Public information officer
What Is Public Information Officer (PIO)?
Public Information Officer (PIOs) is a nodal officer in a government department who is responsible for providing information to the citizens under the RTI Act, 2005. PIOs are designated by the public authorities in all administrative units or offices under it to provide information to the citizens requesting for information under the Act.
Official Definition Of PIO:
The term Public Information Officer is not defined anywhere in the statute or the RTI Act, 2005. However, under Section 5(1) of the RTI Act, 2005 all Public Authorities (PA's) must designate as many officers as PIOs as necessary to provide information to citizens. PIOs are primarily tasked with responding to the RTI applications filed by citizens by providing them the required information.
Types Of PIOs
The PIOs can be categorized in the following ways:
Central Public Information Officer (CPIO):
Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) refers to the official designated by the central public authorities or the competent authorities of Central Government under which they function. The appointment by designation also includes a person already in Central service, who may be designated as a Central Public Information Officer. The objective of their appointment is to provide information to the citizens requesting the same under section 6 of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
The term Central Public Information Officer is mentioned therein the section 2(c) of the RTI Act,2005.
State Public Information Officer(SPIO):
The State Public Information Officer (SPIO) of a public authority plays a pivotal role in making the right of a citizen to information a reality. The state public authorities casts specific duties on him and makes him liable for penalty in case of default. It is, therefore, essential for a SPIO to study the Act carefully and understand its provisions correctly. The term State Public Information Officer has been mentioned therein section 2(m) of the RTI Act,2005.
Assistant Public Information Officers (APIO):
Assistant Public Information Officer is an officer at sub-divisional level to whom a person can give his RTI application or appeal. These officers send the application or appeal to the Public Information Officer of the public authority or the concerned appellate authority. APIO is not responsible to supply the information. The Assistant Public Information Officers appointed by the Department of Posts in various post offices are working as Assistant Public Information Officers for all the public authorities under the Government of India. The APIOs working at the central and state level are called Central Assistant Public Information Officer (CAPIO) and State Assistant Public Information Officers (SAPIO) respectively.
Deemed Public Information Officer:
The Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, may seek the assistance of any other officer as he or she considers it necessary for the proper discharge of his or her duties. The officer, whose assistance has been sought under sub-section (4), shall render all assistance to the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, seeking his or her assistance and for the purposes of any contravention of the provisions of this Act, such other officer shall be treated as a Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be for the purpose of contravention of the provisions of the Act.
If the PIO takes assistance of any employee or transfers the matter to another employee who deals with the subject, then that person is deemed to be the PIO for that case. That means, he becomes the deemed PIO. Unlike the PIO, deemed PIO can be any employee of any rank. It could be even the Head of Office or First Appellate Authority, or the peon or the clerk.
The public authorities appoints its officers as PIOs. The appointment of the PIOs has been described under Section 5 of the Right To Information Act, 2005 as:
(1) Every public authority shall, within one hundred days of the enactment of this Act, designate as many officers as the Central Public Information Officers or State Public Information Officers, as the case may be, in all administrative units or offices under it as may be necessary to provide information to persons requesting for the information under this Act.
(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), every public authority shall designate an officer, within one hundred days of the enactment of this Act, at each sub-divisional level or other subdistrict level as a Central Assistant Public Information Officer or a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, to receive the applications for information or appeals under this Act for forwarding the same forthwith to the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or senior officer specified under sub-section (1) of section 19 or the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be: Provided that where an application for information or appeal is given to a Central Assistant Public Information Officer or a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, a period of five days shall be added in computing the period for response specified under sub-section (1) of section 7.
(3) Every Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall deal with requests from persons seeking information and render reasonable assistance to the persons seeking such information.
(4) The Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, may seek the assistance of any other officer as he or she considers it necessary for the proper discharge of his or her duties.
(5) Any officer, whose assistance has been sought under sub-section (4), shall render all assistance to the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, seeking his or her assistance and for the purposes of any contravention of the provisions of this Act, such other officer shall be treated as a Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be.
Designation of the PIOs:
PIOs are officers designated by the public authorities in all administrative units or offices under it to provide information to the citizens requesting for information under the Right to Information Act,2005.
