CIC to hold digital hearings of RTI matters after lockdown ends

Amid the lockdown announced by the government in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Information Commission is planning to institutionalise digital platforms for its hearings so that RTI applicants can attend them from their homes even after normalcy is restored, sources in the panel said.

Chief Information Commissioner Bimal Julka on Tuesday convened a full commission meeting using one of the digital platforms which can connect about 40 people at different locations for a video meeting, a first in the history of the transparency panel, they said.

Full commission meetings are normally held on Tuesdays where all the Information Commissioners are present to discuss various issues related to the functioning of the panel, the highest adjudicating body of RTI matters.

Encouraged by the success of the digital meeting, the Commission has decided to try it as a formal way of conducting hearings thereby doing away with the requirement of applicants to come to the national capital or to reach NIC centres in their respective districts to attend the meetings which can now be done through video conferencing, they said.

The Commission is planning to start using the digital hearings after April 15 once the lockdown is lifted, they said.

"We have asked all the registries of the Information Commissioners to start preparing briefs of the cases to be conducted digitally using applications on phones. We are testing a number of platforms to make it a success as the applicant can easily attend the hearing using these applications from the place of their convenience," a senior official said.

The issue relating to Central Public Information Officers carrying original case files will be ironed out as modalities will be finalised, officials said.

The Information Commissioners have also started using the platform to communicate with their staff members simultaneously for the running of their registry, they said.

The commission, which has 35,000 pending appeals and complaints filed by RTI applicants, suspended all its hearings after the announcement of the 21-day lockdown from March 25 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The commission has already put most of its administrative work onto the digital platform, bringing swiftness in its functioning, they said.