Obligations of Public Authorities and How a Request Is Made
Chapter Sixty
Syllabus topic 4.4, "Right to Information and Obligations of Public Authorities"
Pages 361 to 367 of 396
In one line
A public authority must publish a great deal without being asked, must appoint an officer to receive requests, and must answer a request within thirty days or be treated as having refused it.
In the words a student can write in an exam: section 4 imposes on every public authority a duty of proactive disclosure, requiring it to maintain its records catalogued and indexed, to publish seventeen classes of information within one hundred and twenty days of the enactment of the Act and to update them, to publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies, to provide reasons for its administrative and quasi-judicial decisions to affected persons, and to endeavour to provide information suo motu so that the public has minimum resort to the use of the Act. Section 5 requires the designation of Public Information Officers and Assistant Public Information Officers. Section 6 provides for a request in writing or electronically, with no reason required. Section 7 requires disposal within thirty days, or forty-eight hours where life or liberty is concerned, failing which the request is deemed refused.
Section 4: the duty to publish without being asked
This is the most important and least used section of the Act, and it deserves the emphasis. Sections 6 to 19 create a right to ask. Section 4 creates a duty to tell, which reaches every citizen and not only the one who applies.
Section 4(1)(a): records
Every public authority shall maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and form which facilitates the right to information, and shall ensure that records appropriate to be computerised are, within a reasonable time and subject to the availability of resources, computerised and connected through a network so that access is facilitated.
The practical significance is large: an authority that cannot find its records cannot be made to disclose them, so record management is a precondition of the whole Act.
Section 4(1)(b): the seventeen classes
Every public authority shall publish, within one hundred and twenty days from the enactment of the Act, among other things:
| Clause | What must be published |
|---|---|
| (i) | The particulars of its organisation, functions and duties |
| (ii) | The powers and duties of its officers and employees |
| (iii) | The procedure followed in the decision making process, including channels of supervision and accountability |
| (iv) | The norms set by it for the discharge of its functions |
| (v) | The rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records held by it or under its control or used by its employees |
| (vi) | A statement of the categories of documents held by it |
| (vii) | The particulars of any arrangement for consultation with, or representation by, members of the public in relation to the formulation of its policy or its implementation |
| (viii) | A statement of the boards, councils and committees constituted as its part or for its advice, and whether their meetings are open to the public or their minutes accessible |
| (ix) | A directory of its officers and employees |
| (x) | The monthly remuneration received by each officer and employee, including the system of compensation |
| (xi) | The budget allocated to each agency, with plans, proposed expenditures and reports on disbursements |
| (xii) | The manner of execution of subsidy programmes, with amounts allocated and beneficiaries |
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