New Delhi: The Central Information Commission has directed the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to “take certain extraordinary steps aimed at data creation” and to make its website a centralised resource centre from where members of the public may be able to access all necessary information. It has also asked the chief public information officer (CPIO) of the ministry to put the issue before the “competent authority” to ensure that such data is also updated on a month-to-month basis.The order from central information commissioner Saroj Punhani, passed on May 31, came on an appeal filed with the commission by L. Muruganantham, who had sought information on 15 broad points from the ministry in March 2019 on issues pertaining to persons with disabilities (PwDs). Not happy with the CPIO’s reply and the First Appellate Authority’s upholding of that reply, he approached the Commission with his second appeal.During the hearing, Muruganantham said he was not satisfied with the CPIO’s claim that no separate census data is maintained for the categories of information mentioned in his RTI application related to PwDs.He pointed out that the Supreme Court had in the case of People’s Union for Civil Liberties vs Union of India and Another (1997), held that the Ministry Of Social Justice And Empowerment, Department Of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities of Government of India and its PIOs have the constitutional and statutory obligation to maintain all the information sought in the RTI application along with other information and also provide information in all the modes and means of commutation for PwDs.Ministry said UDID would create a national database for PwDsThe CPIO of the ministry submitted that based on the availability of records at the time, the appellant was provided category wise and state wise data regarding PwDs. He further submitted that the process of incorporating the segregated data on autism and specific learning disabilities was ongoing as a part of the “Unique Disability ID” or “UDID” initiative.He said this initiative was being implemented with the view to create a national database for PwDs and to issue a Unique Disability Identity Card to each PwD. Further, the CPIO said whatever statistics were made available by various states at the relevant time had been provided to the appellant.‘Data for UDID accessible only to select officials’To a query from the Commission regarding the availability of this segregated data on the ministry’s website, the CPIO submitted that since the data collected for the UDID was extremely dynamic, at present it can be only accessed by specific public officials who have the right of access to the ministry’s portal.However, in response to a suggestion from the Commission, the CPIO conceded that a monthly update on the data can be made available for access to the general public. Further, the CPIO said that data on crimes/offences, education, marital status and other information related to PwDs sought in the application was not maintained by the ministry. For these points, the RTI application was transferred to the public authorities concerned, the CPIO said.In its order, the Commission observed that Muruganantham’s case was “extensively reflective of the larger public interest of the persons with disabilities and his particular reference to the Article 31 of United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities succinctly captures the essence of the information sought for in the instant RTI application”.Commissioner Punhani also marked a copy of the order to the secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, to expeditiously look into the serious concerns raised by the appellant and take note of the Commission’s advisory.It asked the ministry to provide the information directed by the Commission to the appellant free of cost, within 45 days from the date of receipt of the order.
