RTI activist demands uploading of GOs

May 12, 2022 09:39 pm | Updated 09:39 pm IST - Hyderabad

An RTI activist demanded that all Government Orders should be uploaded on website regularly as the Act mandates it.

In a letter to Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and Special Chief Secretary Shalini Misra, activist S.Q. Masood said that Section 4, its sub-sections and clauses of the RTI Act, 2005, deals with transparency and accountability of government departments. “Section 4 (1) (a) of the RTI Act states that all records should be catalogued, indexed, computerised, and connected through a network on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated. In case of GOs, this is not happening,” Mr. Masood said.

He also opined that Section 4 (1) (b) clauses (i) to (xvii) direct the government to publish information like the procedure followed in decision-making processes, rules, regulations, manuals and records held by it or under its control or used by its employees, budgetary allocations and expenses.

“In the letter, I have mentioned that many departments are not uploading GOs on the goir.telangana.gov.in website regularly. In other cases, GOs are being uploaded selectively. Therefore, there is a need to upload GOs on the website, which used to be done till 2015,” he said. “In some cases, information is partly published, and in others, no information is published. This is causing inconvenience to RTI applicants and the public.”

Activists like Kareem Ansari, who works with the portal, YouRTI.in, have pointed towards the need to have an online platform where RTI queries can be filed. “The Government of India has allowed online RTI filing. This gives a boost to accountability and transparency. The State should do something similar and develop a platform for it. This will ensure democratisation and ensure transparency.”

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