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