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Master Key to Good Governance

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Master Key to Good Governance 1 FIRST REPORT SECOND ADMISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION SECOND ADMISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION SECOND ADMISTRATIVE RIGHT TO INFORMATION Master Key to Good Governance Second Administrative Reforms Commission Government of India 2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi 110 011 e-mail : [email protected] website : http://arc.gov.in JUNE 2006 GOVERNMENT OF INDIA SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION FIRST REPORT RIGHT TO INFORMATION MASTER KEY TO GOOD GOVERNANCE JUNE 2006 PREFACE The Second Administrative Reforms Commission has been constituted to prepare a detailed blueprint for revamping the public administration system. The Commission has been given wide terms of reference covering all aspects of public administration. The Commission in its first report decided to analyze and give recommendations on the freedom of information as the Right to Information Act has been enacted recently and is a paradigm shift in administration. The Right to Information Act is a path-breaking legislation which signals the march from darkness of secrecy to dawn of transparency. It lights up the mindset of public authorities, which is clouded by suspicion and secrecy. Openness in the exercise of public power – Executive, Legislative or Judiciary – is a culture, which needs to be nurtured, with privacy and confidentiality being an exception. The right to information will also be a powerful means for fighting corruption. The effective implementation of the Right to Information Act will create an environment of vigilance which will help promote functioning of a more participatory democracy. James Madison once said, “A people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with power that knowledge gives”. In India, the Official Secrets Act, 1923 was a convenient smokescreen to deny members of the public access to information. Public functioning has traditionally been shrouded in secrecy. But in a democracy in which people govern themselves, it is necessary to have more openness. In the maturing of our democracy, right to information is a major step forward; it enables citizens to participate fully in the decision-making process that affects their lives so profoundly. It is in this context that the address of the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha is significant. He said “I would only like to see that everyone, particularly our civil servants, should see the Bill in a positive spirit; not as a draconian law for paralyzing Government, but as an instrument for improving Government - citizen interface resulting in a friendly, caring and effective Government functioning for the good of our people”. He further said, “ This is an innovative Bill, where there will be scope to review its functioning as we gain experience. Therefore, this is a piece of legislation, whose working will be kept under constant reviews.” The Commission, in its Report, has dealt with the application of the Right to Information in Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. The Judiciary could be a pioneer in implementing the Act in letter and spirit because much of the work that the Judiciary does is open to public scrutiny. Government of India has sanctioned an e-governance project in the Judiciary for about Rs.700 crore which would bring about systematic classification, standardization and categorization of records. This would help the Judiciary to fulfil its mandate under the Act. Similar capacity building would be required in all other public authorities. The transformation from non-transparency to transparency and public accountability is the responsibility of all three organs of State. The Commission is benefited by the deliberations at the Colloquium organized by the National Judicial Academy and inputs from various stakeholders. The Commission studied various laws on the subject including of other countries; it studied relevant reports of various Commissions and Committees and held several rounds of deliberations with State Governments. This Report, which gives practical recommendations to bring in a regime of freedom of information, is an outcome of the above efforts. I am confident that the implementation of this Report will usher in a new era of accountable and transparent administration. (M. Veerappa Moily) Chairman Government of India Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions 4. The Commission may exclude from its purview the detailed examination of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances administration of Defence, Railways, External Affairs, Security and Intelligence, as also subjects such as Centre-State relations, judicial reforms etc. which are already being examined Resolution by other bodies. The Commission will, however, be free to take the problems of these sectors New Delhi, the 31st August, 2005 into account in recommending re-organisation of the machinery of the Government or of any of its service agencies No. K-11022/9/2004-RC. — The President is pleased to set up a Commission of Inquiry to Some of the issues to be examined under each head are given in the Terms of Reference be called the second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) to prepare a detailed attached as a Schedule to this Resolution blueprint for revamping the public administration system. 5. The Commission will give due consideration to the need for consultation with the 2. The Commission will consist of the following : State Governments. (i) Shri Veerappa Moily - Chairperson 6. The Commission will devise its own procedures (including for consultations with the (ii) Shri V. Ramachandran - Member State Government as may be considered appropriate by the Commission), and may appoint (iii) Dr. A.P. Mukherjee - Member committees, consultants/advisers to assist it. The Commission may take into account the (iv) Dr. A.H. Kalro - Member existing material and reports available on the subject and consider building upon the same (v) Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan - Member rather than attempting to address all the issues ab initio. (vi) Smt. Vineeta Rai - Member-Secretary 7. The Ministries and Departments of the Government of India will furnish such 3. The Commission will suggest measures to achieve a proactive, responsive, accountable, information and documents and provide other assistance as may be required by the sustainable and efficient administration for the country at all levels of the government. The Commission. The Government of India trusts that the State Governments and all others Commission will, inter alia, consider the following : concerned will extend their fullest cooperation and assistance to the Commission. (i) Organisational structure of the Government of India 8. The Commission will furnish its report(s) to the Ministry of Personnel, Public (ii) Ethics in governance Grievances & Pensions, Government of India, within one year of its constitution (iii) Refurbishing of Personnel Administration (iv) Strengthening of Financial Management Systems (v) Steps to ensure effective administration at the State level (P.I. Suvrathan) (vi) Steps to ensure effective District Administration Additional Secretary to Government of India (vii) Local Self-Government/Panchayati Raj Institutions (viii) Social Capital, Trust and Participative public service delivery (ix) Citizen-centric administration (x) Promoting e-governance (xi) Issues of Federal Polity (xii) Crisis Management (xiii) Public Order Some of the issues to be examined under each head are given in the Terms of Reference attached as a Schedule to this Resolution CONTENTS LIST OF ANNEXURES Annexure-I(1) List of participants at the National Colloquium 70 Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Annexure-I(2) Recommendations of the Colloquium 74 Annexure-I(3) Questionnaire 83 Part-I OFFICIAL SECRETS Annexure-I(4) Case studies 96 Annexure-I(5) A Comparative Analysis of the Right to Information Act of different States 103 Chapter 2 Official Secrets Act and Other Laws 4 Annexure-I(6) A Comparative Analysis of International Laws on Freedom of Information 110 2.1 Background 4 Annexure-V(1) List of States which have constituted Information Commissions 117 2.2 The Official Secrets Act 5 Annexure-V(2) Number of CPIOs/PIOs appointed by various Ministries/ Departments 118 Annexure-V(3) Responses of some Ministries/Departments about status of record-keeping 119 2.3 Governmental Privilege in Evidence 12 Annexure-VI(1) The Inverted Tree concept for maintaining inventory of the public authorities 120 2.4 The Oath of Secrecy 17 2.5 Exempted Organisations 18 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED Chapter 3 Rules and Procedures 20 APIO Assistant Public Information Officer 3.1 The Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules 20 BSF Border Security Force 3.2 The Manual of Office Procedure 21 CAG Comptroller and Auditor General CIC Central Information Commission Chapter 4 Confidentiality Classification 23 CPIO Central Public Information Officer CRPF Central Reserve Police Force Part-II IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT GOI Government of India Chapter 5 Rights and Obligations 27 NCRWC National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution 5.1 Rights and Obligations Under the Act 27 NIC National Informatics Centre 5.2 Building Institutions 27 NSA National Security Act 5.3 Designating Information Officers and Appellate Authorities 29 OSA Official Secrets Act 5.4 Organising Information and Record Keeping 30 PGC Public Grievances Commission 5.5 Capacity Building and Awareness Generation 33 PIO Public Information Officer 5.6 Monitoring Mechanism 35 PRO Public Records Office Chapter 6 Issues in Implementation 38 RTI Right to Information 6.1
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