The Central Information Commissioner (CIC) Uday Mahurkar on Sunday achieved a personal and professional milestone, disposing of 5,056 Right to Information (RTI) appeals in 2021-22, which is the highest in a year since the enactment of the RTI Act in 2005.
Mahurkar's feat in his first year as the CIC beats all records of the past 16 years.
Taking to Twitter, Mahurkar, a former journalist and also an author, said that he "passed landmark judgments without fear or favour".
"Passed landmark judgments without fear or favour. In one of the ancient Sanskrit manuscripts, I ruled that a manuscript whether owned by Government or Private body is national property as even those who donated for private ones did it for saving our heritage. Was lauded by scholars across the globe," tweeted Mahurkar on Sunday.
He further stated that in his order, he directed the National Manuscript Mission to put in the public domain all the three lakh manuscripts of private bodies that had been digitized for the benefit of researchers. He said that only 28,000 such manuscripts were in the public domain.
The CIC stated that his decision has been "much appreciated by Indologists".
He emphasized that he took "creative steps like coordinating with public information officers of Union Ministries". Mahurkar added that he even called "group meetings to know their problems while strictly directing them to ensure RTI Act's objectives of transparency and accountability".
"Thank my office staff led by Dy. Registrar Rakesh Rao made success possible even at the cost of personal sacrifices The entire staff of CIC also needs to be complimented for its stupendous show in disposing of 28903 cases in 2021-2022," he tweeted.
Mahurkar is an Indian journalist and author. He has written books, including 'Marching with a Billion' and 'Centrestage'.
( With inputs from ANI )
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