Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said officials should reply to Right to Information applications irrespective of the nature of the query. Singh said transparency in governance has increased since the National Democratic Alliance came to power in 2014, PTI reported.
He said the government had recently received an RTI query about the Centre’s plan to handle a zombie attack, if that was to happen, and the officials ensured a renponse to that application as well. "All of you must understand the ecosystem of information and without getting influenced by what information is being sought, you must do your duty," Singh said at the inaugural function of the 11th annual Central Information Commission convention.
Singh also inaugurated the e-court system in the Central Information Commission, which will let people file appeals and complaints online. The CIC has digitised more than 1.5 lakh files as part of its initiative to make the process paperless. The Union minister said RTI was an effective and strong mode of communication between the government and people. "Government must be sensitive, corruption free and accountable to people of the country. Keeping this in mind, the importance of RTI in these times has increased more than ever," he said.
He said digitalisation was important for transparency. "More the systems will go digital, the better will be transparency...there is a need for a digitally strong society," he said. He also stressed on the importance of a single window system to address grievances. "It is the demand of time that government is transparent, responsive as well as smart. It is required that the government performs and also provides information to people wherever it is required," he said.
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