Page 59 - ELT_15th June 2020_VOL 372_Part 6th

2020 ] TIT-BITS A213

Missing Files at DCGI : CIC seeks action, digitisation
The Central Information Commission has raised concerns over lack of
transparency of Drug Controller General of India, and asked the Health and
Family Welfare Ministry to look into complaints about missing files, including a
critical review of the drugs regulator’s procedures and practices, and take ap-
propriate action.
In its order on a complaint against the failure of DCGI and the Central
Drugs Standard Control Organisation to share the report of a committee led by
T.K. Mohapatra on suspicious drug approvals for more than two years, the CIC
also asked the drug regulatory authorities to provide a certified copy of the said
report to the complainant within 30 days from the date of receipt of the order.
The Commission advised CDSCO “to urgently initiate steps to stream-
line the process of digitisation of records within the Public Authority so that the
RTI applications/first appeals are dealt with in a time-bound manner”, said the
order issued on 26-5-2020. “An important report relating to the review of proce-
dures and practices followed by CDSCO for granting approval and clinical trials
on certain drugs went missing from their office that had to be procured from the
author after receipt of notice of hearing from the commission,” it said, expressing
concerns over its record keeping methodology.
[Source : The Economic Times, New Delhi, dated 30-5-2020]

PM CARES Fund not a ‘public authority’ under RTI Act,
says Prime Minister’s Office

Opposition parties have questioned need to create the reserve when the PM’s
National Relief Fund is already in existence
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Office on 29-5-2020 refused to provide
details about the PM CARES Fund - created to tackle the Covid pandemic — to a
Right to Information applicant, saying that the reserve was not a “public authori-
ty” under the RTI Act, according to a Live Law report.
A law student from Bengaluru had filed an RTI application in April,
seeking details about the constitution of the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance
and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund. The applicant had asked for copies of
the fund’s trust deed and all Government orders related to its creation and func-
tioning.
“The PM CARES Fund is not a public authority under the ambit of Sec-
tion 2(h) of RTI Act, 2005,” the PMO said in response to the RTI application.
“However, relevant information in respect of the fund may be seen on the web-
site pmcares.gov.in.”
According to Live Law, no such information is available on the official
website.
Under the RTI Act, a public authority is an organisation established (a)
under or by the Constitution (b) by any other law made by Parliament or (c) by a
notification or order issued by the Government. The definition also covers organ-
isations financed substantially by the Government and non-governmental organ-
isations.
EXCISE LAW TIMES  15th June 2020  59