In the Clause 2 (c) of the Draft Bill, the information has been defined to include the material relating to the affairs of various Government Organisations and other public authorities.I would suggest the NGOs to be included under Clause 2 (c). Since the NGOs are increasingly playing the role in the public domain replacing quite many functions earlier carried out by Government agencies, there is an imperative need for making the NGOs transparent through the Right to Information legislation.
About the private companies, I would say that they need not be included as Competent Authorities at the present stage (2 c), since they are facing a lot of competition from other private organizations. Some people may take undue advantage of the obligation of the companies to give information to the public under the proposed legislation.
Since the Government Agencies would primarily be the Competent Authorities for the purpose of providing the information to the public, their conduct in the matter of implementing the Right to Information Act should not be judged by the Govt. officers themselves.The Appellate Authority ( Clause 7) and the Monitoring Authorities ( Clause 10) as envisaged in the Draft Bill should not be controlled by the Government but be independent bodies.
I fully support the provision made under Clause 2 & Clause 3 of the Draft Bill for a citizen's right to inspect a public document and take copies and extracts etc. and also to take samples of material, which is in keeping with the contemporary needs.
The fees to be charged against the supply of the information should be nominal only, just to cover the cost of production ( Clause 4 a). If the fees are made high it may prove as a deterrent against the person's right to information.