New Delhi, Nov 15 The monthly disposal rate of Right to Information (RTI) applications in June this year was higher than the rate in the corresponding month of June last year in spite of Covid-19 pandemic, said newly appointed Chief Information Commissioner Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha.
Sinha, who took charge as chief of Central Information Commission (CIC) earlier this month, shared the information while his meeting with Union Minister Jitendra Singh.
During half-an-hour meeting with Singh, the new CIC chief informed that the success was possible because the Commission had carried on its working uninterrupted even during the pandemic times by using modern technology of online, virtual and video conferences.
Sinha, who retired as High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom before being appointed as Information Commissioner from where he has been elevated to the present post of CIC chief, also gave a brief about the progressively improving disposal rate of the RTI applications.
The Chief Information Commissioner, who happens to be the son of late Lieutenant General S.K. Sinha, former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and Assam, and former Vice Chief of the Army Staff, also briefed Singh about the status of disposal of the RTI applications from Jammu and Kashmir ever since the Union Territory was brought under the purview of the Commission earlier this year.
He thanked the Minister for continuous support from the government and coordination by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
Singh referred to a number of new initiatives taken under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to improve the functioning of the CIC and to ensure prompt disposal of RTI appeals.
As for Jammu & Kashmir, the Minister said, the difference now is that non-Domicile or non-State subjects of Jammu and Kashmir are also entitled to file RTIs related to UT issues or agencies.
Singh also noted that it was during the Modi government that 24 hours' portal service was introduced for e-filing of the RTI applications during any part of the day or night and from any part of the country or abroad.
It was during Modi's tenure, the Minister further said, the office of CIC was shifted to its own exclusive office complex.
Singh reiterated that the role of the CIC is important to live upto to Prime Minister's vision of transparency and citizen - participation in the functioning of the government.
( With inputs from IANS )
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