DNA: Mumbai: Sunday, September 25,
2016.
The new
Central Information Commission (CIC) website has come under the criticism of
the Right to Information (RTI) applicants and activists. Calling it a bowing
down of sorts, activists said it was a way of showing "indebtedness"
to political masters.
The homepage
of new website, which has been launched just days ahead of the RTI anniversary,
has pictures of prime minister Narendra Modi, former central chief information
commissioner greeting Modi, picture of convention and Arun Jaitley speaking at
the convention, followed by the commission's new building. Many opined that
this last picture would have sufficed.
"The new
website gives a very wrong signal. The CIC is an independent body. What will an
applicant think when he or she approaches the CIC? Imagine if the Supreme Court
and High Court websites start having pictures of politicians on their homepage.
This is not the fault of the PM but the central information commissioners, who
seem to be showing their gratitude and indebtedness for having been
appointed," said RTI activist Vihar Durve.
Echoing
Durve's view, Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired), another RTI activist, said,
"The new website is like the prime minister's website. That is
objectionable because CIC is supposed to be neutral. Even if they wanted to put
pictures of the convention, they could have put them as a separate thing in the
photo gallery. That is how it happens in most constitutional websites. None of
the other commission websites have photos of him."
Besides this
issue, applicants and activists said the site was also not viewer-friendly.
"In the old website, decisions were catergorised quarter-wise. It was
easier to sort through important decisions without knowing the file numbers.
Now, it has become tiring to look at orders. They have also introduced file
number options, which will make it difficult for people to see the decisions if
they do not have any information about them. Some links do not open as
well," Batra said.
Durve added,
"The Opposition, including Rahul Gandhi, is not objecting because they
feel that people will question them on political parties coming under the RTI
Act. Instead of pictures of politicians, the site should have pictures of those
who have worked to ensure that the Act was implemented and those killed for
using it."
Meanwhile,
central chief information commissioner Radha Krishan Mathur did not respond to
calls or messages from dna. A senior official said the site was created with
the help of the commission and any suggestions or observations by citizens
could be sent on the feedback section.
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