It means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted -

• By or under the Constitution.
• By any other law made by Parliament.
• By any other law made by State Legislature.
• By notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government and includes any:
  - body owned, controlled or substantially financed;
  - non-Government organization substantially financed  directly or indirectly by the appropriate Government.

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It is the duty of a ‘public authority’ to -

• Publish within one hundred and twenty days of the enactment
  - particulars of its organization, functions and duties
  - powers and duties of its officers and employees
  - the procedure followed in its decision-making process, including channels of supervision and accountability
  - the norms set by it for the discharge of its functions
  - the rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records used by its employees for discharging its functions
  - a statement of the categories of the documents held by it or under its control
  - the particulars of any arrangement that exists for consultation with, or representation by the members of the public, in relation to the formulation of policy or implementation thereof
  - a statement of the boards, councils, committees and other bodies consisting of two or more persons constituted by it. Additionally, information as to whether the meetings of these are open to the public, or the minutes of such meetings are accessible to the public;
  - a directory of its officers and employees
  - the monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and employees, including the system of compensation as provided in its regulations
  - the budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditures and reports on disbursements made
  
• the manner of execution of subsidy programmes, including the amounts allocated and the details and beneficiaries of such programmes
• particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorizations granted by it
• details of the information available to, or held by it, reduced in an electronic form
• the particulars of facilities available to citizens for obtaining information, including the working hours of a library or reading room, if maintained for public use
• the names, designations and other particulars of the Public Information Officers (PIOs).

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