RTI awareness programme conducted for Govt officials
Source: Chronicle News Service / DIPR

Bishnupur, October 09 2021: As part of the observance of Right to Information (RTI) Week, State Academy of Training, Manipur under the sponsorship of Department of Personnel and Training conducted an awareness programme on RTI at the conference hall, Mini Secretariat, Bishnupur under the theme 'Improving Transparency and Accountability in Government through Effective Implementation of RTI Act'.

Attending the programme as resource person, Manipur University Law Department faculty N Brajakanta Singh stated that one of the main objectives of RTI Act is to contain corruption in the society and cautioned against providing 'manufactured facts' to iiiformation seekers.

He also briefly presented the key features and procedures of RTI Act to the participants comprising ADC, AC to DC and DLOs of the district.

Replying to a query from one of the participants, Brajakanta informed that BPL applicants are exempted from paying any fees*under the Act.

Information should be given within 30 days from the date,, on which the application is received whereas information concerning life or liberty of a person should be provided within 48 hours, he added.

Responding to another query on information held by another public authority, Brajakanta stated that such applications should be transferred to the public authority concerned or more closely associated with the functions within five days.

Stating that the responsibility of APIOs is at the sub-divisional level, he pointed out that public information officers are not duty bound to respond hypothetical questions in RTI applications.

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