Right To Information Act.

[Warenclyff]

I felt the importance of a Right to Information act which will serve greatly to validate the democratic credentials of a country.Since the WA itself is a democratic forum, therefore the furtherance of democratic rights in its member states, will by extension lend credibility to the WA as a World Assembly and not one of individuals.While posting the proposal, however I forgot to put the preamble in a pasting mistake, and would like to shorten some details.I would like your response and any help for that!

[Warenclyff]

The complete text:

An Act to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority,

And WHEREAS democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed;

And WHEREAS revelation of information in actual practice is likely to conflict with other public interests including efficient operations of the Governments, optimum use of limited fiscal resources and the preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information;

And WHEREAS it is necessary to harmonise these conflicting interests while preserving the paramountcy of the democratic ideal;

ALARMED that withholding information may be used to hide corruption;

Now, therefore, it is expedient to provide for furnishing certain information to citizens who desire to have it.

Right to information and obligations of public authorities

Subject to the provisions of this Act, all citizens shall have the Right to information.

SECTION A

Concerning the rights of the citizens and duties of the Public Information Officers to them

Every public authority shall maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and the form which facilitates the right to information under this Act and ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerised are, within a reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerised and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated.

The person making a request for the information shall be provided the information free of charge.

Publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing the decisions which affect public;
provide reasons for its administrative or quasi-judicial decisions to affected persons.

It shall be a constant endeavour of every public authority to take steps to provide as much information suo motu to the public at regular intervals through various means of communications, including internet, so that the public have minimum resort to the use of this Act to obtain information.

Every Public Information Officer shall deal with requests from persons seeking information and render reasonable assistance to the persons seeking such information.

The Public Information Officer may seek the assistance of any other officer as he or she considers it necessary for the proper discharge of his or her duties.


SECTION B

Concerning the Rejection of such a request.

Where a request has been rejected 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 C

Concerning situations wherein such a request may be rejected.

Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen,—

(a) information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence;

(b) information which has been 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 Government.

(d) information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information;

(e) information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information;

(f) information received in confidence from foreign Government;

(g) information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify 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) information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual

[Munsteran]

I do believe that the correct protocol is to post your proposed draft here before you submit it. However, since you did not do that, any and all suggestions made here will be void as you cannot make the edits.

That is unless you request the Moderators pull it from the board or you can wait until it fails to reach quorum.

[Warenclyff]

Hi there! i am quite new to this and have been here just from 2 days..so i am learning..thanks for the advice.

[Sanctaria]

((Ugh, I epic failed there and posted with my puppet, Munsteran. My apologies))

That's what we are here for, honoured Ambassador. I'd like to welcome you to the World Assembly foremost.

Now, on to your proposal. Firstly, what is a "Public Information Officer"? My country does not have such an official(s) and this proposal does not explicitly create the office.

Secondly, and more importantly, you copied directly from a source. "(a) information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence;"

Such an act is illegal and voids this proposal thereby permitting me to stop reading and caring.

Yours.,

[Kryozerkia]

I find the text of the proposal to be nearly identical to the text found here. Although the format is slightly different, it is safe to say that the vast majority is clearly plagiarism, which is an offence for which there is no second chance.

[Adamalk]

They do look very Similar

[Kryozerkia]

They do look very Similar

Great portions of it are most certainly copied from the source. The most telling is the line with the name 'India' in it.

[Embolalia]

They do look very Similar

Great portions of it are most certainly copied from the source. The most telling is the line with the name 'India' in it.

Whoops. I completely missed that. (I saw this in the submissions, and told the author they'd have better luck if they posted it here first.)

[New Buckner]

I would definitely have to say that this is an epic failure of an attempt.

It is good to take successful legislation from outside sources and transpose them into a WA resolution. HOWEVER, when you are using these as a basis for your own resolutions it is highly recommended that you at least make an attempt to modify them so they are more so your own creation and not the hard work and dedication of someone else.

I would recommend this be removed from the queue and this conversation be locked and terminated.