Public hearing on RTI ahead of its 7th anniversary

Hindustan Times: New Delhi: Wednesday, October 10, 2012.

Close on the heels of the recent Supreme Court judgment about appointment of judges heading the central or the state information commissions, a public hearing would be held on Thursday ahead of the 7th anniversary of Right To Information (RTI) Act in India on Friday. The hearing, organised by the National Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information (NCPRI), will discuss the implementation of RTI and issues related to the functioning of information commissioners across India.

"Apart from the experts discussing recent Supreme Court judgment-related issues, there would be RTI users, specially the common man, so to say, talking about their RTI-related problems and throwing light on the issues/problems they have had with some Information Commissions," said Anjali Bhardwaj of Satark Nagarik Sangathan (SNS), one of the collaborators of the public hearing.

The other issues would include: Non-imposition of penalties by information commissions, high pendency of appeals and complaints at various commissions, non -compliance of orders of information commissions by different public information officers and also attacks on RTI users/activists.

Chief information commissioner Satyananda Mishra, information commissioners from some states, former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and activists Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and Venkatesh Nayak would attend the hearing, a statement said here on Tuesday. 

NCPRI has collaborated for the hearing to be held on Thursday from 11 am at the Gandhi Peace Foundation near ITO with other civil society groups such as SNS, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Pardarshita, Rajasthan RTI Manch, Sanskriti Foundation and Inclusive Media for Change.