Every public authority is required to designate Public Information Officers in all the administrative units or offices under it. The public authorities should also designate the First Appellate Authorities and publish the details thereof along with the details of the Public Information Officers. Every public authority is also required to designate Assistant Public Information Officers at each sub-divisional level. The Government has decided that Central Assistant Public Information Officers (CAPIOs) appointed by the Department of Posts would act as( CAPIO's) for all the public authorities under the Government of India.
Who can be a PIO:
Ideally, the PIO should be a senior person in the office so that they have the authority to make decisions on whether to release documents. Otherwise, if too junior a person is nominated they may be more reluctant to release information for fear of making a mistake and getting into trouble. This may make them err on the side of caution - as a result of which they may undermine the spirit of open government that the Central Act seeks to entrench.
It is important that all officers within each public authority understand the role of the PIO as they will be the "face of RTI" as far as other officials - as well as the public - are concerned. Sections 5(4) and (5) make it clear that all officers - no matter their seniority - have a duty to support the work of the PIO and to assist them to process applications, when requested.
Qualification of Pio:
A Public Information Officer (PIO) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act should have the following qualifications:
1. Knowledge of the RTI Act:
The PIO should be well-versed in all the provisions of the RTI Act and be able to confidently interpret and apply them.
2. Understanding of the organization:
The PIO should be familiar with the organization's structure, functions, and delegation of powers. They should also be familiar with the organization chart and the levels of disposal of cases and appeals.
3. Communication skills:
The PIO should have excellent written and verbal communication skills. They should also have good negotiation skills and be able to interact smoothly with the public, colleagues, and third parties.
4. Training:
The PIO should be trained in RTI, office procedures, information management, good governance, and change management.
5. Time management :
The PIO should be able to judiciously apportion their time between the various activities entrusted to them and RTI-related work.
Duties and Responsibilities of PIOs:
- The P.I.O. is responsible for receiving applications, assigning numbers, scrutinizing applications, forwarding them to the appropriate department, receiving appeals, and ensuring the realization of fees.
- They scrutinize information, examine exemptions, issue rejections or refusal orders, and issue fees if necessary.
- They also seek services from other officers to ensure complete reply delivery.
- They dispose of requests within prescribed timeframes, inform third parties of their rights to appeal, and prepare weekly statements.
- They maintain all RTI records, receipts, disposal, and submit an annual statement.
- They also inform the Member Secretary NCW of any issues.
Duties and Responsibilities of CPIOs:
• to deal with requests from persons seeking information and render reasonable assistance to the persons seeking such information, taking the assistance of any other officer, if considered necessary by him or her for the proper discharge of duties [Section 5(3) & 5(4)];
• to render ‘all reasonable assistance’, where request for information cannot be made in writing, to the person making the request orally to reduce the same into writing [Section 6(1)];
• to dispose request for information under the Act, either providing the information requested on payment of prescribed fee or rejecting the request for reasons to be specified within the time period stipulated under the Act [Section 7(1)]. National Implementing Agency - Capacity Building for Access to Information Project.
Duties and Responsibilities of APIOS:
To receive applications for information or appeals under the Act for forwarding the same forthwith to the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or Appellate Officer or the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be [Section 5 (2)]
Duties and Responsibilities of Officer whose Assistance is Sought:
• to render all assistance to the Public Information Officer who sought his or her assistance;
• to be treated as a Public Information Officer for the purposes of any contravention of the provisions of the Act. [Section 5 (5)]
Working procedure of CPIOs & SPIOs:
Section 7 of the Act makes provisions regarding the disposal of request for information as follows:
- Request for information shall be disposed by the Public Information Officer within 30 days of receipt in general cases and 48 hours of receipt in cases where the information sought for concerns the life or liberty of a person [section 7 (1)];
- A period of 5 days shall be added in computing the response time where an application for information is given to an Assistant Public Information Officer [Section 5(2)];
- Request to be deemed to have been refused by the Public Information Officer, if decision on the request for information is not given within the period specified as above [Section 7(2)];
- Where a decision is taken to provide the information on payment of any further fee representing the cost of providing the information, the Public Information Officer shall send an intimation to the person making the request, giving (a) the details of further fees representing the cost of providing the information as determined by him or her, together with the calculations made to arrive at the amount in accordance with fee prescribed, requesting him/her to deposit that fees, and the period intervening between the dispatch of the said intimation and payment of fees shall be excluded for the purpose of calculating the period of 30 days and (b) information concerning the right of the person making request with respect to review the decision as to the amount of fees charged or the form of access provided, including the particulars of the appellate authority, time limit, process and any other forms [Section 7(3)];
- Where access to the record or a part thereof is required to be provided under the Act and the person to whom access is to be provided is sensorily disabled, the Public Information Officer shall provide assistance to enable access to the information, including providing such assistance as may be appropriate for the inspection [Section 7(4)];
- Where access to information is to be provided in the printed or in any electronic format, the applicant shall pay the fee prescribed [Section 7(5)];
- Before taking any decision to provide information, the Public Information Officer shall take into consideration the representation made by a third party [Section 11(1)];
- Where a request has been rejected, the Public Information Officer shall communicate to the person making the request — (i) the reasons for such rejection; (ii) the period within which an appeal against such rejection may be preferred; and (iii) the particulars of the appellate authority [Section 7(8)].
