Prof M M Ansari, Information CommissionerandPankaj K P Shreyaskar, Joint Registrar, CIC

CICs sub committee has evolved a methodology for grading the PAs

In this study, an attempt has been made to employ this methodology for grading the PAs on the basis of RTI complianceResearch Question:

To examine whether there is any relationship between higher or lower degree of

transparency/accountability and the larger or smaller number of RTI applications ??

Transparency, Accountability and Least Corruption Index (TALC Index) is an indicator of good governance

The TALC Index provides an idea about preparedness of the public authorities to promote transparency and accountability and contain corruption

The TALC Index is based on a group of 8 major indicators which are further categorized into different parameters comprising of 100 indicators in all:

•Citizen’s Charter (15 Indicators)•Citizen’s Grievance Redressal (12 Indicators)•Citizen Interface (12 Indicators)•Internal transparency/Accountability/Efficiency (16 Indicators)•Records Management/Maintenance (8 Indicators)•Accessibility and Participation (5 Indicators)•e-Governance Readiness (8 Indicators)•Compliance with the Right to Information Act, 2005 (8 Indicators)•Handbook under section 4 (1) (b) of RTI Act, 2005 (16 Indicators)

Each question carries a maximum of 1 mark and a minimum of ‘0’ with no negative marks

Responses to the questions are classified into 2 categories i.e. Yes/No, whereby, each ‘Yes’ carries

‘1’ mark while each ‘No’ carries ‘0’ marks.

The overall scores of the PAs are classified under 5 grades

The classification is based on the ‘percentage’ of total marks obtained

The higher the percentage a PA scores, the better; it is deemed, to perform on the parameters of transparency, accountability and least corruption

Serial Number

Percentage of Marks obtained by PA Grade

1 90 % and above A

2 70 % to 89 % B

3 50 % to 69 % C

4 Below 50 % D

Based on Annual Report 2007-08 those Central PA which has received at least 365 RTI application were selected i.e. one RTI a day

48 Public authorities with more than 365 RTI application were identified

Questionnaire were filled up in consultations with the selected PA, mainly CPIOs and AAs

Consultations could be made only with 24 PAs

PAsNo of RTI

Citizen Charter

(15 ind)

Citizen Griev-ance Redre-ssal

(12 ind)

Citizen Interface

(12 Ind)

Internal trans.& Acct.

(16 Ind)

Record Mgmt.

(7 Ind)

Access-ible & Paratice

(5 Ind)

E gov read-iness

(8 Ind)

Comp-liance to RTI Act

Compli-ane to4 (1) (b)

(16 Ind)

Overall

BSNL 7574 B B D B B B B B B B

ONGC 318 B B C B C B B B C B

GAIL 312 C B C C A B B A A B

Synd. Bank

454 B B C C B A A B B B

ESIC 1615 D B B B A B A A B B

EPFO 7617 D B C C A A A B B B

SBI 3197 B B D B B A B C B B

Allabd. Bank

519 C C D C B A B A B B

Bank of India

727 B A C B C A B C D B

PAsNo of RTI

Citizen Charter

(15 ind)

Citizen Griev-ance Redre-ssal

(12 ind)

Citizen Interface

(12 Ind)

Internal trans.& Acct.

(16 Ind)

Record Mgmt.

(7 Ind)

Access-ible & Paratice

(5 Ind)

E gov read-iness

(8 Ind)

Comp-liance to RTI Act

Compli-ane to4 (1) (b)

(16 Ind)

Overall

NTPC 376 B B D B B C B A C BSEBI 556 B B C C B B B B D BCBDT 473 B B C C B B B B D B

UPSC 1096 C C D B B C B B C C

SSC 1667 B C D C B B B A B CDelhi Police

14549 B B D C C C B B B C

DG, DD 1618 C D D D B A B A B C

MTNL 1642 B C D D B A A A B C

SAIL 1416 D C D C A C A B C C

PAsNo of RTI

Citizen Charter

(15 ind)

Citizen Griev-ance Redre-ssal

(12 ind)

Citizen Interface

(12 Ind)

Internal trans.& Acct.

(16 Ind)

Record Mgmt.

(7 Ind)

Access-ible & Paratice

(5 Ind)

E gov read-iness

(8 Ind)

Comp-liance to RTI Act

Compli-ane to4 (1) (b)

(16 Ind)

Overall

DDA 12419 B C D D B A B A B CHPCL 1216 C B D C B B B B D CIOCL 1949 D C D C A B A C C C

BPCL 888 D C D B A D B B C C

CBSE 917 B B D D C C B C D CIndian Army

1837 C D D C D D B B C D

DDA 12419 B C D D B A B A B C

HPCL 1216 C B D C B B B B D C

IOCL 1949 D C D C A B A C C C

Serial Number

% of Marks obtained by PA

Grade Distribution

190 % and above

A 0

2 70 % to 89 % B 12

3 50 % to 69 % C 11

4 Below 50 % D 1

High Grading/Less RTI High Grading/More RTI

(8 Cases) (4 Cases)

Low Grading/Less RTI Low Grading/More RTI

(6 Cases) (6 Cases)

The Number of RTI requests in various PA s were plotted against the grading in the sub parameters to see if there exists any relationship between these parameters

The Number of RTI requests in various PA s were plotted against the grading for the overall performance to see if there exists any relationship between these parameters

Observation: RTI regime has desirably increased citizen participation in Public

Authorities

Observation: Higher level e governance reduces filing of RTI application

Observation: There exist a relationship b/w grading of PA s and

filing of RTI application

• The result demonstrates that evidence for 58% of PA s (14/24) supports the view that higher the TALC Index lower is the number of RTI applications and vice versa

• The lower Index for 6 PA s shows smaller number of application. These PA shave relatively much more friction points in terms of their public activities

• For the remaining 4 PA s despite higher Index, the request of information was also higher. These PA s are BSNL, EPFO, SBI and DDA which has considerable public interface