From the minutes of the meeting of 22.03.2011 of the central information commission.
PENDENCY
Taking note of the increasing pendency of appeals/ complaints in the Commission over the last few years and realising the need for their expeditious disposal, the Commission hereby resolves that each single bench of the Commission shall take urgent steps to maximise its disposal without comprising the quality thereof, as a general rule, each single bench will endeavour to finally decide about 3200 appeals/complaints per year.
Application of the provisions of the RTI-Act to the entities under the Public Private Partnership (PPP Arrangement)
Chief CIC has exchanged letters with the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, India on the subject of PPP Arrangement. Extracts from the same:
Satyananda Mishra, CIC on 04.01.2011 writes:
A PPP entity should be deemed to be a public authority u/s. 2(h) for the purpose of the RTI Act.
All Projects which are handed over to a PPP entity for building, operating or maintaining the land, even if not any other resources, given by the Government, forms a vital component of the project and, to that extent, can be deemed to substantial financing.
However, due to a lack of clarity on this at various levels and, especially since the RTI Act does not expressly refer to such bodies while defining the public authorities, a lot of confusion persists and such entities have, by and large, remained outside the purview of the RTI Act.
This Commission is of the view that time has come to clarify the role and responsibility of the PPP entity for implementing the RTI Act in order to bring in greater transparency in implementation of such projects.
Letter then suggest how the coverage is to be implemented and once carried out, a lot of confusion in this regard will go and the citizens will have access to vital information regarding the projects which affect their lives. Needless to say, this will also greatly improve the accountability of such entities to both the Government and the public at large.
In reply, Montek Singh Ahluwalia vide letter dated 14.03.2011 states:
In the Press Note issued, we recognise that the powers of the Information Commission are laid down in the RTI Act. It is for the Commission to exercise these powers in their best judgment. It may not be appropriate to expand or reduce the jurisdiction of the Information Commissions through a contractual arrangement in the concession agreements. However, we have referred the matter to the Department of Legal Affairs for advice and I will revert to you on receiving their advice.
The Commission discussed above referred letter at its meeting of 22-03-2011 and recorded as under:
The Commission discussed the letter of the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission on application of RTI Act to the entities under the PPP. The CIC decided to wait for two months for the Planning Commission to send a copy of response of Department of Legal Affairs on this issue as referred to in the letter of the Deputy Chairman dated 14-03-2011.
It is now reported in ET of 26 April that MoF objects to plan Panel’s role in social PPPs and says that they fall in its domain. Matter has been referred to the cabinet secretariat seeking its intervention on the matter.
I hope that PPP arrangements come in the domain of RTI whoever may be in charge of the same at Government level.
