76th Report of the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice Recommendation regarding suo-motu disclosure under Section 4 of Right to Information Act, 2005.

Government of India

Ministry of Personnet, Public Grievances and Pensions

(Department of Personnel & Training)

North Block,

New Delhi, dated the 9th July,2015.

Subject: 76th Report of the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice Recommendation regarding suo-motu disclosure under Section 4 of Right to Information Act, 2005.

Reference is invited to this Department's Office Memorandum No.1/6/2011-IR, dated the 15th April,2013 wherein all Ministries / Departments were advised to appoint a senior officer not below the rank of a Joint Secretary and not below the rank of Additional HoD in case of attached offices for ensuring compliance with the proactive disclosure guidelines. Subsequently, vide O.M.No.1/1/20-13~IR dated 21st October,2014, all Ministries / Departments were requested to take action to upload the replies to RTI applications and first appeals on their respective websites. in this context, the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice has, in Para 4.40 of its 76th Report, inter-alia made the following observation / recommendations:

"The direction given by DoPT in their guidelines for  implementation of Section 4 of the RTI Act which required appointment of a Joint Secretary rank officer as the Nodal Officer should be followed in letter and spirit. The Committee feels that all Ministries/ Departments/ Organisations themselves must encourage suo-motu disclosure of relevant information. The Committee suggests the publishing of RTI requests and their replies on the websites of the Departments so that duplicity of requests is avoided. All Departments must make an analysis of information which is sought most often from applicants and provide it on their website as suo-motu disclosure.”

2. The above mentioned recommendations of the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice are hereby brought to the notice of all Ministries / Departments and Public Authorities for strict compliance. 

3. The contents of this O.M. may also be brought to the notice of Attached Subordinate Offices and Public Sector Undertakings for necessary compliance.

(Devesh Chaturvedi)

Joint Secretary to the Government of India

Source: www.persmin.nic.in
[http://ccis.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D2/D02rti/1_1_2013-IR-09072015.pdf]