Union home minister Rajnath Singh has stressed on the need for responding to every RTI application by officials, saying importance of the transparency law has increased during recent times. While speaking at a function of the Central Information Commission, Mr Singh said irrespective of what sort of information has been sought by the applicant the officers must respond to it.
Giving an example the home minister said recently an RTI application had sought the MHA’s response on what action plan had been prepared if there was an attack by a “zombie or an alien”.’ Mr Singh said he ensured that a response was given to this RTI also.
“All of you must understand the ecosystem of information and without getting influenced by what information is being sought, you must do your duty,” the home minister added. He also inaugurated the e-court system in the CIC which would help the commission go paperless in regarding appeals and complaints being processed by it.
“The government must be sensitive, corruption free and accountable to people of the country. Keeping this in mind, the importance of RTI in these times has increased more than ever. As far as RTI is concerned, it is an effective and strong mode of communication between people and government,” Mr Singh said.
While asserting that participation of people is increasing in framing policies, Mr Singh said over 40,000 suggestions were received on GST. He said there should be a single window system for addressing people’s grievances so that people do not have to knock the doors of different offices.
“It is the demand of time that government is transparent, responsive as well as smart. It is required that the government performs and also provides information to people wherever it is required,” the home minister remarked.
