The Hindu Business Line : AP Govt plans electronic administration revamp

THE State Government is in the process of establishing a State Information Commission. It plans to revamp Web sites of various departments and make it mandatory for them to maintain electronic records while restructuring record management systems.

Addressing a workshop on the Right to information Act 2005, the State Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy, said: "Transparency and accountability in governance would be the main objective of this enactment and common man will be a direct beneficiary. Lot of misinformation floats around and creates problems."

An enactment of this nature, he said, would ensure that people are empowered with the right information, which will gradually cut down both red-tapism and corruption.

As a part of the Government move to transition to this new enactment, a series of initiatives have been planned.

These include appointment of public information officers for all departments, who will serve as interface between a citizen and Government, and an appellate authority for these information officers.

Public information officers will be nominated in each office or unit of every department at State, regional, district and mandal level.

Since training would be critical aspect for effective implementation of this enactment, officers across various layers of administration would be trained at Dr MCR Institute for Human Resource Development.

A software is being developed by the Centre for Good Governance that will effectively implement the Right to Information Act.

Dr Reddy said: "We will also discuss how to make Right to Information a powerful instrument in the hands of the people to demand transparent, accountable and responsible government. I consider right to information law a key tool to our strategy of Caring Government."

The Right to Information Act prescribes 17 mandatory items of information to be disclosed to the public by October 12.

These include, structure, organisation, functions, staff and their salaries, decision-making procedure, implementation of policies and programmes, execution of works, grievance redressal mechanism and a host of other items.

For accountability, first appeal wrests with the State Information Commission, which has the power to penalise the public information officer found guilty on the grounds of refusing to receive application for information and also for not furnishing information within the stipulated time.

The penalty can run up to Rs 25,000 in a single case. The Government is in the process of establishing a State Information Commission.

Interestingly, Dr Reddy called upon media to refrain from interviewing criminals and those outlawed as this amounts to culpable offence.

Later, as journalists departed for tea, the Chief Minister ironically presided over a closed door meeting with his Cabinet colleagues and senior Government officials.

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AP Govt plans electronic administration revamp