Book on RTI success stories to be released

The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the two-day 11th Annual Convention of Central Information Commission (CIC) here on 7th November, 2016. The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh will also be present on the occasion. 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.

During the inauguration, the Home Minister will launch the e-Court software which is under implementation in the Commission with the help of National Informatics Centre. He will also release a book on RTI success stories. The book has been prepared for the Commission by Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration.

The inauguration function will be followed by various sessions on topics such as RTI in Railways, RTI Web portal by DoPT, RTI in Public Sector Undertakings, RTI in Banking/Insurance, Academic papers on RTI and RTI in States. The sessions will be attended by eminent panelists and experts in these areas. The session on RTI in Railways will discuss the journey of implementation of RTI in the Railways. In the session on RTI in PSUs, implementation of RTI in various PSUs such as NTPC, NHPC Ltd, REIL and CPSEs will be discussed. 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.

The e-Court system to be launched during the inaugural function is aimed at enabling speedy disposal of Appeals/Complaints by using digital technology. The system will allow online filing of appeals/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/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. The system will offer an online search facility which allows a user to search for Dak, File, Hearing Notice and Decision etc.

The Central Information Commission was constituted in 2005 for dealing with second appeals/complaints filed under the Right to Information Act, 2005. The Commission has till now heard and disposed off about 2 lakh cases. For convenience of the information seekers, the Commission encourages hearings through Video Conference. Since 1st April, 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.

***