Click to play videoNew Delhi: On the first day of the National convention on one year of Right to Information Act (RTI), immediately after the President's address, what was in store were banners and pleas from dissatisfied RTI users.
The sight was rather dramatic with the President watching from the dias but he, however, asked the complainants to write to him and seek an appointment.
But the Central Information Commission (CIC) officials though were not impressed.
"To me it was a big surprise. I wondered who these people were and what their concerns were. They have never met the Commission or indicated their grievances. If they had come to us we would have listened to them," said Information Commisioner, M M Ansari.
Various NGOs and RTI activists have been quite vocal against the CIC, accusing them of being slow and not realising its true potential, saying that the Commission needs to get its act together.
“The Commission has tried but failed to start a participatory process. They need to learn,” said RTI activist, Aruna Roy.
However, the CIC has rubbished the veracity of these charges.
"The charges that the Commission has not been participatory is baseless. I really don’t know what is expected of it," says Ansari.
This debate helps to generate positives which can later be incorporated in the functioning of the Information Commission.
After all, the Commission is just one-year-old, a toddler and there are several lessons to be learnt along the way.
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