Take FIVE

The university has established a separate Public Information Office and also appointed a CPIO and four Assistant Public Information Officers. All varsity teachers and administrative officials besides the officials of the AU's constituent units have been made aware of their responsibilities in ensuring that the sought information is made available to the information seeker at the earliest and within the stipulated time period of 30 days.

AU Chief Public relation officer Amrendra Kumar Singh

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What steps have been taken by the varsity administration to implement the Public Information Act-2005?

The university has established a separate Public Information Office and also appointed a CPIO and four Assistant Public Information Officers. All varsity teachers and administrative officials besides the officials of the AU's constituent units have been made aware of their responsibilities in ensuring that the sought information is made available to the information seeker at the earliest and within the stipulated time period of 30 days.

Can information be sought on-line too?

We have launched a separate website— www.alldunivpio.org— through which anyone can get detailed information about the university especially the 17 manuals that are to be made available for the public as per the Information Act besides the whole Act itself. There is also a provision whereby a person can e-mail a question and seek information from us through the site.

How many queries/applications have been received till date?

The university has so far received 13 applications and out of which we have provided the sought information to seven. The rest have been forwarded to the teacher/official concerned and will be dealt with soon.

What fee is being charged by you and is there a format of questionnaire?
For the convenience of the information seeker we have not set any format in which the query has to be forward to us. At the moment, we are also not charging any fee from a person for seeking an information. However, the AU Finance Committee will set a minimal fee as per the Act and we will implement it then. The money will especially be useful when the sought information has to be provided on a CD or a floppy.

The one and only eligibility condition is that the information seeker has to be an Indian. As a result, anyone, be it a teacher, student or a journalist, anyone can seek information under the Act and it is the duty of a public authority to provide a information within 30 days to the information seeker without even asking the reason for which the person requires the sought information.