Economic Times: New Delhi: Tuesday,
November 08, 2016.
RTI
applicants will soon be able to file complaints and appeals with Central
Information Commission (CIC) online.
Home Minister
Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the two-day annual convention of the CIC on
Monday, during which he will launch the 'e-Court' system aimed at enabling
speedy disposal of appeals and complaints by using digital technology.
"The
system will allow online filing of appeals and complaints and case disposals
using latest technology. The system will generate a unique number which can be
used by the applicant for tracking the status of a case filed with the
Commission.
"As soon
as a case is filed online or offline, the system will generate SMS and email
alert to the applicant. Alerts will also be generated to inform the applicant
at the stage of registration, issue of facilitation memo, scheduling of the
case hearing and also at the stage of decision uploading," a press release
issued today by Personnel Ministry said.
The system
will offer an online search facility which allow users to search for dak, file,
hearing notice and decision etc., it said.
Minister of
State for Personnel Jitendra Singh will also be present on the occasion.
The RTI Act,
2005, which was enacted by the then UPA government, enables a citizen to seek
governance-related information in a time-bound manner from central government
departments by filing an application.
The CIC was
constituted in 2005 for dealing with second appeals and complaints filed under
the RTI Act, 2005. The Commission has till now heard and disposed off about two
lakh cases.
For
convenience of the information seekers, the Commission encourages hearings
through video conference. Since April 1, 2015, the Commission has heard almost
19,000 cases through video conferencing.
In all 25,960
cases were registered with CIC in 2015-16 and during the same period 28,188
cases were disposed off.
During
April-October, 2016 about 12,780 cases were registered and 15,993 cases have
been disposed off by the Commission, the release said.
The Home
Minister will also release a book on RTI success stories which has been
prepared by Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration, Pune.
The
convention is expected to be attended, among other high dignitaries, by all
present and former Central Information Commissioners and State Information
Commissioners as well as representatives of public authorities and other
stakeholders.
The inauguration
function will be followed by various sessions on topics such as RTI in
railways, RTI web portal by Department of Personnel and Training, RTI in Public
Sector Undertakings (PSUs), RTI in banking and insurance, academic papers on
RTI and RTI in states. The sessions will be attended by eminent panelists and
experts in these areas.
The
implementation of RTI in RBI, SBI, PFRDA, IRDAI and LIC will also be discussed
in a separate session. Academic papers on topics like success and failure of
the Right to Information Act, harnessing IT for RTI in an Institute of Higher
Learning, RTI as an instrument of change, Right to Petition to Right to
Information etc. will also be discussed in a separate session.
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