|
|
 |
 |
| Officers and their obligations |
BACK |
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
What are the obligations of public authority? |
|
|
|
 |
What does a "public authority" mean? |
|
|
|
 |
Who are Public Information Officers (PIOs)? |
|
|
|
 |
What are the duties of a PIO? |
|
|
|
|
1. |
What are the
obligations of public authority? |
| |
It
shall publish within one hundred and twenty days of the enactment:-
-
the particulars of its organization, functions and duties;
-
the powers and duties of its officers and employees;
-
the procedure followed in its decision making process, including
channels of supervision and accountability;
-
the norms set by it for the discharge of its functions;
-
the rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records used by
its employees for discharging its functions;
-
a
statement of the categories of the documents held by it or under its
control;
-
the particulars of any arrangement that exists for consultation
with, or representation by the members of the public, in relation to
the formulation of policy or implementation thereof;
-
a
statement of the boards, councils, committees and other bodies
consisting of two or more persons constituted by it. Additionally,
information as to whether the meetings of these are open to the
public, or the minutes' of such meetings are accessible to the
public;
-
a
directory of its officers and employees;
-
the monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and
employees, including the system of compensation as provided in its
regulations;
-
the budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the
particulars of all plans, proposed expenditures and reports on
disbursements made;
-
the manner of execution of subsidy programmes, including the amounts
allocated and the details and beneficiaries of such programmes;
-
particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorizations
granted by it;
-
details of the information available to, or held by it, reduced in
an electronic form;
-
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;
-
the names, designations and other particulars of the Public
Information Officers.[S.4(1)(b)]
|
|
2. |
What does a "public
authority" mean? |
| |
It
means any authority or body or institution of self-government
established or constituted: [S.2(h)]
-
by or under the
Constitution;
-
by any other law
made by Parliament;
-
by any other law
made by State Legislature;
-
by notification
issued or order made by the appropriate Government.and includes any-
-
body owned,
controlled or substantially financed
-
non-Government
organization substantially financed directly or indirectly by the
appropriate Government.
|
| |
TOP |
|
3. |
Who are Public
Information Officers (PIOs)? |
| |
PIOs are officers
designated by the public authorities in all administrative units or
offices under it to provide information to the citizens requesting for
information under the Act. Any officer, whose assistance has been sought
by the PIO for the proper discharge of his or her duties, shall render
all assistance and for the purpose of contraventions of the provisions
of this Act, such other officer shall be treated as a PIO. |
| |
TOP |
|
4. |
What are the duties
of a PIO? |
| |
- PIO shall
deal with requests from persons seeking information and where the
request cannot be made in writing, to render reasonable assistance
to the person to reduce the same in writing.
- If the
information requested for is held by or its subject matter is
closely connected with the function of another public authority, the
PIO shall transfer, within 5 days, the request to that other public
authority and inform the applicant immediately.
- PIO may seek
the assistance of any other officer for the proper discharge of
his/her duties.
- PIO, on
receipt of a request, shall as expeditiously as possible, and in any
case within 30 days of the receipt of the request, either provide
the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or
reject the request for any of the reasons specified in S.8 or S.9.
- Where the
information requested for concerns the life or liberty of a person,
the same shall be provided within forty-eight hours of the receipt
of the request.
- If the PIO
fails to give decision on the request within the period specified,
he shall be deemed to have refused the request.
- Where a
request has been rejected, the PIO shall communicate to the
requester - (i) the reasons for such rejection, (ii) the period
within which an appeal against such rejection may be preferred, and
(iii) the particulars of the Appellate Authority.
- PIO shall
provide information in the form in which it is sought unless it
would disproportionately divert the resources of the Public
Authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of
the record in question.
- If allowing
partial access, the PIO shall give a notice to the applicant,
informing:
- that only part of
the record requested, after severance of the record containing
information which is exempt from disclosure, is being provided;
- the reasons for
the decision, including any findings on any material question of
fact, referring to the material on which those findings were based;
- the name and
designation of the person giving the decision;
- the details of
the fees calculated by him or her and the amount of fee which the
applicant is required to deposit; and
- his or her rights
with respect to review of the decision regarding non-disclosure of
part of the information, the amount of fee charged or the form of
access provided.
- If information
sought has been supplied by third party or is treated as
confidential by that third party, the PIO shall give a written
notice to the third party within 5 days from the receipt of the
request and take its representation into consideration.
- Third party must
be given a chance to make a representation before the PIO within 10
days from the date of receipt of such notice
|
|
TOP |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|