Posting information on government websites may not be enough under the Right to Information Act. The Central Information Commission has directed public authorities to make available printed or CD copies of information to RTI applicants even if the same data is available online.
“All applicants may not have access to websites. Whereas it is helpful to give information on the website, the Public Information Officer must always offer to give the same on a CD or hard copies,” Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said. “All applicants may not have access to websites. Whereas it is helpful to give information on the website, the Public Information Officer must always offer to give the same on a CD or hard copies,”
The Bench was hearing an appeal filed by Chandigarh resident Harish Kochhar against the Central Board of Secondary Education, which repeatedly referred him to its official website in answer to his RTI queries. To his first question on whether the CBSE maintained a list of records “essentially submitted to CBSE by affiliated schools on a yearly basis”, the PIO merely stated that schools concerned follow the rules of the Board and directed Kochhar to the education body’s websites www.cbseaff.nic.in and www.cbse.nic.in.
(Down loaded from Indian Express website on 19.10.09.)
Submitted by M.K. Gupta
