Right to Information is an act of the Parliament of India which sets out the Rules and Procedures regarding a citizen’s right to receive information. This Act requires every Public Authority to proactively disclose certain categories of information, so that citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.

The basic objective of the Right to Information Act is to empower the citizens, promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government, contain corruption and make our democracy work ‘for the people’ in the real sense. This Act is a big step towards making citizens informed about the activities of the Government.

RTI in the Cooperative Department:

In the office of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, RTI petitions are received on a regular basis from the public who seek information about the working of different entities in the Cooperative Department. requesting records, details, Circulars etc..If the information sought pertains to a particular office or a society in a specific district, the petition is immediately transferred under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act to that particular Regional Joint Registrar office for further action. If the information sought pertains to any other Public Authority, it is transferred under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act to that particular department for providing the necessary information to the petitioner.

The Head Office,(ie) the Office of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies deals with information that could be provided at a holistic level with respect to the whole department,information regarding the Acts and Rules governing the Cooperatives and subsequent instructions given to the Cooperative Societies.

The first information for a petition is being provided within 30 days of reception of the petition and the information for the appeals received is provided within 45 days of after the appeal petition is received.

The Designation of Public Information Officer/Asst. Public Information Officer/Appellate Authority of various administrative units in the Cooperative Department is as follows: