RTI ONLINE PORTALS CENTRAL & STATE GOVT SHOULD BE MADE UNIFORM BY NIC
Bureau,Odishabarta
RTI ONLINE PORTALS OF CENTRAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS SHOULD BE MADE UNIFORM AND MORE USER-FRIENDLY BY NATIONAL INFORMATICS CENTRE
DELHI: Presently there are only a few departments like Income Tax Department which informs online RTI applicants about disposal of their RTI applications through emails and SMS-alerts. But most public-authorities like banks do not have such a user-friendly practice requiring RTI applicants to again and again go the RTI online portal for checking status of online filed RTI applications.
National Informatics Centre (NIC) having developed portal for central government should make proper modifications so that disposal of on-line filed RTI applications may be auto-informed to applicants through emails and SMS alerts. Furthermore all states should adopt NIC-developed on-line RTI portals for uniformity and convenience.
For example, Odisha has an absolutely meaningless and useless portal for filing online RTI applications which is nothing more than a show-piece wherein RTI applicants have to compulsorily send a signed copy of downloaded filled-up form to the concerned public authority along with proof of payment and ID. Otherwise public-authority will not respond even though RTI fees might also be paid on-line and ID proof be uploaded on on-line portal. as compulsory attachments. Central and public authorities in other states do not have any such mandatory requirement of sending signed copy of the filled-up application with copy of proofs of payment of RTI fees and ID already filed online. Odisha like centre and other states should accept RTI applications on plain paper rather than to be filed on prescribed form-1. Odisha should also incorporate provision of payment of RTI-fees on-line through credit-cards also. Presently on-line RTI portal of Odisha government has facility of on-line payment of RTI fees only through Debit Cards and Net-Banking which even do not have select-option for all public-sector banks.
Input;Mr Subash – DOPAT/E/2020/26454 MINIT/E/2020/03100 PMOPG/E/2020/0825234 PRSEC/E/2020/20926 dated 11.09.2020
