The management of Housing Development Corporation (HDC) has instructed all departments to cooperate fully with Right to Information (RTI) requests and directed all employees to strictly adhere to the RTI Act.
In a memo sent to all staff, HDC Managing Director Ali Zuhair emphasized that the law mandates employees to provide requested information within the stipulated timeframes whenever the Information Officer seeks assistance regarding an RTI submission.
The memo further noted that the Information Officer is authorized to seek assistance from any staff member to respond to an RTI request. All employees have been instructed to provide full cooperation upon such requests.
In instances where the requested information is unavailable, staff must inform the Information Officer and provide a clear explanation for its absence if the situation warrants such clarification.
"Therefore, all employees must strictly comply with the RTI Act and provide information to the Information Officer within the designated deadlines. As failure to comply with this law may lead to legal consequences, I urge all departments and staff to provide their full assistance and cooperation," the memo stated.
The directive to HDC staff comes at a time when the corporation has been noted as one of the state entities with the highest rates of non-responsiveness to RTI requests. However, the company recently became the first state-owned enterprise to proactively disclose information as mandated under the RTI Act.
HDC’s move toward proactive disclosure follows similar transparency measures recently implemented by government ministries in compliance with the RTI Act.
