Union Health Ministry appoints Nodal Officer to collect and publish country-wide COVID Hospitals List in compliance with CIC's recent Advisory

Image courtesy: PTI Photo accessed at- https://www.deccanherald.com/

June 16, 2020

By: Venkatesh Nayak

Readers might remember a despatch circulated on 07 June, 2020 regarding an advisory issued by the Central Information Commission (CIC) to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). The CIC had advised the Ministry to: "...designate an officer of an appropriate seniority as a Nodal Officer to examine the matter and suo motu disclose the information sought in the RTI application on the website of the Public Authority within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of this order in the larger public interest." The CIC issued this Advisory in its decision dated 05 June, 2020 based on a complaint submitted under The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act).

Within 10 days of the CIC's advisory, MoHFW has issued an order appointing Shri. Saranga Dhar Nayak, Deputy Secretary in the Ministry (and also a designated First Appellate Authority under the RTI Act). Click here to read the office order.

Click here to read the details of the RTI intervention.

Click on the respective html links to read the RTI application, the replies received from various Central Public Information Officers (CPIOs), the subsequent complaint filed with the CIC, and additional submissions filed before the hearing conducted by the CIC on 01 June, 2020.

Click here for the findings from a random survey of official websites of 23 States and UTs regarding COVID hospitals-related information

Subsequent updates will be posted as and when further developments become evident.

CHRI's Trail of Inquiry: MoHFW-COVIDHospitals-NodalOfficerOrder-Jun20

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Union Health Ministry appoints Nodal Officer to collect and publish country-wide COVID Hospitals List in compliance with CIC's recent Advisory