Govt throws open file tracking system

[sidmis]

Hopes the change will provide easier, quicker access to information sought under RTI Act

MUMBAI: Now, even a layman can know the status of the application or petition he has made with any of the state government departments, what with the chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh opening to public the Document Journey Management System (DJMS) - a system being utilised only within the administrative framework for the last four years. The clearance from Deshmukh came while he was reviewing the current status of the information technology projects on Monday.

Information and Technology secretary Kshatrapati Shivaji, also present on the occasion, told DNA, “According to the provisions of the Right To Information (RTI) Act, we want to use the system for the voluntary disclosure of certain information as well as to ensure the accessibility of the journey of the documents to the general public.”

“The intra-accessibility system is in place for the last four years and the documents and their status is easily available for the internal access. We are now considering to make the system, particularly in case of certain documents which are public in nature, accessible to the general public. But it requires lot of investment for software as well as hardware support,” said an official from the IT directorate of the State.

“Moreover, we will have to consider it in security point of view too. The information easily available through internet could be misused by the miscreants and to avert these threats we will also going for the security equipment like application firewall,” the official added.

“Maharashtra would be the first state to introduce the DJMS through internet for general public and it will be of great assistance for the people,” Shivaji said.

The IT directorate official added that it was difficult to tell exactly the timeframe for the implementation of the system, but the State and particularly the chief minister was serious on it.
However, Information commissioner Suresh Joshi said that tracking the files and their status was not as important as the response by the respective departments. “It’s a welcome step if the state is implementing DJMS through the internet. It will help RTI applicants to know the status of their applications and the system can enhance the results of RTI Act,” he added.

Surendra Gangan : November 14, 2007
DNA - Mumbai

[maneesh]

Thats a great intiative.