FAQ
What are National Right to Information Awards 2009?
What are the different categories of the Awards?
Who is eligible to apply for the award?
Can a citizen nominate another citizen for the Citizen of the Year Award?
Can a citizen nominate a Public Information Officer (PIO) for PIO of the Year Award?
Can a citizen nominate an Information Commissioner (IC) for the IC of the Year Award?
What are opening and closing date of nominations for the Awards?
Can a Government Officer apply for the awards?
When will the Awards Ceremony be held?
What are Right to Information Awards 2009?
National Right to Information Awards have been constituted to honour those Information Commissioners, Public Information Officers and Citizens of India who have been actively involved in successful implementation of the Right to Information Act 2005 in the country.
What are the different categories of the Awards?
There are three categories of the Awards this year, namely Best Information Commissioner of the Year, Best Public Information Officer of the Year, and Best Citizen of the Year Award.
Who is eligible to apply for the award?
There are separate eligibility criteria for the different categories of the award.
Information Commissioner of the Year Award: No applications are required; All Information Commissioners will be considered for the Award.
Public Information Officer of the Year Award: Any government officer who has worked as a Public Information Officer (PIO) for any period of time during the calendar year 2008 (1st January 2008 to 31st December 2008) is eligible.
Citizen of the Year Award: Any Indian citizen who has filed one or more RTI Application/s and has either:
1. Received a response to his/her RTI application(s) on or before 31st December 2008, or
2. Never received any response to his/her RTI application till 30th May 2009
And, feels that his/her application has created substantial public impact, is eligible to apply for the Best Citizen of the year Award.
Can a citizen nominate another citizen for the Citizen of the Year Award?
No. A citizen can only nominate himself or herself for the Award. He/She cannot nominate anyone else for this particular category of Award.
Can a citizen nominate a Public Information Officer (PIO) for PIO of the Year Award?
Yes. A citizen can nominate a PIO for PIO of the year award. He/She can do so by using “PIO Nomination by citizen” form and filing it online or downloading it and sending it by post.
Can a citizen nominate an Information Commissioner (IC) for the IC of the Year Award?
No Indian citizen, including PIOs and ICs, can nominate any IC for IC of the Year Award. All the ICs would be considered for this category of the Awards.
What are opening and closing date of nominations for the Awards?
The opening date for filing the nominations is 1st June, 2009 and the closing date is 30th June, 2009.
Can a Government Officer apply for the awards?
According to CSS conduct Rules and DOPT clarifications issued thereafter a government servant would need to obtain prior approval before accepting any honour or monetary award. We would request the officers to apply for the award. The names of the top 10 officers would be announced atleast a month prior to the award ceremony. We would request these officers to obtain necessary approvals from their competent authorities in this period. Public cause research foundation would provide all necessary help to these officers in obtaining such approvals.
When will the Awards Ceremony be held?
The Awards Ceremony will be held in November, 2009. The exact date for the ceremony would be announced soon.