Govt advises NDDB to bring Mother Dairy, other units under RTI ambit

  1. The Government has told the Parliament that it has advised National Dairy Development Board(NDDB) to extend the provisions of the RTI Act,2005 to its subsidiary companies such as Mother Dairy.
  2. The Central Information Commission(CIC) in its 2011 order had said that mother dairy is a public authority under clause(i) of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act.
  3. Further,Department of Legal Affairs had also said that Mother Dairy should qualify in the semi-government if not a fully government category as all of its shareholding is government-owned.
  4. The NDDB is an institution of national importance set up by an Act of Parliament of India.It was founded by Dr. Verghese Kurien in 1965.
  5. Right to Information Act 2005 mandates timely response to citizen requests for government information.The basic objective of the Right to Information Act is to (a)empower the citizens (b)promote transparency, accountability in the Government (c)contain corruption and (d)make our democracy work for the people in real sense.
  6. The CIC is an 11 member commission set up under the Right to Information Act,2005 as a quasi judicial body.It is the highest appeal body available to applicants seeking information under the RTI Act.