DoPT asks public authorities to have citizen panels

The Union department of personnel and training (DoPT) has asked all public authorities in the country to have consultative committees of stakeholders (read citizens) to ensure that there is regular interaction between them and officials. These committees will be advising the public authorities on what information should be uploaded suo motu. The panel is similar to the technical advisory committee of the BMC that informs the civic body on having suo motu disclosure.

Besides that, the office memorandum issued on June 30 also asks public authorities to form committees to educate citizens about information that is available and can be used by them. Called Information and facilitation centres (IFCs), they will have to be set up in each public authority. Citizens will be educated about the information/documents available on the website of the department and provide printed publications to citizens that state the categories of information that are frequently being sought under the RTI Act and provide their copies as per rules.

To ensure that officials do not feel the burden of recurring RTI applications, in each public authority, a committee of public information officers and first appellate authorities (FAA) with experience in dealing with RTI application and appeals will have to be set up. This committee will in turn identify the most sought after information by citizens that can be put up online.

"We have been fighting with the government to get this for a while now. It is good that the memorandum has been issued. All authorities should be following this up," said Bhaskar Prabhu, co-convenor of National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI).