Reply to every RTI application: Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: Officials should reply to every RTI application irrespective of what kind of information has been sought by the applicant, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today and asserted that the importance of the transparency law has increased in present times.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh

Addressing the inaugural function of the 11th annual Central Information Commission convention, Singh said his ministry was recently asked what is the action plan of the government against "a zombie or alien attack" and he had ensured that response is given to it.

"All of you must understand the ecosystem of information and without getting influenced by what information is being sought, you must do your duty," he told the gathering which included Central Public Information Officers and Information Commissioners.

Singh also inaugurated the e-court system in the Central Information Commission which will make the transparency panel go paperless in matters of appeals and complaints being processed by it.

The new system has come into place as the Commission has digitised over 1.5 lakh files with it, allowing people to file appeals and complaints online without any requirement of hard copy.

"Government must be sensitive, corruption free and accountable to people of the country. Keeping this in mind, the importance of RTI in these times has increased more than ever. As far as RTI is concerned, it is an effective and strong mode of communication between people and government," he said.

Asserting that participation of people is increasing in framing policies, Singh said over 40,000 suggestions were received on GST.

"More the systems will go digital, the better will be transparency... There is a need for a digitally strong society," he said, adding that it is the responsibility of government to make people aware about their rights under Article 21 of the Constitution.

He said there should be a single window system for addressing people's grievances so that people do not have to knock the doors of different offices.

"It is the demand of time that government is transparent, responsive as well as smart. It is required that the government performs and also provides information to people wherever it is required," he said.

Earlier, speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh said although there is no pendency, the filing of such grievances has gone up from about two lakh annually when the new government was formed to eight lakh now.

Quoting a couplet of Mirza Ghalib, Singh, while taking a veiled dig at UPA government, said people file grievances because they have hope of them being resolved.

He said a higher number of RTI applications are being processed but still the numbers are increasing.

"We cannot check corruption by laws," Singh said.

Underlining the menace of frivolous RTI applications, Singh said one must test it on a couple of parameters to "avoid the avoidable" RTI applications like whether the motive is public or personal.

Chief Information Commissioner Radha Krishna Mathur also highlighted the system being choked by a single RTI user as among 35,000 pending cases before the Commissioner, about 4,000 have been filed by a single person.

PTI

Kendriya Bhandar answerable under RTI Act: CIC

New Delhi: Government employees' cooperative society Kendriya Bhandar will now be answerable under the Right to Information Act as the Central Information Commission has declared it to be a public authority under the law.

"Kendriya Bhandar is owned by the Central Government within the meaning of Section 2(h)(d)(i) of the RTI Act," Information Commissioner Sudhir Bhargava said.

The Commission said the Central Government holds 81.30 per cent of the paid up capital as per the accounts of the Ministry of Public Grievance and Pension submitted by it to Parliament for the year 2008-09.

"This implies that the Central Government is a majority shareholder of Kendriya Bhandar. Also, holding of majority equity shares implies that the Central Government is the owner of Kendriya Bhandar," Information Commissioner Sudhir Bhargava said in his order.

He said to corroborate, recourse can be made to Section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 which states that where 51 per cent or more paid up capital is held by the Central Government or the State Government, such company shall be a government company.

Kendriya Bhandar, which was approached by several RTI applicants including activist R K Jain on wide range of topics, had claimed that it does not come under the ambit of the transparency law.

It cited a Supreme Court judgement in Thalappalam Ser Cooperative Bank Ltd versus State of Kerala and others to seek exemption from the RTI Act.

"The said case will not be applicable to the present matter as the Supreme Court has restricted itself to the cases of cooperative societies registered or deemed to be registered under the Cooperative Societies Act which are not owned, controlled or substantially financed by the State or Central Government or formed or Constituted by law made by the Parliament or State Legislature," the complainants argued.

Rejecting the arguments of Kendriya Bhandar, Bhargava said the Commission, is of the view that since the Central Government is a majority shareholder up to the extent of owning 81.60 per cent of paid up capital is the owner of Kendriya Bhandar or in other words Kendriya Bhandar is owned by the Central Government within the meaning of Section 2(h)(d)(i) of the RTI Act.

"The Commission also observes that in order for an authority to be declared as 'Public Authority' so as to be amenable under the RTI Act it has to qualify the test of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act," he said.

The website of Kendriya Bhandar says it was set up in 1963 in pursuance of Union Cabinet decision as a welfare project for the benefit of Central Government employees and public at large.

"It is functioning under aegis of Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India and was registered with Delhi Registrar of Cooperative Societies.

Subsequently, it was registered with Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Govt of India as a Multi State Consumer Cooperative Society in September, 2000," it says.

PTI