The Right to Information Act (RTI) has completed 10 years and even the Prime Minister acknowledged its role in bringing about a transformation in governance. One part of the RTI legislation that hasn’t attracted enough attention by the government is the Section 4 disclosures. Despite repeated reminders by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), many government departments are yet to implement Section 4 of the RTI act in Toto. Section 4 of the RTI act mandates government departments (public authorities) to proactively disclose certain information, so that the need for filing an application would come down. Some of information in Section 4 is immensely helpful to the common man. On the 10th anniversary, Factly analysed the Section 4 disclosures made by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the various Chief Minister Offices (CMOs) since they are the highest seats of power in the country.

What about the PMO?

The PMO has a dedicated RTI page on the portal. This page has the following major details

Details of Public Information Officer (PIO) etc
Details of Foreign & Domestic Tours of the PM along with expenditure
Details of assets/liabilities of the Union Cabinet members
It has some other information and the information is available both in English & Hindi. But the Section 4 disclosures are absent even on the PMO website.

The CMOs

Factly has analysed the CMO websites of 29 States & 2 UTs (Delhi & Puducherry) that have a CM. Following aspects were analysed for these 31 States/UTs

Whether CMO has a dedicated website?
Whether the details under the various provisions of RTI are present on the website?
Whether proactive disclosures under Sec 4 of the RTI act are made on the website?
If disclosures are made, are they available in the local language?
If there is no dedicated website, are disclosures made elsewhere?
Dedicated Website for the CMO

Out of the 31 States/UTs, only 20 (65%) of them have a dedicated website for the CMO. Surprisingly 11 (35%) States/UTs do not have a dedicated website for the CMO including states like Punjab, Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu. Some CMs have personal websites, but do not have an official website for the CMO.

It is surprising that even in this age of Digital India, the Chief Minister, who is the executive head of the state, does not have a dedicated website.