KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 1
The National Information Commission said it received 753 complaints against public bodies for their refusal to provide information of public concern as per Section 10 of the Right to Information Act- 2007 in the fiscal 2020-2021.
According to the annual report (2020-21) submitted by the NIC to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today, majority of the complaints (73 per cent) are related to local levels followed by education, health and sports (7 per cent), economic sector (4 per cent) and law, justice and administration (4 per cent), among others. The NIC managed to settle 98.7 per cent of the complaints it received during the reporting period.
The report stated that most government offices of Province 1 and Madhes had no information office. Similarly, none of them had abided by the provision of pro-active disclosure of their quarterly activities. "It shows that public bodies of the provinces, districts and local levels remain apathetic to implementation of provision for the right to information in line with the constitution and prevailing law," the NIC said in the report.
It also called on them to comply with the constitutional and legal provisions.
Similarly, some government offices have yet to designate their information officers even 14 years after implementation of the act. Still, such offices have been running without information officers for dissemination of information to citizens, on their request.
The NIC has directed them to designate information officers without any delay. It stressed the need for information officers in each public body to implement the legal and constitutional provisions on right to information of citizens.
The act stipulates the provision of an information officer in a government body for dissemination of information. To disseminate information to the public, the chief of a public body has to regularly provide information to the information officer by establishing a separate information section.
The constitution has also recognised the right of citizens to demand and obtain information held by public bodies on any matter of public importance. Though most of the public bodies have information officers, they often refuse to provide information after receiving requests from citizens. During the reporting period, the NIC also wrote to the public to ensure transparency in public procurement proceedings, requiring them to make public their procurement-related activities on the official websites.
In the case of procurements related to construction work, the public bodies will have to display details such as the name of contractor, address, contract number, contract price, date of completion of construction work, construction activities, and inspection and monitoring agency in the construction site.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 2, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
