The Haryana education department will add a chapter on the Right to Information (RTI) Act in the curricula of schools and colleges across the state, a senior officer said here on Saturday.

Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati said this was one of the several steps being taken to make the administration transparent and making people, especially the younger generation, aware to take advantage of the RTI Act.

She said that with a view to promoting openness, transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the RTI Act had been fully implemented in Haryana.

Gulati said all departments in the state have been directed to prepare their 'Citizens' Charters' to improve performance in service delivery and to provide service which meets people's needs.

"The Citizens' Charters of 111 departments and organizations have so far been formulated and the charters of the remaining department and organizations are in the process of being framed," she said.

With complaints of arbitrariness in hearing of cases piling up, the Central Information Commission last week began listing out pending cases before each commissioner on its website. Cases pending before chief information commissioner Satyananda Mishra and information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi have already been uploaded while the other commissioners are likely to follow soon. This is the first time that an information commission has displayed at least a partial list of cases pending before it.

Speaking about the move, Mishra said, "This is an added advantage to the public. Other commissioners will also put up their list of pending cases but we have not set a time frame." CIC has a pendency of 22,000 cases with about 2,500 cases added every month. The decision was prompted by an RTI application that sought information on the status of a case filed a year ago. Information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said that in replying to the decision, the commission realized that the case was over a year old and was inadvertently left out of the cause list.

"I realized that if a mistake had been made in one case, it could have been made in some others as well. A careful search of 2010 cases revealed another 110 cases which had been forgotten and missed completely," Gandhi said. In fact, one of the cases related to the widow of a government employee and her struggle to get pension that only ended 17 years later.

The 'List of pending cases' has been displayed on the CIC website and will be updated every month. Gandhi said, "CIC is only six years old and this will be an opportunity for us to correct mistakes and also reassure citizens that there is fairness in taking up their cases. In most commissions and judicial bodies, citizens suspect arbitrariness and corruption in the listing of cases. The simple act of listing all pending cases publicly will go a long way in restoring citizens' confidence in these institutions, and also act as self- regulating check."

The AP High Court was pulled up by the Central Information Commission (CIC) for its failure to adhere to the RTI Act. Nine other high courts besides AP's have been given three months time to get their act right. The CIC was reacting to a complaint filed by Hyderabad-based RTI activist C J Karira and Mani Ram Sharma of Rajasthan between December 2009 and March 2010. The complainants had stated that there was no disclosure of information under section 4 (1) (b) of the RTI Act by the courts. The case came up for hearing on December 30, 2011 and the order was passed on Thursday, ordering the high courts to fall in line within three months.

As per section 4 (1) (b), every government department should disclose complete details of the organization, employees, decisions taken by it and budget, among other details. According to the Act, this information should be updated as frequently as possible and made available to public by whatever means possible, including internet.

Apart from the AP High Court, the high courts of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Allahabad, Madras, Guwahati, Punjab & Haryana and Sikkim were directed to start complying with the rule. However, since the Guwahati HC had recently updated all the details in conformity with the RTI Act, it was appreciated by the CIC and suggested that the court model could be emulated by others.

The complainant, Karira said, "For the past six years, from the time the RTI Act was introduced in 2005, the AP High Court has never abided by the section 4 (1) (b). The court has not provided the details related to it and its employees either on the internet or manually.

This section not only introduces transparency in the system but informs the public with clarity about the officials and the functioning of a department." Karira also expressed his disappointment that most of the departments in the state government were not following this particular section.

Madhya Pradesh universities have decided to do away with the revaluation system on the ground that the procedure is rather cumbersome. However, a student, who wants his/her answer sheet revaluated, could take recourse to Right to Information (RTI) route for the purpose. 

The new rule also seeks to scrap the provision that no mark will be added to the revaluated answer sheet unless there is a 10% increase in total marks. Also, the double rounds of revaluation will be eliminated in the new system.

The coordination committee of the state’ universities headed by chancellor and governor Ram Naresh Yadav passed a resolution to this effect on Thursday at Raj Bhawan in Bhopal. Vice-chancellors of the state’s universities attended the meeting. 

Confirming this, officiating vice-chancellor of the Devi Ahilya Vishwa Vidyalaya (DAVV) Raj Kamal said the committee passed the resolution that students can seek revaluation under the RTI. However, the government is yet to issue a notification on the matter. 

The resolution provides change in the rule to apply for revaluation. Now a student, who wants revaluation of his/her answer sheet, will have to apply under the RTI Act. His application will be submitted to a three-member committee to be formed at university level. 

The committee will put across the student’s demand to the university and then revaluation will be permitted. In the existing practice, students wanting revaluation are required to fill revaluation form available at their college office.

The Indian Council for World Affairs, a foreign policy think-tank which is headed by Vice President as its ex-officio President with members including External Affairs Minister, is answerable under the Right to Information Act, the Central Information Commission has held.

The panel has received the complaint against the Council that even after six years of implementation of the RTI Act, the elite think-tank located in Sapru House was not complying with the section four of the RTI Act which mandates suo moto disclosure about its activities.

According to the RTI Act each public authority within 100 days of enactment of the RTI Act in October 2005 was mandated to appoint a Central Public Information Officer for receiving and processing the applications received under the law and comply with section four within 120 days.

When Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi issued notices to ICWA, its Assistant Director Anita Chopra said ICWA was a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and was constituted as a body corporate and declared an Institution of National Importance by an Act of Parliament in 2001. Chopra also stated that ICWA is substantially and directly funded by the Government of India.

"Thus from the statement of Ms. Anita Chopra it is apparent that ICWA is a public authority as defined under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act," Gandhi said.

He said all public authorities were expected to appoint Public Information Officers and First Appellate Authorities as also comply with their obligations under Section-4 of the RTI Act before October 12, 2005.

"It appears that ICWA may not have complied with these requirements," Gandhi pointed out directing the Council to fulfill requirements of the law before December 30.

To create awareness on the Right to Information Act, city-based NGO It’s Time to Make a Difference (ITMD) on Sunday released a short film Melukolupu. The film is directed by ITMD team member and software engineer M Sreenivas. Sreenivas is employed with Oracle. 

ITMD plans to screen the film in rural areas to create awareness on RTI among the lesser privileged sections. The film narrates the importance of reacting to wrongdoings around us and tells how one can effectively make use of the RTI Act for grievance redressal. 

ITMD has also begun online assistance for citizens wanting to file an RTI. “Templates are available on our website for RTI letters to the government on various topics. This is to help those who are not familiar with the format of filing RTI,” said Panasa Rama Krishna, president of ITMD. “In the past four months, about 400 templates have been downloaded from our website which reflects the increasing concern among the common man to be more involved in governance,” chipped in the members of the organisation. 

In the next two months, ITMD is planning to create awareness about schemes that are not effectively reaching the beneficiaries such as the PDS and Indiramma Housing, the members said. Speaking on the occasion Chief Information Commissioner Jannat Hussain said, “RTI has made a tremendous impact on the country yet, rural India lacks awareness about the powerful tool. Also, a majority of those in urban areas who are familiar with the name of the Act do not know the details and its importance. NGOs should come together to create this awareness among people.”

Jannat Hussain who was present at the third anniversary programme of ITMD, lauded the NGO’s work in creating awareness about Right to Information. The rule is to give out information sought by the public and the bureaucrats will abide by it, he added.