Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Heeralal Samariya has said that the suo motu disclosure under Section 4 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 is important to foster transparency and accountability.
“It bridges the gap between who is providing the information and who is seeking it. At the same time it achieves efficiency in the administration,” Samariya said on the concluding day of the workshop on ‘Public Procurement- Issues and Challenges and Sharing of Experiences of Best Practices’ held in the city today.
The workshop was organised by the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE), an apex body of Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs).
The CIC said that if maximum information is made then the RTI seeker will be resorting to the minimum. He said the website should be updated regularly at least once every 15 days.
“I found that many ministries, departments don’t even look at their website, they don’t update it. You should see that everything should be put in the public domain,” Samariya said.
He also expressed annoyance at the fact that agendas and decisions made in the governing body meetings are confidential when the government of India after its cabinet meetings inform the media about the decisions. “Your agendas should be put on the table. They should be on your website so that citizens can know what the central public sector undertakings are doing,” Samariya said.
He said that putting up the agendas and decisions in the public domain will enable citizens can express their views.
Pointing out that the RTI Act is a small but powerful piece of law, he said those taking decisions should know that they are being watched.
In the two-day meet which started on March 1, 85 participants of 31 PSEs from diverse sectors participated.
