On sale — Any Delhi Govt file for Rupee one only

The case should not be under consideration; A decision should already have been taken on the matter. A nodal information officer would be appointed in each department who would locate the paper/file and allow the visitor to peruse it. In case the paper cannot be discovered, then the nodal information officer in the CM’s office would be accountable for not being able to locate the document.

To begin with, the system would be applicable to the departments which have maximum interaction with thepublic: Food and Civil Supplies, Health, Delhi Vidyut Board, Delhi Jal Board and Revenue department. A committee comprising Principal Secretary (administrative reforms), ex-DVB chief Navin Chawla and six other senior bureaucrats was set up last month to expedite the scheme within 15 days. The deadline for the five departments: Before the new millennium.

Says an official with the Revenue Department: “The idea is to make the government transparent, but the decisions will be taken by consensus among the representatives of the people, like the ministers, who should be able to justify to anyone who wants to know why they took the decision,” says the official. “But it is yet to be decided whether departments like the Vigilance, which has cases which are pending in courts should also be open to public scrutiny,” said a committee member.

According to officials, the idea has been borrowed from Madhya Pradesh which decided to legislate the move by formulating a Bill for Right to Information. When MadhyaPradesh sent the Bill to the Centre for approval it ran into rough weather and was rejected because the BJP Government at the Centre is also planning on a similar Bill on Right to Information.