Who is a Transparency Officer? The Central Information Commission (CIC) has created the designation of the Transparency Officer to implement the pro-active disclosure by the public authorities and improve the record maintenance practice. A seven member bench of the CIC held that a key element of the law - voluntary disclosure by public authorities, enshrined in Section 4 of the Act - has not been fully implemented in letter and spirit. Observing that the time has come when the public authorities must start a sustained drive to inform their governance practices with transparency and to take the series of small steps required to put in place a system which promotes it, the CIC directed that each public authority shall designate one of their senior officers as “TRANSPARENCY OFFICER” within 30 days. The task of the Transparency Officer is: (a) to oversee the implementation of the Section 4 obligation by public authorities, and to apprise the top management of its progress. (b) to be the interface for the CIC regarding the progress of (a). (c) help promote congenial conditions for positive and timely response to RTI-requests by CPIOs, deemed-CPIOs. (d) to be a contact point for the public in all RTI-related matters. |