Power of PIO to reject appeals:
According to the RTI Act,2005, the PIO has the power to reject the appeal on the basis of the following grounds:
- Section 8 (1): Exemptions from disclosure of information. There is no obligation on the part of a PIO to give any citizen the following:
a) Information where disclosure would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with the foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence;
b) information expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court;
c) information, the disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament or State Legislature;
d) information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property where disclosure would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information;
e) information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information;
f) Information received in confidence from a foreign Government;
g) Information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identity the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes;
h) Information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders;
i) Cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers;
j) Personal information, which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information. (The information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or State Legislature shall not be denied to a person making request for the same). However, a PIO may allow access to information if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interest.
- Section 9: Infringement of the copyright subsisting in a person other than the State. This is the only absolute exemption. Here the PIO need not consider the public interest in disclosure.
- Section 11: Third party information treated as confidential by the concerned and involving the case of trade or commercial secrets protected by law and other third party information where the public interest in disclosure does not outweigh the importance of any possible harm or injury to the interests of such third party.
- Section 24: Information of exempted intelligence and security organizations except information pertaining to allegations of corruption and human rights violations.
Exemption for PIOs as per the Act:
Section 9 of the Act provides that a Public Information Officer may reject a request for information where such a request for providing access would involve an infringement of copyright subsisting in a person other than the State.
Working procedure of the PIOs:
The procedure to be followed by the PIO right from the stage of receipt of application for information till the disposal involves a number of steps as follows:
• receives application along with the application fee.
• scrutinizes the application received and the fee prescribed.
• If required, renders reasonable assistance to the applicant by reducing the oral request in writing.
• Record the application in the Inward Register.
• Issues acknowledgement/ receipt to the applicant.
• Transfers the application / part of it to another public authority, if required.
• Informs the applicant about such transfers.
• Makes necessary entries in the Register being maintained.
• Considers the representations of a ‘third party’, if any.
• In case of rejection, conveys reason for it, the period within which the appeal may be preferred and the details of the Appellate Authority to whom appeal can be preferred.
• Sends intimation to the applicant the further fee, representing the cost of providing the information, to be paid along with its calculations.
• Also intimates about the modalities of deposit of fee, the right of the applicant for review of the fees charged and appeal against the calculation or the form of access.
• Wherever required, provides assistance to citizens for inspection of works, documents, records and taking samples of material.
• Waives fees for citizens Below Poverty Line.
• Retains record on each application, disposal etc. so that materials as required may be furnished to appellate authorities in case first/second appeal is preferred.
CHECK SLIP FOR PIOs:
To enable the PIOs to discharge their functions effectively, it will be useful for the PIOs to be ready with the following :
• Full details of the administrative unit/office/organization .
• Full details of the department of which the public authority is a part.
• Information proactively published by the public authority.
• Information made available electronically.
• Annual report and other documents published by the public authority.
• Names, addresses and other details of the Appellate Authorities: Designated Appellate Officers and Information Commission
• The contact details of the other Public Authorities, PIOs and APIOs.
• Proforma for the receipt of application for request of information.
• Forms for receipt of fees and acknowledgement, communication of decision including rejection.
