10 years of RTI Act: PM Modi to inaugurate CIC convention on Friday

New Delhi, Oct 15: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 10th annual convention of the Central Information Commission which has come under criticism from activists as a large number of them have not been invited due to security arrangements for the event.

The annual convention of the CIC is congregation of RTI activists who discuss issues related to implementation of the transparency law across the country through no-so-formal sessions where they are able to question and counter-question the experts and commissioners.

During all but one past conventions, Prime Minister or President have inaugurated the function but activists were never barred from participating in it, activists alleged.

The CIC has invited only seven RTI activists for the function to be held tomorrow. The two day convention is being organised on the theme of "RTI: Outlook for the future– Trust through Transparency".

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will address the convention during the inaugural session and the Minister of State Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Jitendra Singh, will also be present at the event.

"The inaugural session will be followed by Technical sessions on themes focusing on the various aspects of working of the Commission and the benefits of the RTI Act, as observed during the decade," a statement from DoPT said.

During these sessions, deliberations and discussions will take place on significant topics such as Translating RTI into Citizen Welfare – the expanding horizons in Digital India, Rationalizing the nature and scope of the Act; Gaps; implications for use and misuse, the RTI Act seeks a "practical regime" and Making RTI better: experience from the states etc, it said.

"The annual convention of this year is important keeping in view the completion of one decade (2005-15) of enactment of Right to Information (RTI) Act. Since its inception, the Central Information Commission has received 2.12 lakh complaints and appeals, of which 1.62 lakh have been disposed of in its adjudicatory role," it said.

The Ministry said around 5 million requests for information have been received up to June 2015 by the public authorities of the central government across the country since the inception of the RTI Act, 2005.

PTI