Free
Press Journal: Ujjain: Saturday, 12 December 2015.
A wide range
of talks were held during a State-level workshop on the Right to Information
(RTI), which was jointly organised by the Transparency International India in
association with the Press Club to mark the occasion of World Corruption
Eradication Day.
Addressing on
the occasion, noted RTI activist from Bhopal, Ajay Dubey said that though the
RTI is a pure soul of the democracy and also the fundamental and human right,
the experiences during the past decade after implementation of the RTI Act
suggests that it has both creative and destructive dimensions. According to
him, if a person files an application in a proper manner for seeking any
information under the RTI Act, it enables bringing discipline among the rulers
and also among the people enjoying money and muscle powers. He also said that
the Act has helped in reviving all the three major pillars of the democracy.
Dubey emphasised that encouraging video conferencing to redress the RTI
applications and use of e-governance and mobile governance can bring better
results.
Addressing
the workshop, Law Department head of the Government Madhav College, Dr BL
Sharma said that the country witnessed a state of adhockism for a long time as
the politicians and bureaucrats captured the power while raising the slogan of
change. But, now an era of peoples’ participation can be seen everywhere though
the target of economic balance is yet not achieved. He said that theory of
natural justice could be attained in true sense only when people involved in
vested interests are restrained from key posts in legislative assemblies. He
was of the opinion that non-interested person can take the democracy ahead.
Prof Sharma said that the government officers use to get impatient whenever an
RTI application reaches in their offices. He informed that provisions of
Section 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the Act are still debatable.
State
Information Commissioner Sukhraj Singh said that the RTI Act was promulgated
keeping in mind transparency and accountability in the government functioning.
He informed that the Act has been implemented in 92 countries of the world and
Indian model is excellent barring a couple of short-comings. He said that the
application seeking information under the Act should be simple and specific as
it will enable restricting complications in the future.
He seconded a
suggestion that a vigil should be maintained on the misuse of the RTI Act. He
said that the public information officers should be properly trained and RTI
course should be included in the school curriculum. Press Club president Vishal
Hada and secretary Lalit Jwelve also spoke. Devendra Meena conducted the
proceedings and Jitendra Singh Chauhan proposed a vote of thanks.
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