AP gears up for Right to Information Act

Andhra Pradesh has received national acclaim for undertaking a well-planned groundwork to operationalise the Right to Information Act 2005 in the state, which comes into effect from Friday across the country, said A Raghothama Rao, special chief secretary (General Administration).

The guides prepared by the state government-founded Centre for Good Governance (CGG), and other training material prepared for the officers at various levels with regard to compliance with the provisions of the Central Legislation, have been circulated by the Government of India to the rest of the states as a model, Rao said.

The government is also preparing citizen guides to help make use of the provisions of the Act.

Rao said that all the departments, right from the level of State Secretariat to the village level, have almost completed the process of designating public information officers (PIOs) and assistant PIOs as required by the Act as people responsible to supply information as desired by citizens.

The government will issue separate rules including the subjects that will be excluded from the Act in the next 15 days, he said.

According to the Act, the PIO should furnish the required information within 30 days from the date of application. The citizen will have a choice to appeal against the response (or no response) of the PIO first at the department level and then at the level of the state information commission to be constituted by the state government.

All the state government departments, public sector undertakings, local bodies including non-governmental organisations, which receive government assistance, will have to comply with the provisions of the Act.

All the departments and their administrative units will publish suo moto information on the structure and responsibilities of their respective units and staff by October 10, 2005, he said.

"Denial of access to information in government establishments will now become an exception, thanks to the Act," Rao told the media.