<p>The Central Information Commission (CIC) has favoured adoption of a “user-friendly” method of providing reply to an application, seeking a number of queries under the Right to Information (RTI) Act in one single communication as it would be easier for the information seeker and also to help in avoiding delays.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra told the department of personnel and training (DoPT), the nodal department to implement the transparency law, to devise ways for furnishing answers in a single response.<br /><br />“We hope that the department would devise ways by which information sought in a single RTI application is provided in a single communication and not in a number of separate replies. After all, the department is a single public authority and not a conglomerate of many public authorities,” the panel said.<br /><br />The commission, while hearing an appeal filed by V K Garg, a Delhi-resident, noted that he had made some seven queries relating to a variety of information ranging from the official directory to the Whistleblowers Act to the list of all the Information Commissions in the country.<br /><br />“Although the application had been preferred to the Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the DoPT, the reply to the various queries was given by a number of CPIOs in separate communications. This is not a very user-friendly way of responding to the RTI requests.”<br /><br />“It would be helpful if the entire information sought in one single RTI application from one single public authority, as in this case, is compiled together and sent in a single communication, point wise. By splitting individual queries among a number of CPIOs and then making them respond separately can lead to delays and also incomprehension for the information seeker,” the Commission said, disposing off the appeal.<br /><br /></p>
<p>The Central Information Commission (CIC) has favoured adoption of a “user-friendly” method of providing reply to an application, seeking a number of queries under the Right to Information (RTI) Act in one single communication as it would be easier for the information seeker and also to help in avoiding delays.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra told the department of personnel and training (DoPT), the nodal department to implement the transparency law, to devise ways for furnishing answers in a single response.<br /><br />“We hope that the department would devise ways by which information sought in a single RTI application is provided in a single communication and not in a number of separate replies. After all, the department is a single public authority and not a conglomerate of many public authorities,” the panel said.<br /><br />The commission, while hearing an appeal filed by V K Garg, a Delhi-resident, noted that he had made some seven queries relating to a variety of information ranging from the official directory to the Whistleblowers Act to the list of all the Information Commissions in the country.<br /><br />“Although the application had been preferred to the Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the DoPT, the reply to the various queries was given by a number of CPIOs in separate communications. This is not a very user-friendly way of responding to the RTI requests.”<br /><br />“It would be helpful if the entire information sought in one single RTI application from one single public authority, as in this case, is compiled together and sent in a single communication, point wise. By splitting individual queries among a number of CPIOs and then making them respond separately can lead to delays and also incomprehension for the information seeker,” the Commission said, disposing off the appeal.<br /><br /></p>
