Information commissioners declare assets online

After much deliberation and back-tracking, the chief information commissioner (CIC) and the five information commissioners (IC) have finally provided details of their assets on the commission's web site.

''We took a decision in the last week of March to voluntarily declare our assets on the site,'' said Satyananda Mishra, the CIC. ''We thought when there is nothing to hide, why not place them in public domain. We hope state commissions will follow.'' Mishra said the data would be updated annually.

The CIC, under the landmark Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, is empowered to look into complaints relating to non-compliance of the provisions of the act by government officials. With demands for greater transparency, many authorities and agencies in India have been providing details of the assets of their key officers.

Judges of the Supreme Court and of many high courts have already declared their assets on the courts' sites, and even the assets of central ministers have been put up on the web site of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). While the central government has still not directed its officials to declare their assets, many state governments have instructed their officials to do so.

The CIC had delivered rulings directing governments to allow access to the assets of top officials under the RTI Act. Surprisingly, it refused to do the same in its own case, despite demands that the CIC and the ICs also declare their assets.

Since many information commissioners  had opposed the declaration of the assets, the CIC had to postpone the move. However, after Mishra took over as the CIC, he once again revived the proposal. Information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi – unlike most other commissioners, who are ex-bureaucrats, was a businessman before taking charge as IC – had voluntarily declared his assets on the CIC's site much earlier.

The CIC also decided to establish a minimum performance norm for its commissioners. Each information commissioner will now have to dispose a minimum of 3,200 cases annually; the current average is less than 1,000.

The decision was reached after extensive discussions between the commissioners. According to the CIC: ''Taking note of the increasing pendency of appeals / complaints in the commission over the last few years and realising the need for their expeditious disposal, the commission hereby resolves that each single bench of the commission shall take urgent steps to maximise its disposal without compromising the quality thereof; as a general rule, each single bench will endeavour to decide about 3,200 appeals / complaints per year.''