RTI activist’s year-long battle results in Assam’s new online portal
The apex court, in the said verdict, had laid emphasis on the obligatory duty of the public authorities to proactively disclose information under Section 4 of the RTI Act;
Following Choudhury's efforts, the State Information Commission directed all public authorities to comply with the mandate of voluntarily disclosing information under Section 4 of the RTI Act.
Guwahati, Jan 25: The state government has developed an online RTI portal and the NIC, Assam, has done the technical work on behalf of the state government to develop this portal.
The administrative reforms, training, pension, and public grievances (ARTPPG) department of the state and the Assam State Information Commission took the initiative for this portal, and it is live. Its URL is https:// rtionline.assam.gov.in.
The names and other details of the SPIOs and the first appellate authority under various administrative departments of the State government are being uploaded on this portal, with the provision of modification whenever the situation so demands.
It is pertinent to mention that this development is the outcome of a battle fought by RTI activist Rohit Choudhury for over a year to make the state government's departments comply with the August 17, 2023, Supreme Court verdict in WP (C) no. 990/2021.
The apex court, in the said verdict, had laid emphasis on the obligatory duty of the public authorities to proactively disclose information under Section 4 of the RTI Act and also directed the information commissions to monitor the implementation of the mandate of this section of the RTI Act.
The ARTPPG department also wrote to all administrative departments with a request to comply with the apex court's verdict.
This has been disclosed by the ARTPPG department in a letter (no. E 589199/5) to RTI activist Choudhury. The letter was issued on December 23 last. Choudhury has been relentlessly insisting that the government departments should make public the information about their activities, etc.
Following Choudhury's efforts, the State Information Commission directed all public authorities to comply with the mandate of voluntarily disclosing information under Section 4 of the RTI Act. The apex court, in its verdict, also maintained that the information commissions would be entitled to issue recommendations, under Sub-Section (5) of Section 25 of the said Act, to the public authorities for taking necessary steps "for complying with the provisions of the (RTI) Act."
By-
Ajit Patoway
