Business Standard: New Delhi: Wednesday,
November 09, 2016.
Two-day
Annual Convention of the Central Information Commission (CIC) concludes Two
Sessions held on Day-2 of the Convention today.
The two-day
Annual Convention of the Central Information Commission (CIC) concluded here
today. The Conference was inaugurated by the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath
Singh yesterday. In his inaugural address, Shri Rajnath Singh said that Right
to Information (RTI) Act is a powerful medium of two-way communication between
the citizens and the Government. He said that our system needs to be
corruption-free, smart, sensitive, transparent and answerable for making all
the programmes of the Government a success and RTI can play an important role
in it.
On the
inaugural day, four technical sessions were held on the topics, - RTI in
Railways, RTI online web portal, RTI in Public Sector Undertakings and RTI in
Regulators. Two Sessions were held on the second day of the CICs Annual
Convention today.
The second
day of the Convention today commenced with a technical session on Academic
Papers on RTI. This session was chaired by Information Commissioners Shri
Yashovardhan Azad and Shri M. Sridhar Acharyulu. The session brought out the
legal journey of the evolution of Right to Petition to Right to Information and
also emphasized on proper maintenance of records and files. Many suggestions
were made for amendment to the RTI Act 2005 to preserve trust amongst
stakeholders, arguing also for reduction in scope of exemptions under Section 8
of the RTI Act 2005 and against misuse of the Act.
The final
technical session on RTI in States was chaired by the Chief Information
Commissioner Shri R. K. Mathur and Information Commissioner Shri M. A. Khan
Yusufi of the Central Information Commission. Chief Information Commissioner of
the Punjab State Information Commission, Shri Sarwan Singh Channy highlighted
that the Commissioners in his organization are themselves trying to enhance RTI
awareness in the State by holding RTI workshops/ seminars / meetings at various
levels. Chief Information Commissioner, Assam, Shri Himangshu Sekhar Das the
emphasized on the primary measures taken for improving in quality of disposal
at SPIO and FAA level and explained, how the effective suo-motu disclosure of
information by the Public Authorities will reduce the number of RTI
Applications, and promote transparency and accountability among government
agencies. ChiefInformation Commissioner from the Tamil Nadu State Information
Commission, Shri K. Ramanujanbrought out various innovative methods of RTI as a
grievance redressal mechanism.
The Annual
Convention has contributed immensely in generating awareness about innovative
use of RTI provisions for the benefit of the citizenry thereby strengthening
public trust in democracy.
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