The CIC was told by a ministry that it does not keep a record of the works done (File)
The Central Information Commission has directed the government to proactively disclose on its website the details of works undertaken under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) in every constituency.
The directive came after the Central Information Commission (CIC) was told by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI) that it releases the MPLADS funds, but does not keep a record of the works done, except statistics.
Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu said the ministry was receiving utilisation certificates from district authority, but did not upload any utilisation detail on the website. He said it was also not known whether these certificates contained physical details of the actual works.
Every Member of Parliament (MP) gets Rs 5 crore annually to undertake development works of his choice in his constituency, known as the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS).
The case pertains to one Prashant Jain who had sought the details of work done by Narendra Singh Tomar in his Lok Sabha constituency of Gwalior from the MPLADS funds.
Mr Jain had sought details of the amount spent or donated on persons and institutions from the minister's quota in his parliamentary area, and the works done in the constituency between January 2015 and August 2017.
The appellant told the Commission that neither the MoSPI nor the district administration provided him with the necessary information.
Mr Jain said as a citizen of the country, he had every right to know about the way the funds were being utilised, and the same was in public interest.
Mr Acharyulu pointed out, "The entire progress report is reduced into some statistics, which does not give any information to the seeker as to what work was taken and to what extent it was completed, how much was left, when it would be completed and the reasons for delay, if any. This report hides more than revealing".
He noted that the district authority "hid the information" by furnishing some numbers and not communicating about any stage of work, benefits or beneficiaries.
"This amounts to denial of right to information to MoSPI, MP and the people. They have a duty to provide clear information about the progress of work under MPLADS to MP, voters and the ministry which is funding the works," the information commissioner said.
Exercising his powers under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Mr Acharyulu directed the district administration to publish information about the progress of work regularly on its web site.
The official also noted that the MoSPI officials failed to check the proper utilisation of MPLADS funds
"It is not explained why they did not bother about proper utilisation of funds. Has the ministry confined itself to maintain some ambiguous statistics and totally ignore the program implementation? They have a duty to secure details of utilisation instead of accepting just numbers," he said.
Mr Acharyulu directed the ministry to publish lawmaker-wise,constituency-wise and work-wise details procured from the district administration and ensure the publication of the same in public domain by both local administration and the ministry.
The information commissioner also directed Mr Tomar to inform the appellant about the works he recommended and their progress as well as the projects rejected by him.
The official added that if any lawmaker had not recommended works for any part of the fund, he had a legal and moral duty to explain the reasons for not recommending works to the extent of Rs 25 crore.