1.0 INTRODUCTION
IREL, which is incorporated under the Company’s Act 1913, is a Mini Ratna” Category – I
Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) wholly owned by the Government of India (GoI) under the
administrative control of the DAE.
Location of IREL’s mineral production units i.e. Manavalakurichi (MK) in Tamilnadu, Chavara
in Kerala and Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM) in Odisha, Rare Earths Division (RED) at Aluva
in Kerala where Monazite used to be processed during the period from 1952 to 2004 along with
its Corporate Research Centre at Kollam in Kerala and registered Corporate Office in Mumbai
are shown in the India map presented in Figure-1. Vital financial parameters of the company
such as equity holding, net worth as on 31.03.2014 are presented alongside. All production units
of the company are certified by ISO: 9001, ISO:140001 and OHSAS:18001.
IREL is a mining and mineral separation company operating in the beach sand mineral sector.
VISION / MISSION:
To be one of the leading international player in the area of mining and separation of beach and
minerals.
OBJECTIVES;
i)
To become nationally and globally competitive player in beach and sand minerals
and to achieve annual production of ilmenite with associate minerals of 8 lac tons.
ii)
To improve productivity, capacity utilization and cost effectiveness
iii)
To maximise share holders value
iv)
To align towards strategic activities of interest to DAE & become substantial
suppliers of uranium from secondary sources.
v)
To strive for optimum value addition by developing technology
vi)
To evolve and implement eco-friendly policy, programs & project with in AERB
regulations
vii)
To strengthen R&D for achieving the above mentioned objectives.
The major business unit heads/ plants or Divisions of the IREL are;
(a) Aluva
(b) ManavalaKurichi
(c) Chavara
(d) Oscom
(e) Safety & Environment, R&D Facilities
Mining & Minerals, Procurement & Stores,
HR, Marketing, Finance & Production etc.
2.0 Implementation of the RTI Act.2005 & Procedures Followed
IREL as per the records available in the RTI cell, had started the implementation of the RTI Act
2005 immediately after the enactment of the Act in 2005. As per the records the company had
nominated the Appellate Authority (AA), Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) & Assistant
Public Information Officer (APIO) during the year 2005and also notified the same on their
website. IREL has also nominated Transparency Officer (TO) in the year 2011 in accordance
with CIC Circular.
In IREL there is one centralise CPIO & One Appellate Authority and having six ACPIOs at all
its business Units. Applications are received by CPIO or ACPIOs as per RTI guidelines.
However, correspondence or information to the applicant is provided by CPIO. All the
departments are having nodal officers, who are arranging information from their respective
departments and providing to CPIO/ACPIO.
Appellate Authority (AA) independently receiving the appeals and disposing of these in line
with the Act. Copy of the organisation Chart is placed at annexure I.
At present following officers are responsible for smooth implementation of the RTI Act 2005 in
IREL.
Dr. R. N. Patra
Mr. D.Singh
Mr. B.R. Tarafdar
Mr. V. S. Murty
Mr.K.Suresh
Mr. Jayapalan
Mr. N.S.Surender Kumar
Mr.G. Balasubramanian
Mr.S. Mohanty
Mr. Sabu Joseph
All BHU
All Employees
Chairman & Managing Director
Director(Marketing)/HRM and Appellate Authority
Company Secretary & Transparency Officer
General Manager (Co-ordination) & CPIO
Dy. General Manager (Legal & IR) & APIO(CO)
Sr. Manager (HRM) & APIO (Chavara)
Sr. Manager (HRM) & APIO (MK Unit)
Sr. Manager (HRM) & APIO (RED, Alwaye Unit)
Sr. Manager (HRM) & APIO (OSCOM Unit)
Sr. Manager (HRM) & APIO (IRERC)
At all units of Plants
As Custodians of Information
4.0 Implementation of RTI act in IREL (Compliance of Section 4(1)(b)
Details with respect to 14 out of 16 points have been uploaded on the website under RTI portal.
Two items are not applicable to IREL. Detailed point wise status is given in the annexure II.
5.0 Details for obtaining of information by citizen of India
Detailed process for obtaining information up to making of appeal has been provided on the
website with complete details of CPIO, APIO, and AA.
6.0 Acceptance of cash by IREL for RTI Fee
CPIO has confirmed that IREL is accepting cash against application fee as well as for additional
fee for providing information.
7.0 Compliance of Section 4(1)(a)
Detailed discussions held one to one with all HOD, with respect to record management being
followed.
It has been emerged that all the departments are ISO Certified, and the ISO procedures are being
followed in decision making process & with respect to the retention of the documents and
weeding out of the same.
