Need to avoid ‘avoidable’ RTIs: Dr Jitendra
Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Oct 12: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has laid stress on transparency and accountability in governance, referring to these two as twin pillars.
Shah was presiding over the 14th Annual convention of the Central Information Commission (CIC) as Chief Guest. Minister In-Charge Personnel /DoPT Dr. Jitendra Singh was the Guest of Honour..
In his address, the Home Minister expressed pleasure at the functioning of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and said that in the 14 years since its enactment, the purpose and objective of the Act has been fulfilled. He added that the main objective of RTI was to increase trust of people in the system of governance, and the act has been successful in instilling and strengthening the faith of the people that the system functions within the boundaries defined by the Constitution. He noted that this trust automatically increases a sense of partnership and ownership of people in governance, and this sense of partnership goes a long way in making the nation progress.
Amit Shah said that in 1947, India attained freedom from a long era of oppression where the objective of the administration was discriminatory and was to fulfill the wishes of foreign masters, as opposed to looking after the welfare of people. This objective and the steps taken in that direction caused a disconnect between people and the administration. He remarked that till 2005, no steps taken to remove this disconnect had been successful, but in the last 14 years, this gap is being fulfilled by the transparency and accountability ushered in through RTI. He described transparency and accountability the twin pillars of good governance and hailed RTI as a major milestone for good governance.
Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Government is committed to creating a system where there is enough suo moto declaration of information that the need to file RTI applications itself is reduced. He said that the success of a transparent government lies not in an increase in the number of RTI applications but in the fact that RTI applications reduce in spite of the RTI process being completely accessible to people.
Dr. Jitendra Singh, in his address, called for certain discipline or regulation to avoid “avoidable” RTIs. He said, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Government has further strengthened the cause of transparency and accountability by creating an online portal for RTI, which did not exist previously. He said, the Government has taken several steps to increase awareness about RTI, but cautioned that the law should not be misused.
Dr Jitendra singh said, Prime Minister Modi gave us the Mantra of ‘Maximum Governance, Minimum Government’ from the very beginning. He quoted the example of making efforts in the direction of doing away with the practice of attestation of documents by the gazetted officers. He added that to bring transparency in governance, the DoPT has done away with the practice of interview for recruitment at the lower level posts w.e.f January 2016.
Speaking about the redressal of public Grievances, DoPT Minister said that in last five years,Public Grievance Cell has become pro-active and more responsive.
Chief Information Commissioner Sudhir Bhargava said that the annual convention offers an opportunity to reflect and introspect on the implementation of RTI Act and the success it has achieved in furthering our shared democratic values.The inaugural Session was followed by three brain storming academic sessions
The Convention was attended by State Information Commissioners, former Chief Information Commissioners and Information Commissioners of Central Information Commission, besides Central Public Information Officer’s (CPIO) and First Appellate Authority (FAA) of various Ministries/ Departments and other stake holder such RTI activists.
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