Business Standard: New Delhi: Wednesday, December 06, 2017.
The Vice
President Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the Central Information
Commission (CIC)s 12th Annual Convention on Right to Information, here
tomorrow. This year the Convention follows two seminars held in May and July
this year, to discuss Implementation of the Right to Information Act 2005 and
Land Records and RTI Act respectively.
The Central
Information Commission has invited well researched original presentations,
including case studies from academicians, practitioners, researchers, NGOs/civil
society groups, students and other stakeholders to cover three subjects namely
Suo-motu disclosures, Record keeping and Emerging issues in implementation of
RTI Act for the Convention.
During the
11th Annual Convention of CIC, held in November last year, a new software for
registration and disposal of appeals and complaints was launched by the Union
Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh. The software enables registration of appeals
and complaints online as well as offline. Second Appeals/Complaints are generally
registered as a case within 48 hours of receipt, if found to be complete.
The new
software also provides for a public authority module. This interface makes the
appeals/complaints registered in the Commission visible to the public authority
immediately after registration, enabling them to take corrective action without
waiting for hearing notices from the Commission. Currently, about 1,000 out of
approximately 2,000 Public Authorities have registered for this module.
The
Commission has digitized all its records of old and current cases (1.70 lakh
files) over the past year. The fresh cases registered in the Commission are
also in a digitized format. The digitized records assist in more efficient
scheduling and hearing of cases and their disposal.
A
facilitation desk, functioning in the Commission since 1st July 2016,
facilitates applicants in filing appeals/complaints before the Commission as
well as handles their queries relating to cases registered before the Commission.
The Commission also offers applicants the facility of hearing through Video
Conferencing enabling applicants and Public Authorities from across the country
to attend case hearings at the NIC studio in a nearby district headquarters,
instead of coming to Delhi. In the year 2016-17, the CIC conducted 15,228 video
conferences. The Commission has conducted 8,124 video conferences upto November
14, 2017.
The
Commission has registered 16,753 cases till November 14, 2017 and has disposed
19,899 cases for the same period. During the year 2016-17, the CIC had
registered 23, 811 cases and disposed 32,344 cases, as compared to registration
of 25,960 cases and disposal of 28,188 cases in the year 2015-16. The
Commission had 27,137 cases pending as on April 01, 2017 as against 34,982
pending cases as on April 01, 2016. As on November 14, 2017, the CIC has 24,211
cases pending before it.
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