In May 2023, the Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Department, which is the nodal department of Odisha Government to implement Right to Information (RTI) Act-2005, had asked the public authorities in the State to make third-party audit of proactive disclosure information under Section-4 of the transparency law. The public authorities were directed to comply with the order annually and submit its report to the department. But not a single department / directorate / district office has made any efforts in 2023-24 for auditing of 16 categories of information. This was revealed in reply to an RTI request filed by the author.
In the reply, the I&PR department has mentioned that, “It is under active consideration and the action is being taken to implement the mechanism third party audit on proactive disclosure u/s 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act, 2005.”
In 2019, the Central Government’s Personnel and Training Department had specifically directed all Chief Secretaries to adopt the mechanism for strengthening the law in the country. The transparency audit should start with an analysis of how far public authorities have complied with their responsibilities under the RTI Act.
“This disclosure information will now be liable for audit by a third-party every year. This annual audit can be carried out by training institutions/ divisions of departments or any other government training institute. Further, it is required that a senior officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary and that of Additional Director in case of Heads of Department will be designated as nodal officer to ensure compliance towards proactive disclosure and oversee the continuity of such exercise. The public authorities will disclose or will put the names of third-party auditor on the website of the department and the RTI portal as well. This will further be the responsibility of the authorities concerned to ensure that their subordinate public authorities also carry out said function of disclosure and third party audit. The audit reports may be furnished to the I&PR department by 31st March every year for onward transmission to the Odisha Information Commission,” the 2023 letter said.
But the response has been cold and it is the same attitude of non-compliance. Time and again, RTI activists, users and experts have stressed the need for public authorities to upload information as per Section-4 of the RTI Act. The audit should cover compliance with the proactive disclosure guidelines as well as adequacy of the items included in the package. At the same time, the Information Commission in reality, has itself been lenient towards public authorities not just about the public authorities hardly disclosing information under Section-4 but also in ensuring that public information officers (PIOs) are penalised and that they actually pay the penalty.
While several departments under Union Government and a few states have been auditing these information annually to promote transparency, the exercise has failed to kick off in Odisha. It is time the Odisha government took the initiative and audited the proactive disclosures of public authorities annually. A report titled “Transparency Audit: Towards an Open and Accountable Government 2015” was prepared by the Central Information Commission (CIC) and outlined the framework for conducting a disclosure audit.
(The writer is an RTI Campaigner and founder of RTI Clinic, Odisha)