AU?s public information site goes online

Formal launch by Vice-Chancellor in first week of May

ALLAHABAD UNIVERSITY (AU) has become one of those varsities of the country which can now boast of a separate public information website following the enactment of 'The Right to Information Act-2005'.

The varsity has gone ahead and uploaded 14 of the mandatory 16 manuals on its new webiste— www.alldunivpio.org— as instructed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the University Grants Commission (UGC) and can now be accessed online by anyone. AU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Rajen Harshe, is expected to formally launch the website in the first week of May.

It is to be recalled that the RTI Act-2005 was passed by Parliament on June 15, 2005 giving the citizens the right to seek information under the control of public authorities with an aim to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority.

Within no time, the UGC too despatched instructions to all the universities and colleges of the country including AU informing them that they too come under the term Public Authority as specified in the Act.

The UGC had also informed that while some provisions of the Act had come into effect immediately, other provisions shall come into effect on 100/120 days of its enactment and that the varsities and the colleges should take appropriate pre-specified steps for their implementation.

A fax from the Union Ministry of HRD dated July 22, 2005 too was recieved at AU in this regard.

Following this, AU Vice-Chancellor Prof HR Singh on September 20, 2005 appointed Prof Amrendra K Singh of the Department of Economics as the CPIO and four other teachers including Prof JN Bhargava (Commerce Department), Dr Dhananjay Yadav (Education Department), Dr Prashant Agrawal (Defence Studies Department) and Dr Avinash C Pandey (Physics Department) as APIOs.

While AU applied and was awarded—ww.alldunivpio.org— domain name and 1 GB space for setting of a separate website under the Act from the UK-based agency, the varsity took some time in getting it uploaded and online.

"We have put 14 manuals online on the site as instructed by the UGC and have intimated about it to the Union Ministry of HRD. Now only the regulations manual and the records held in electronic form are yet to be put up," informed AU CPIO Prof Amendra Singh.

He said that as soon as the new ordinances are finalised, they too would be displayed on the website. "In the work remaining, we plan to cull information from the manuals and put them in various links already provided on the website for the ease of the visitors," he added.

The 16 Manuals  specified by the UGC includes the particulars of its organisation, functions and duties; the powers and duties of its officers and employees; the procedure followed in the decision making process, including channels of supervision and accountability; the norms set by it for the discharge of its functions; the rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records, held by it or under its control or used by its employees for discharging its functions;  and a statement of the categories of documents that are held by it or under its control.

Institutions also need to provide the particulars of any arrangement that exists for consultation with, or representation by, the members of the public in relation to the formulation of its policy or implementation thereof; a statement of the boards, councils, committees and other bodies consisting of two or more persons constituted as its part or for the purpose of its advice, and as to whether meetings of those boards, councils, committees and other bodies are open to the public, or the minutes of such meetings are accessible for public; a directory of its officers and employees; the monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and employees, including the system of compensation as provided in its regulations;  and the budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditures and reports on disbursements made.