CIC's functioning not interrupted for a day due to Covid-19: Jitendra Singh

The functioning of the Central Information Commission (CIC) has not been interrupted even for a single day during the entire course of the coronavirus pandemic, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday.

He said the Commission disposed of 1,785 cases in June this year as against 1,298 cases in the month of June 2019, which in other words indicate that the disposal rate was infact significantly higher during this period, despite the constraints of the pandemic.

Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, said infact in the midst of the pandemic on May 15 this year, the CIC started entertaining, hearing and disposing of RTIs from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, through virtual means.

After a review of the functioning of the Commission with Chief Information Commissioner Bimal Julka, he said the functioning of the Commission had not been interrupted even for a single day during the entire course of the pandemic, according to an official statement.

Citing figures compiled by the Commission, Singh said that e-office was extended to the home computers of officers and intensive use of technological tools was implemented for disposal of cases.

Julka informed the minister that the various steps are taken to facilitate the CIC hearing during the lockdown and partial lockdown included video conferencing, audio conferencing, facilitation of return submission, uploading of the contact details of deputy registrars on the website, issue of notices by e-post wherever required, online registration and scrutiny of fresh cases on the same day.

Not only this, the chief information commissioner informed the minister that the Commission had also effectively continued its interactive and outreach activities, the statement said.

These, he said, included video conference with civil society representatives and video conferencing with members of the National Federation of Information Commissions in India (NFICI), it added.