Tips for a Good Public Information Officer.
TIPS FOR PIO UNDER RTI ACT 2005
- Study RTI Act 2005 and rules applicable to your organization. Please ensure that sections which enjoin certain duties on you are complied with properly by your organization e.g. proactive disclosures u/s 4.1.b etc
- Keep yourself updated with decisions of CIC/SIC by visiting their official websites at least once a week. Download important and relevant judgments.
- Request your office-head to permit you to attend good training programmes/seminars on RTI.
- Be member of powerful and interactive website portals like rtiindia.org in your personal capacity and navigate the site once in a week.
- Keep all the circulars/CDs on RTI handy and easily accessible.
- Keep in touch with other PIOs in your organization.
- Join local active NGOs on RTI.
- Have positive attitude towards applicants and applications.
- View RTI as an effective instrument for transparency, citizen-centric, improving overall efficiency, reducing corruption and infusing sense of accountability in public authority.
- Remember some day you may be required to use RTI, perhaps against the organization you are in. More than 50% applicants are from govt sectors under RTI.
- Attend RTI applications on top priority basis. Meticulously maintain records and submit returns promptly as mandated in the act/rules. Taking RTI casually may be a costly affair. Time is money in RTI virtually!
- Best and easy way to decide on RTI application is to ascertain whether section 8 or 9 or 24 of the act is applicable to it or not and how it is applicable. If not applicable release the information in time.
- Be empathetic and in case of doubt put yourself in the shoes of applicant. Your decision would be right.
- In case of your genuine difficulties, do not be legalistic or authoritative. Contact the applicant and try to understand what he wants. Be polite to him. You may need his help.
- Do not antagonize applicants and maintain helpful decorum. Usually arrogance, authoritativeness and superiority complex of PIOs create lot of problems for PIOs themselves and the organization. In your own interest do not make applicants revengeful against you or the organization.
- Keep liaison with APIO/s and First Appellate Authority of the organization.
- Please note that under RTI you are not discharging routine office duties. You are acting as a quasi-judicial authority and hence bear in mind principles of natural justice.
- Cases of PIOs being punished under RTI for refusal to part with information abound, but there are very few cases where PIOs are punished for supplying information under RTI Act.
- Learn to resist internal pressure. If you succumb to it, you will have external pressure from RTI applicants and IC.
- Never ever supply wrong information or fabricated records or destroy records. You may be in serious trouble in future.
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