Redefine public money to bring non-govt sector under RTI ambit: Scope

Public sector body SCOPE on Monday pitched for extending the provisions of RTI to non-government sectors by widening the definition of “public money”.

Addressing the 11th Annual Convention of Central Information Commission (CIC) SCOPE Director General UD Choubey “strongly pleaded for extending the provisions of RTI to non-government sectors by way of widening the definition of public money”, a release said.

Reaffirming the commitment of public sector in implementing RTI in both letter and spirit, Choubey noted that corruption is a common cancer for both public and private sector.

“Both are holding tax payers money, invested in plant, machinery and day to day working capital. As such, all account payee  money is public money and unaccounted money nothing but black money.

“Therefore, by way of widening the definition of public money, all enterprises, public or private, could be brought under the ambit of RTI and CAG,” he said.

Choubey said disparities between public and private sectors with regard to applicability of RTI has always hampered the competitiveness of public sector enterprises because while private sector have right to get lot of information from public sector but for public sector, the vice versa is not true under the present legal framework.