In a bid to bring about transparency and accountability in governance, the Government has decided to go ahead with a massive exercise to identify Public Information Officers (PIOs) in each district and sub-district level in the country before the Right to Information Bill is passed by Parliament.These PIOs will help citizens in providing them information on government projects, schemes and policies as mandated by the Bill and promote accountability. Each Central ministry has been asked to prepare detailed lists of the number of such PIOs that could be required at every district level as well as to put in place procedures to provide such information to citizens.The UPA government’s National Common Minimum Programme had promised to repeal the earlier Freedom of Information Act, 2002 and replace it with a more progressive Right to Information Act. The 2002 Act was never brought into operation because the basic infrastructure required for it was never operationalised.The new Act, which was introduced in the winter session of Parliament last December, ‘‘will come into force on the 120th day of its enactment.’’ With the Government hoping to see this Bill through in the current session of Parliament, work is now underway to get the infrastructure in place.In a recent letter to all secretaries heading various ministries, A N Tiwari, Secretary, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, has stated: ‘‘The contemplated legislation also casts an obligation on each Public Authority to designate PIOs whose duty it would be to provide information to those who ask for it as per Clause 5(1) of the Bill. Since these appointments will have to be made within 100 days of the enactment, it may be advisable to take steps to determine now itself the number of such officers as may be required by an authority and simultaneously identify them so that these appointments are made within the contemplated statutory period.’’All ministries have been asked to identify various ‘‘Public Authorities’’ as described in the Act and make rules in a way to provide information as sought by citizens.The Government has also asked each department to prepare rules and put in place internal procedures to enable citizens to get such information from government departments. Tiwari’s letter states that taking action now ‘‘would provide valuable lead time’’ to Government departments to avoid default since the RTI Act lays out time-bound milestones which come into force with the enactment of the Act.
