NIC audits levels of transparency of 92 public authorities
Our Correspondent
KOHIMA, MARCH 6
The Nagaland Information Centre (NIC) has brought out an audit report of the updated proactive disclosures under the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005 of all the public authorities in Nagaland for the period 2015-16. According to the state Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), Bukchem Phom, the “quick audit”, which was carried out to commemorate a decade of RTI in Nagaland and the 10th anniversary of the NIC this year, is a first of its kind in the state and also could be the first in the country to have been undertaken by an Information Commission independently.
“I hope the public authorities and the citizens will find this first ever report of the audit of proactive disclosures interesting, as an eye opener, and as an opportunity in improving their proactive disclosures, in striving towards more transparency and in enabling open governance which is the first step towards good governance,” the CIC stated in the preface of the report, which was released on March 5 by the Chief Minister TR Zeliang in Kohima during the NIC’s celebration ‘A Decade of RTI in Nagaland’. The document is titled ‘Audit of Proactive Disclosures of Public Authorities in Nagaland for 2015-2016’.The report has revealed that the department of Prisons and the much valued department of Information & Public Relations (IPR) have the least level of transparency and compliance with RTI, ranking 91 and 92 respectively amongst the 92 public authorities that were assessed in the “quick audit” for 2015-16.
The department of Horticulture and the NIC topped the chart reflecting high transparency and RTI compliant. Major departments like Finance, Personnel & Administrative Reforms, Home, Agriculture, Elections and Health & Family Welfare were among 43 public authorities that showed limited transparency. Interestingly, even the highest offices in the state such as the Governor’s Secretariat, Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Nagaland Legislative Assembly, Gauhati High Court Kohima Bench, Chief Secretary’s Office and State Vigilance are also listed under this category of limited transparency and compliance with RTI.
A total of 45 public authorities were assessed as reasonably transparent and RTI compliant. These include big names like the Administrative Training Institute, Nagaland State Transport, NBSE, School Education, Justice & Law, Rural Development, NPSC, Urban Development, Police (PHQ), Forests, PWD (Works & Housing) among others.
NIC secretary, Worhonthung Ezung has stated in the report that audit is carried out with the objective to assess the public authorities’ compliance with the provisions of the RTI Act relating to proactive disclosures, to assess the quality and quantity of the disclosures and to identify the information gaps in the disclosures, thereby to inculcate a culture of transparency and openness in the functioning of the public authorities.
He also stated that the “quick audit” was carried out using the tool kit developed by the Centre for Good Governance Hyderabad, and covers only the quantitative aspects. Stating that the report gives a broad assessment of the level of transparency of the public authorities in the state based on the proactive disclosures submitted during the last one year, the official has underscored that this audit can be done annually not only by the NIC but also more intensely by the citizens, researchers, RTI activists, NGOs or any other party/agency.
