Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India

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(D) Right to Information Act-Implementation

8.14 The main objectives of the RTI Act are to promote transparency and accountability in the
functioning of every Public authority and to set up a practical regime for giving citizens
access to information that is under the control of public authorities. It is an attempt to move
from opaqueness to transparency, ultimately leading to good governance. Central
Information Commission (CIC) and State Information Commission (SIC) have been set up to
promote transparency and accountability in the working of public authority. As per the RTI
Act, Nodal Ofcer, RTI Section, PIOs, Appellate Authorities are fully functional in this
Ministry. Section 4(1) (b) of RTI Act, 2005 envisages disclosure of suo moto information to the
public through various means of communication. The website of this Ministry under
various headings gives a host of information on various matters concerning this Ministry. A
counter has been opened in the ground oor of Transport Bhawan for receiving RTI
applications along with prescribed fee as per RTI Act, 2005. A web portal enabling citizens to
apply for information under the RTI Act online and also the Appeals has been introduced by
Department of Personnel & Training and is fully functional in this Ministry. The online
system also includes the facility of scanning and sending physical applications to different
PIOs online for further processing and sending physical replies. Information to the applicant
/ public is being provided keeping in view and subject to the various provisions of the RTI
Act, 2005 including the time limits and exemption clauses. Three organizations namely:
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) an autonomous body set up under an Act of
Parliament, National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited
(NHIDCL) a Public Sector Undertaking under this Ministry and Indian Academy of
Highway Engineers (IAHE) (formerly known as NITHE), a society under the administrative
control of Ministry have also appointed their separate PIOs/APIOs/Appellate Authorities
for providing information to public/applicants as directed in RTI Act. This Ministry has been
receiving RTI applications relating to various subjects viz. Motor Vehicles Act, Road
Transport, National Highways, Flyovers, Bridges, Toll Plaza, collection of users' fee,
installation of petrol pumps, tenders etc. All efforts are made by the concerned PIOs to send
timely and accurate replies to the applicants. A total of 10,614 RTI applications and 1,054
Appeals [including brought forward] have been received from 1st January, 2018 to 31st
March, 2019 and forwarded to concerned PIOs/FAAs. The system also has the facility to
system generated reminders/alerts to concerned PIOs/FAAs through their emails. By using
the facility in the online system, monitoring of the disposal of RTI Applications/Appeals is
also done from time to time.

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