RTI activists sore over being left out of CIC convention

Times of India: New Delhi: Thursday, 15 October 2015.

RTI activists are up in arms against the Central Information Commission (CIC) for excluding them from its annual convention to be held in Delhi on October 16-17. Only a handful of civil society activists have been invited citing security concerns. PM Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the convention.

Chief information commissioner Vijai Sharma did not respond to multiple calls or text messages. But an email from CIC joint secretary S P Beck to Rajasthan-based RTI activist Hitendra Parihar said that due to "security reasons", passes could not be issued to him.

Himachal Pradesh-based Dev Ashish Bhattacharya, who was nominated by the state information commission along with 14 others, said all of them were denied invites by the commission on security grounds. "Many RTI users from the state participated in the same convention in 2012 and 2013 when then PM Manmohan Singh presided over the functions. At that time, the PM was not under any kind of threat form RTI users. How come the threat has arisen now?" Bhattacharya asked, adding that he had been made to run from pillar to post by the CIC before the authorities denied him the invite.

Among those invited include Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Venkatesh Nayak, Anjali Bharadwaj, R K Jain, S C Agrawal and Comm (Retd) Lokesh Batra. Both Dey and Bharadwaj said they had written to the CIC asking them to allow at least some state representatives. "The people who are implementing and using the Act are being left out. I don't know according to what criteria we have been issued invites," Dey said.

Criticizing the move, Roy said, "Just seven civil society representatives is a terrible number for a country that has 8 million RTIs filed annually.''

Bharadwaj said the commission had sought suggestions from the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) on the people to invite. "But none of the people at the state level have received invitations," she said. Batra, who has also been invited, said he planned to boycott the event.

Sources said the change in the PM's plans had also created some confusion. The first set of cards reportedly had Modi's name, which were replaced by only finance minister Arun Jaitley's name. After Modi confirmed his presence at the convention just two days ago, the cards with the PM's name had to be reprinted.