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Thursday, October 11, 2012

Seventh Annual Convention of Central Information Commission on “RTI: Lessons Learnt”

r Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India will inaugurate the 7th Annual Convention of Central Information Commission on “RTI:Lessons Learnt” tomorrow at DRDO Bhawan, New Delhi . The Central Information Commission (CIC) had been organizing a Convention every year on 12-13 October to commemorate the implementation of the RTI Act, 2005. The Commission in the past six conventions organized so far, has deliberated and discussed a wide range of issues relating to the Act and its implementation with a view to learning from experiences as well as to chart the future road map for greater transparency and accountability. 

The Convention will have panel discussions on Compliance, Lessons Learnt – Success and Failures and Right to Privacy Vs Disclosure. Sri Wajaht Habibullah, Chairman, National Commission for Minorities, Ms Aruna Roy, social activist and Sri Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha are chairing the sessions. Sri Shekhar Gupta, Editor in Chief, Indian Express, Sri A N Tiwari, Former CIC, Dr O P Kejariwal, Former IC, Sri K T S Tulsi, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, State Chief Information Commissioners/State Information Commissioners from Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Orissa, J&K, and HP are the other panelists. 

The Session on Compliance, Lessons Learnt – Success and Failures would discuss areas of concern relating to record management practices, suo motu disclosures, usages of ICT in dissemination of information, RTI rules and the status of compliances of the directions of the Commission. 

The Session on privacy and disclosure would discuss areas of common conflicts relating to disclosure of APAR/ACR of the employees by third parties, disclosure of Contractual Information between the Public Authority and Private Organizations and disclosure of ‘Information’ collected by Public Authority from ‘Private Bodies’ like Joint Venture companies, Public Private Partnerships etc. 

The Panel discussion aims at discussing and laying down a way forward for legal and pragmatic solutions regarding some of the areas of major concern in the implementation of the RTI Act including individual’s privacy and the need for their disclosure. 

The Convention would be attended, inter alia, by the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners of the State Information Commissions, the Civil Society Organisations/ Stakeholders/NGOs, RTI Activists, Central Public Information Officers and Appellate Authorities of the select Ministries/Departments of the Government of India. The members of the Bagladesh Information Commission, including its acting Chief Information Commissioner, are also attending the Convention this year. Other representatives attending the Convention are members of Civil Society Organisation from Nepal, Maldives, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. 

Smt. Meira Kumar, Speaker, Lok Sabha will deliver the Valedictory Address on 13th October, 2012. 

Source:-PIB

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