Computerisation of the documents & records indexing & cataloguing are under consideration.
However, there is no standard record management policy as per GoI Guidelines is in place.
8.0 Suo-motu disclosures under section 4(3)
IREL has provided details under the portal of RTI as per section 4 of the Act, however
additional information has been provided on the website of the IREL. In addition to above,
details of all the Products being produced by IREL and their uses to the people covering the
following Products have been adequately given;
Minerals:
-Ilmenite
-Garnet
- Monazite
–Rutile
– Sillimanite
- Zircon
- Zirflour
-RE-compounds
9.0 Status of RTI applications for the year 2013-2014
No. Of applications received during the year
= 97
No. Of applications disposed of during the year = 98
No. Of applications disposed of within 30 days = 98
10.0 Status of RTI appeals to first appellate authority for the year 2013-2014
No. of appeals received during the year
= 17
No. of appeals disposed off during the year
= 17
No. of appeals disposed of within 30 days
= 12
( Five appeals were disposed off between 35 to 45 days)
11.0 Quarterly Report and annual report (section 25)
IREL regularly submitting every year , quarterly reports to DAE & CIC as per the prescribed
format.
12.0 Training on RTI (Section 26 )
IREL has arranged formal training on RTI through consulting agency during the year 2013-14.
13.0 Update of information (Section 4 (xvii)
IREL has confirmed that, it is updating the information every year & as and when required.
Presently, updated information is available on the website as on 04-11-2014. IREL has been
advised to update the RTI portal in line with the deficiencies observed & recommendations
made.
14.0 Availability of latest circulars, guidelines and notifications on RTI
Only one circular of DOPT of the year 2013 is available. IREL was advised as well as guided by
us for downloading all the relevant circulars, guidelines and notifications of DOPT & CIC,
which are now available with CPIO.
15.0 Examination/ Audit Of CPIO Office/AA Office/ TO office/ APIO Office
All the concerned documents, registers, files, website of IREL including RTI Portal were
examined/audited and detailed observations are given below;
16.0
Observations;
(i) There is common receipt & dispatch register for RTI applications and first appeal.
(ii) No subject of the application/ nature of information requested has been mentioned in the
register. However these details are made available in the computerised format.
(iii) Circulars are also being maintained in the common correspondence file, most of the
important circulars are not available.
(iv) Chavara unit is taking 10 to 25 days in forwarding the RTI applications received by them.
(v) RTI portal needs to be updated as per the comments made at attached annexure II.
(vi) There is no standard record management policy as per GoI Guidelines is in place.
(vii) Budgets Estimates and Expenditures as per 4(1)(b)(xi) not available. These details are
available in the IREL Website.
(viii) Some of the appeals have been even disposed off more than 45 days.
(ix) Status on implementation by BU is not available.
(x) There is APIO at Corporate Centre but all the activities are being performed by CPIO
himself.
17.0 Final Conclusions / Recommendation to IREL
IREL is implementing RTI ACT 2005 in right and true spirit, may be seen from the status of
applications and appeals that all the applications have been disposed off within time limit of 30
days and most of the appeals in 30 days to 45 days as per the provisions in the Act. IREL has
complied with the obligations of public authority by pro active disclosures of the information as
per section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act , detailed status is given in the attached annexure II. As well
as, IREL is sharing the information regularly through newsletters and internet.
IREL to take action on the following as discussed ;
(i) To ensure the RTI applications must be forwarded by the units within 5 days from the
receipt of application by ACPIO. Specific instructions to ACPIO Chavara unit as well as
to other ACPIOs.
(j) To include subject/ title of application in the register for future references on similar
replies.
(k) Maintain separate register for receipt & dispatch of RTI applications excluding appeals.
(l) Maintain separate register for receipt &disposal of RTI appeals.
(m) Update the RTI portal particularly sections 4(1)(b)(ii), (iv),(xi),(xv),(xvii) and budget
targets of last five years.
(n) Separate file for circulars & notification on RTI.
(o) Transparency Officer to ensure regular annual update.
(p) Appellate Authority to dispose off appeals within 30 days in exception cases up to 45
days only.
(q) CPIO to ensure status of all BU Heads, by conducting internal audits & making available
the reports to external auditor during annual audit.
In view of the above, it is concluded that IREL is meeting the requirements of the
provisions of RTI act as well as providing the information against RTI applications
within stipulated time of 30 days. Only 9 first appeals and all the appeals have also been
disposed off within stipulated time of 30 days.
During the audit period there was no second appeal to CIC.