2,000 public authorities under RTI ambit: Jitendra Singh

Nearly 2,000 public authorities come under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Minister of State for Department of Personnel and Training (DOP&T) said on Sunday. "In the last four-and-a-half years, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought most of the public authorities under the purview of the RTI Act, which is in keeping with the commitment to ensure maximum transparency in the working of these institutions.

When the government came in, there were very few public authorities under the purview of RTI Act, but a fast-track process was initiated to make the RTI more effective and more inclusive," he said.  The DOP&T is the nodal department for the RTI and Central Information Commission. 

Singh made these observations when the Chief Information Commissioner R.K. Mathur called on him earlier in the day.  In addition, Singh noted that the filing of RTI applications has been made more convenient with the use of latest technology. "There is now a portal and an App, as a result of which any citizen can file an RTI from his mobile phone, at any time of the day or night, and from anywhere."

The disposal time of the RTI application received in the Central Information Commission has been drastically reduced, the Minister said, and added that pendency too has come down.