• Proper seating arrangements to facilitate easy accessibility of citizens to information handbooks, portals, websites etc.
• Register for receipt, acknowledgements - separately for inward and outward and rozenama.
• Checklist for monitoring the disposal, pendency and disposal of the applications for information.
• Arrangements for inspection of records/taking samples by persons making requests and fix a particular day or two in the week for the above purposes and be ready with an appropriate contingency plan.
IMPORTANT GUIDELINES FOR PIOs:
The PIOs need to constantly keep the following in mind:
• Information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or the State Legislature shall not be denied to any citizen.
• Notwithstanding the exemptions permissible under Section 8 (1) of the Act, access to information is to be allowed, if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interest.
• The Right to Information Act, 2005 overrides the Official Secrets Act, 1923.
• Any material relating to occurrence, event or matter, which has taken place, occurred or happened 20 years before the date of the application has to be given to the applicant.
• Access to information should not involve an infringement of copyright subsisting in a person other than the Sate.
• Information supplied by a third party can be provided by the PIO subject to legal safeguards under Section 11.
• The burden is on the PIO to prove before the Information Commission in appeal that he acted reasonably and diligently. He has to support the same with documentary evidence.
• The PIO is personally liable to pay penalty if the same is imposed by the Information Commission while deciding on complaints and appeals.
Removal of PIO:
According to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, a public information officer (PIO) can be removed from office by the President after the Supreme Court has reported that the officer should be removed for misbehavior or incapacity.
The process for removing a PIO is as follows:
- The President can suspend the PIO from office and prohibit them from attending the office during the inquiry.
- The President can refer the matter to the Supreme Court.
- The Supreme Court conducts an inquiry and reports on whether the PIO should be removed.
- The President issues an order removing the PIO from office.
Power of Information Commission in the removal of PIO:
The Central Information Commission (CIC) or the State Information Commission can recommend disciplinary action against a PIO if they find that the PIO has:
- Failed to receive an application for information without a reasonable cause.
- Failed to provide information within the specified time.
- Maliciously denied a request for information.
- Provided incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information.
- Destroyed information related to the request.
- Obstructed the provision of information.
Similarities between CPIOs & SPIOs:
Central Public Information Officers (CPIOs) and State Public Information Officers (SPIOs) share many duties and functions, including:
- Dealing with requests:- Both CPIOs and SPIOs are responsible for handling requests from people seeking information and providing reasonable assistance.
- Seeking assistance:- Both CPIOs and SPIOs can seek help from other officers if they need it to perform their duties.
- Forwarding applications:- Central Assistant Public Information Officers (CAPIOs) and State Assistant Public Information Officers (SAPIOs) receive applications and appeals and forward them to the relevant CPIO or SPIO.
- Rendering assistance to applicants:- SPIOs must provide reasonable assistance to applicants who need help making a written request for information
- Dissimilarities in duties and functions of CPIO & SPIO:- Central Public Information Officers (CPIOs) and State Public Information Officers (SPIOs) have some different roles and responsibilities, including:
- Assistance to applicants:- Both CPIOs and SPIOs must provide reasonable assistance to people seeking information. This includes helping people who are unable to write their request, or providing assistance to people with disabilities.
- Media relations:- SPIOs may plan press conferences, write press releases, and develop strategies for working with the media.
- Other duties:- CPIOs have additional powers, such as the ability to summon people to give evidence, and to require the discovery and inspection of documents.
Dissimilarities between CPIOs & SPIOs:
The main difference between a Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) and a State Public Information Officer (SPIO) is the type of public authority they serve:
| Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) | State Public Information Officer (SPIO) | |
| Public authority | Central Public Authorities | State Public Authorities |
Both CPIOs and SPIOs are responsible for providing information to the public, and for ensuring that information is accurate and in line with the law. They also have other duties, including:
- CPIOs:- Conduct public awareness campaigns, gather information, and coordinate inquiries from the public, media, and elected officials
- SPIOs:- Ensure citizens have access to information, provide assistance to applicants, and ensure that the authority discloses its functions and duties
Appearance in Database:-
- Data related to various CAPIOs, CPIOs and FAAs for various public authorities.
- Annual report of Haryana Information Commission on penalties imposed on information officers under Section 20(1) of RTI Act.
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