CIC organises Seminar on implementation of the RTI Act

The Central Information Commission organised a seminar on the Implementation of the Right to Information Act 2005 here today. The Seminar was attended by CIC, ICs, former CICs, State ICs, NGOs and other stakeholders. The Seminar began with an address by Shri Radha Krishna Mathur, Chief Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission. Shri Mathur highlighted the efforts made in the Commission over the past year to increase the pace of disposal of pending cases putting digitisation to good use.

In his address, Information Commissioner, Prof. M. Sridhar Acharyulu focused on the scope of privacy of Public Servants in analysing the case of Girish R Deshpande vis-a-vis other binding precedents. Shri Sanjoy Hazarika, Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), highlighted the issue “RTI as a tool for more Professional journalism”. Ms. Anjali Bhardwaj touched upon the adjudication of RTI Act. Ms. Amrita Johri addressed the topic of National assessments on implementation of the RTI Act. Shri S.C. Agrawal, RTI Activist, talked about misuse of RTI Act, by the applicants based on his personal experience.  Shri Venkatesh Nayak, CHRI focussed on some contradictory developments in RTI jurisprudence. Ms. Pankti Jog of Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel, touched on the initiatives taken for “Reaching the un-reached citizens with RTI to allow them to participate in Governance.”

Shri B. H. Veeresha briefed the gathering on initiatives taken by Mahithi Hakku Adhyayana Kendra for Implementation of RTI Act in Stamps and Registration Department in Karnataka. Shri Rajesh Mehtani, UP State Resource Person (RTI), focussed on the developments in “Implementation of RTI Act in Uttar Pradesh”. Shri Deepak Singh, BSNL highlighted the issues of amendments to Section-24 of the RTI Act. Ms. Deepa Sadekar Deshpande, Associate Professor, YASHADA, highlighted some success stories of Maharashtra under the RTI Act. Commodore Lokesh Batra focussed on “RTI’s great success stories of use of RTI to correct mistakes in RTI Act.” Shri P.C. Bali spoke about Implementation of the RTI Act in the Punjab State.

The session concluded with closing remarks by Shri Yashovardhan Azad, Information Commissioner.