Arunachal: Do not misuse RTI Act -Dr Joram Begi
The Right to Information (RTI) Act should not be misused by the activist as a tool to blackmail and harass -Dr. Joram Begi.
Itanagar
The Right to Information (RTI) Act should not be misused by the activist as a tool/weapon to blackmail and harass others, said Arunachal Pradesh Chief Information Commissioner Dr. Joram Begi.
Dr. Begi was addressing the huge gathering of PIOs, APIOs, HODs, RTI activist, social workers, public leader, women groups, students and general public at a function at golden jubilee State Banquet Hall, Itanagar on occasion of Awareness Programme on effective implementation of RTI Act 2005 organised by Arunachal Pradesh Information Commission (APIC) in collaboration with DOPT Government of India.
Dr Begi said that the RTI Act, 2005 is a landmark legislation that has transformed the relationship between the citizen and the govt functionaries. The necessity to enact the Act was to combat the numerous scams that were prevailing in the Country, to bring about transparency in the system, with the objective to empower the citizen and to promote transparency and accountability in the working system of the governance on day-to-day basis.
The Act perceives the common man whosoever be it differently abled, illiterate, student etc as an active participant in the process of national building by conferring on him a right to participate in the process through the implementation of the RTI Act, Dr. Begi added.
It is more than a decade since the RTI Act has been operational in the State.
An effective, mechanism for disposal of increasing numbers of requests for information being received from the citizen of India,
Terming the RTI Act also a Sunshine Act which is working towards transparency and corruption free Governance, said Dr. Begi
The Chief Information Commissioner, advised the media person as they, being the fourth state organ, shoulders the responsibility to make the state accountable and transparent. As most people are not aware of exercising their right to freedom of information in a direct and personal way, the media role and significance of empowering the public about legal advantages of RTI as an anti-corruption weapon has become all the more important.
The RTI law has given a greater and wider space for the media to play in empowering people and consolidating a democratic polity. By using this legislation, the media can investigate and expose issues of wider public interest. The media, as the guardian of freedom of speech, can open up closed doors to transparency and accountability by disseminating information about RTI to
secure peoples fundamental right to know, he added
He also advised the teachers and students to spread the information about RTI in a larger scale and make use of the awareness programme.
State Information Commissioner (SIC), AK Techi, in his power point presentation made a brief report on APIC where he informed from 2014 till date there were 2246 cases registered, 68 cases were imposed penalty, 1041 cases disposed off by the Commission and 61 cases still in progress.
In the daylong awareness programme SIC, Nanong Jamoh, who attended the programme as coordinator and resource person. She spoke on how to seek information by the information seekers (Section 7 of RTI Act 2005) and third party information (section 11 of RTI, Act 2005) while SIC, Mathiem Lenggi talked about Obligation of Public Authorities- Suo Motu disclosure of Information
(Section 4 of RTI Act 2005) and exemption from disclosure of information (Section 8 and Section 9 of RTI Act 2005) in the technical session.
Commissioners, Secretaries, Chief Engineers, DC, Directors, HOD, FAA, PIO, Teachers and Students of University and Colleges, RTI Activist and Media Persons, NGOs attended the programme.
