By Mayukh Goswami
Mangaldai : “ Like the rights of speech and expression as defined in the Article 19 of the Constitution , the Right to Information is a fundamental right of every citizen of the country. So every public authority must be very careful in
Criticizing a government notification regarding exemption of two investigating agencies namely- CID and BI(EO) wing of Assam Police from the purview of the RTI Act , the CIC described it as a violation to the provision of the RTI Act. Explaining certain provisions of the RTI Act, he said that private institutions like Nursing Homes, Hotels , Manufacturing Companies etc all are not free from the purview of the RTI Act and in this regard the information seekers can get their information not directly from the private bodies but from their concerned controlling public authority .
The CIC also discussed on many other relevant issues of the Act including penal provisions against Public Information Officer violating the Act , mode of application fees , motive of a petitioner , use of new information technology , modernization in the maintenance of the public records system , preparation of the rules of the RTI Act as simple as possible for effective results etc and also participated in an open interactions with the participants which included PIOs , RTI activists and media persons among others
Former Deputy Commissioner and Consultant of State Information Commission Jatindra Lahkar said that the PIOs are responsible for any lapse in providing the required information to the applicant. Darrang Deputy Commissioner Ashok Kumar Barman also addressed the workshop while Additional Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Chakravarty offered a hearty welcome to the Chief Information Commissioner on his first visit to the district.