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It shall publish within one hundred
and twenty days of the enactment:-
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the particulars of its organization,
functions and duties;
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the powers and duties of its officers
and employees;
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the procedure followed in its decision
making process, including channels of supervision and accountability;
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the norms set by it for the discharge
of its functions;
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the rules, regulations, instructions,
manuals and records used by its employees for discharging its functions;
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a statement of the categories of the
documents held by it or under its control;
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the particulars of any arrangement
that exists for consultation with, or representation by the members of the
public, in relation to the formulation of policy or implementation thereof;
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a statement of the boards, councils,
committees and other bodies consisting of two or more persons constituted by it.
Additionally, information as to whether the meetings of these are open to the
public, or the minutes' of such meetings are accessible to the public;
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a directory of its officers and
employees;
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the monthly remuneration received by
each of its officers and employees, including the system of compensation as
provided in its regulations;
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the budget allocated to each of its
agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditures and
reports on disbursements made;
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the manner of execution of subsidy
programmes, including the amounts allocated and the details and beneficiaries of
such programmes;
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particulars of recipients of
concessions, permits or authorizations granted by it;
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details of the information available
to, or held by it, reduced in an electronic form;
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the particulars of facilities
available to citizens for obtaining information, including the working hours of
a library or reading room, if maintained for public use;
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the names,
designations and other particulars of the Public Information
Officers.[S.4(1)(b)]
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2. |
What does a "public authority" mean? |
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It means any authority or body or
institution of self-government established or constituted: [S.2(h)]
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by or under the Constitution;
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by any other law made by Parliament;
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by any other law made by State
Legislature;
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by notification issued or order made
by the appropriate Government.and includes any-
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body owned, controlled or
substantially financed
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non-Government organization
substantially financed directly or indirectly by the appropriate
Government.
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3. |
Who are Public Information Officers
(PIOs)? |
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PIOs are officers designated by the
public authorities in all administrative units or offices under it to provide
information to the citizens requesting for information under the Act. Any
officer, whose assistance has been sought by the PIO for the proper discharge of
his or her duties, shall render all assistance and for the purpose of
contraventions of the provisions of this Act, such other officer shall be
treated as a PIO. |
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4. |
What are the duties of a PIO? |
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- PIO shall deal
with requests from persons seeking information and where the request cannot be
made in writing, to render reasonable assistance to the person to reduce the
same in writing.
- If the
information requested for is held by or its subject matter is closely connected
with the function of another public authority, the PIO shall transfer, within 5
days, the request to that other public authority and inform the applicant
immediately.
- PIO may seek the
assistance of any other officer for the proper discharge of his/her duties.
- PIO, on receipt
of a request, shall as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within 30 days
of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such
fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified
in S.8 or S.9.
- Where the
information requested for concerns the life or liberty of a person, the same
shall be provided within forty-eight hours of the receipt of the request.
- If the PIO fails
to give decision on the request within the period specified, he shall be deemed
to have refused the request.
- Where a request
has been rejected, the PIO shall communicate to the requester - (i) the reasons
for such rejection, (ii) the period within which an appeal against such
rejection may be preferred, and (iii) the particulars of the Appellate
Authority.
- PIO shall provide
information in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately
divert the resources of the Public Authority or would be detrimental to the
safety or preservation of the record in question.
- If allowing
partial access, the PIO shall give a notice to the applicant, informing:
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that only part of the record
requested, after severance of the record containing information which is exempt
from disclosure, is being provided;
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the reasons for the decision,
including any findings on any material question of fact, referring to the
material on which those findings were based;
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the name and designation of the person
giving the decision;
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the details of the fees calculated by
him or her and the amount of fee which the applicant is required to deposit; and
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his or her rights with respect to
review of the decision regarding non-disclosure of part of the information, the
amount of fee charged or the form of access provided.
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If information sought has been
supplied by third party or is treated as confidential by that third party, the
PIO shall give a written notice to the third party within 5 days from the
receipt of the request and take its representation into consideration.
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Third party must be given a chance to
make a representation before the PIO within 10 days from the date of receipt of
such notice.
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