New Delhi: Delhi Government will now have to
make public details of penalties levied on contractors found
responsible for delay in works related to Commonwealth Games
following the orders of Central Information Commission in this
regard.
Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi recently issued
orders asking the Delhi Government to strictly follow section
four of the Right to Information Act which mandates proactive
disclosure of information in public domain.
"We at the Commission have always stressed that under
Section 4 of the RTI Act, more and more meaningful and
substantive information should be made available in the public
domain. This may act as deterrence for corrupt people to put
an end to their indulgence and improve accountability and
transparency in the system," he said.
The Commissioner acknowledged that "unfortunately"
Information Commissions and the Government have paid very
little attention to the requirements of Section four and its
implementation.
"If details of the money being spent on the Commonwealth
Games projects, their deadlines, the terms and conditions of
the contracts had been put on the websites and continuously
updated, the brazen purchase of things at ten or twenty times
their worth may not have been possible," he said.
The Commissioner said proactive disclosure of information
could have alerted people if "anything very brazen was being
done".
"If people knew about the deadlines for the works, the
budgeted amounts and the overruns, they would have questioned
the authorities," he said.
He instructed the officials to put on their web site
information about the works done under the Commonwealth Games
in tabular format carrying details about deadline, cost
overruns and penalties levied on erring contractors before
September 15.
PTI
