NEW DELHI: At least five offices under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) have not submitted their quarterly returns related to the Right to Information Act (2005) to the Central Information Commission (CIC) for a year despite repeated reminders.
Considering the status, the commission has written to the secretary of the ministry Manoj Sinha seeking his intervention, requesting him to ask the authorities concerned to send the required details.
In a letter to the ministry, the CIC informed Joshi that communiques pertaining to the return submission of 2022-23 were sent in June, July, and August. Reminders were also sent electronically, besides regular follow-ups for the purpose, stated the statutory body set up under the Right to Information Act in 2005.
“It is to bring to your notice that some public authorities under your ministry/department have still not submitted their annual returns to the commission. Your intervention is required for advising these authorities to submit the returns at the earliest,” it read.
It further stated that the designated might be approached in case any assistance is required. As per the mandate of the Act, the public authorities need to maintain all their records duly catalogued and indexed. The Clause B of sub-section 1 also stated that it shall be a constant endeavour of every public authority to provide as much information suo motu to the public at regular intervals through various means of communication.
In quarterly returns, the public authorities need to give information about applications received under the RTI Act and their status — disposal, replied, or pending.
Following the reference from the CIC, the ministry has asked the offices to upload their pending quarterly return on the CIC portal immediately and also put the required information on the website every month “without fail to avoid unnecessary delay.”
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