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West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights

Right to Information Act (RTI)

Paritculars of SPIO / SAPIO / AA (As per RTI Act, 2005)

Sl No. Name and Designation of Officer Role under RTI Act Contact Nos
1 Sri. Partha Sarathi Mondal, Assistant Secretary Appellate Authority 033 6824 6322
2 Smt. Sirat Begum, Law Officer State Public Information Officer 033 6824 6331

Disclosure of Government Information in India is governed by a law enacted during the British rule, the Official Secrets Act of 1889 which was amended in 1923.This law secures information related to security of the State, sovereignty of the country and friendly relations with foreign states, and contains provisions which prohibit disclosure of non-classified information. Civil Service conduct rules and the Indian Evidence Act impose further restrictions on government officials' powers to disclose information to the public. In 1975, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment on the citizen's Right to Know. The Right to Information Act enacted by the Parliament IN 2005 provides the citizens of India access to records of the Government. The Act applies to all States and Union Territories of India, except the State of Jammu and Kashmir - which is covered under a State-level law. Under the provisions of the Act, any citizen (including the citizens within J&K) may request information from a "public authority" (a body of Government or "instrumentality of State") which is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days. The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.

Process

Under the Act, all authorities covered must appoint their Public Information Officer (PIO). Any person may submit a request to the PIO for information in writing. It is the PIO's obligation to provide information to citizens of India who request information under the Act. If the request pertains to another public authority (in whole or part) it is the PIO's responsibility to transfer/forward the concerned portions of the request to a PIO of the other within 5 days. In addition, every public authority is required to designate Assistant Public Information Officers (APIO’s) to receive RTI requests and appeals for forwarding to the PIO’s of their public authority. The citizen making the request is not obliged to disclose any information except his name and contact particulars.

Exemption from Disclosure of Information

Time Limits

The Act specifies time limits for replying to the request.

Cost for Information

Since the information is to be paid for, the reply of the PIO is necessarily limited to either denying the request (in whole or part) and/or providing a computation of "further fees".

The time between the reply of the PIO and the time taken to deposit the further fees for information is excluded from the time allowed. If information is not provided within this period, it is treated as deemed refusal. Refusal with or without reasons may be ground for appeal or complaint. Further, information not provided in the times prescribed is to be provided free of charge.

[If the applicant is a Below Poverty Card holder, then no fee shall apply. Such BPL Card holders have to provide a copy of their BPL card along with their application to the Public Authority.]

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