The Right to Information Act 2005, enacted by Parliament is applicable to the whole of India. The Act comes into force with effect from 12th October, 200 all over the country. In this connection, the Government of Nagaland hereby issued the following instructions.
1. The P & AR Department will be the nodal department for implementation of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
2. All Government Departments including public sector undertakings (PSUs) shall immediately appoint Public Information Officers at the Secretariat, Directorate and District levels, wherever such offices exist, in terms of Section 5 of the RTI Act. The appointments of such PIOs should be completed before 12th October 2005.
3. Every department and PSU shall maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and in the form which facilitates the furnishing of information under this Act, and also ensure that such records are computerized within a reasonable time, and subject to availability of sources, make such computerized records available through a network all over the country so that access to such records is facilitated, in terms of Section 4 of the Act.
4. Every department and PSU shall prepare Information Manuals and publish the same for the information of the public, in terms of Section 4 of the Act. Such Manuals may contain the following information.
i) the particulars of its organisation, function and duties;
ii) the powers and duties of its officers and employees;
iii) the procedure followed in the decision making processes, including channel of supervision and accountability;
iv) the norms set by it for the discharge of its functions;
v) the rules, regulation, manuals and records, held by it or under its control or used by its employees for discharging its functions;
vi) a statement of the categories of the document that are held by it or under its control;
vii) the particulars of any arrangement that exists in consultation with or representation by the members of the public in relation to the formulation of its policy or implementation thereof;
viii) a statement of the Boards, Councils, Committees and other bodies consisting of two or more persons constituted as its part or for the purpose of its advise and as to whether meetings of those Boards, Councils, Committees and other bodies are open to the public, or the minute of such meeting are accessible for public;
ix) a directory of its officers and employees;
x) the monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and employees including the system of compensation as provided in each regulation;
xi) the budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditures and reports disbursement made;
xii) the manner of execution of subsidy programmes, including the amounts allocated and the details of beneficiaries of such programmes;
xiii) particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorizations granted by it;
xiv) details in respect of all the information, available to or held by it, reduced in an electronic form;
xv) the particulars of the duties available to citizens for obtaining information including the working hours of a library or reading room, if maintained for public use;
xvi) the names, designations and other particulars of the Public Information Officers;
xvii) such other information may be prescribed;
and thereafter update these publication every year.
5. Every Department and PSU shall publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing the decisions which affect the public and also provide reasons for its administrative or quasi-judicial decisions to the affected persons.
6. Every Department and PSU shall constantly endeavour to provide as much information suo moto to the public at regular intervals through various means of communication, including internet, so that the public have minimum resort to the use of this Act to obtain information.
A copy of the Right to Information Act, 2005 has already been circulated to all the departments by the Law and Justice Department. However, those departments which have not received a copy of the Act may obtain it from the P & AR Department.
Copies of the orders of appointment of Public Information Officers and other relevant publications made by the Departments/PSU under this Act may be endorsed to the P & AR Department for information and record.
(DIPR)
