Information that infringes on trade secrets, intellectual property and copyright.
5) Secret information received from other nations.
6) Information that may pose a threat to one's life or safety.
7) Information of the relevant documents before the decision of the Cabinet.
8) Information of secret and security organizations announced by Central and State Governments through notification.
9) Information which may be an obstacle to the investigation of the criminals, the crime, the filing of the case.
10) Any confidential information can be given to any person after 20 years.
There are two simple rules as to which information can be obtained and which can be denied.
1) Information denied to a Member of Parliament or a Member of the Legislative Assembly.The information officer is bound to give it to the general applicant who cannot go.
2) Giving information is the rule. Denial of information is an exception.
What to do if no information is received?
First Appeal - As per Section 19, if the Information Officer does not provide the information within 30 days, if the Information Officer accepts the right to information, if the information is incomplete, if it feels wrong or if the Information Officer refuses the information, the first appeal should be made to the Senior Information Officer (First Appellate Officer) An appeal can also be made to the Assistant Public Information Officer or to the Appellate Officer.
The decision on the first appeal is binding on the Appellate Authority within the next 30 to 45 days. It is mandatory for the appellate authority to give the reason why it took more than 15 days. Attempted to file the appeal after 30 days and if the reason for delaying the appeal is agreed with the appellate officer, the first appellate officer has the right to file the first appeal late. 20 on the first appeal. There is a fee.
What to do if information is not received in the first appeal?
If information is not received in the first appeal, the second appeal should be made to the Commission. A decision is made by the first appellate authority but if that decision is not accepted, a second appeal can be filed within 90 days from the decision of the first appeal. However, if the decision is not given in the first appeal, the citizen should file a second appeal within 90 days after the expiry of the decision period in the first appeal. If an attempt is made to file a second appeal after 90 days, the Commission has the right to file a late appeal if it agrees with the reason for late filing. It is not up to the Commission to decide on the second appeal within how many days, the decision given by the Commission is binding on the Information Officer.
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