PREAMBLE

The Right to Information Act 2005 intends to set out the practical regime of Right to Information of citizens to enable them to access the information under the control of public authority in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of such authority.

Section 2(h) of the Act defines “public authority” as any authority or body or institution of self- governance established or constituted

1. 1. by or under the Constitution;
2. 2. by any other law made by the Parliament;
3. 3. by any other law made by State Legislature;
4. 4. by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government and includes any body owned, controlled or substantially financed;

non-government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government.

In accordance with the provisions contained in section 2(j) of the Act, “Right to Information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and include the right to

1. a. inspection of work, documents, records;
2. b. taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records;
3. c. taking certified samples of material;
4. d. obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device.

The D.S Government Degree College(W) Information Handbook will enable the citizens to obtain information as to the provi sions contained in various rules and regulations governing the college; and related information. This Information Handbook is divided into 17 sections. Each section deals with unit of information as delineated under section 4 (1) (b). For ease of reference, this is given below.

4. (1) Every public authority shall

a. Maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and from which facilitates the right to information under this Act and ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerized are, within a reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerized and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated;
b. Publish within one hundred and twenty days from the enactment of this Act,
i. The particulars or its organization, functions and duties;
ii. The powers and duties of its officers and employees;
iii. The procedure followed in the decision making process, including channels of supervision and accountability;
iv. The norms set by it for the discharge of its of its functions;
v. The rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records, held by it or under its control or used by its employees for discharging its functions;
vi. A statement of the categories of documents that are held by it or under its control;
vii. The particulars of any arrangement that exist for consultation with, or representation by, the members of the public in relation to the formulation of its policy or implementation thereof;
viii. 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 advise, and as to whether meetings of those boards, councils, committees of such meetings are accessible for public;
ix. A directory of its officers and employees;
x. The monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and employees, including the system of compensation as provided in its regulations;
xi. The budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditures and reports on disbursements made;
xii. The manner of execution of subsidy programmes including the amounts allocated and the detail of beneficiaries of such programmes;
xiii. Particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorizations granted by it;
xiv. Details in respect of the information, available to or held by it, reduced in an electronic form;
xv. The particulars of facilities available to citizens for obtaining information, including the working hours of a library or reading room, if maintained for public use;
xvi. The names, designations and other particulars of the Public Information Officers;
xvii. Such other information as may be prescribed;

Section 4 b

(xii) provides information on the manner of execution of subsidy programmes. This programme is not applicable to D.S Government Degree College(W).