Video conferencing for outstation RTI applicants [of Maharastra

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Video conferencing for outstation RTI applicants [of Maharastra]
AS reported by Aneesh Phadnis, Economic Times, TNN

Right To Information applicants in the state have reason to cheer. From next month the state information commission will use video conferencing facilities to hear RTI appeals filed by those based outside Mumbai.

The state's chief information commissioner , Suresh Joshi, confirmed the move and said it will result in saving travel cost and time. "Both the applicant and information officer will not have to leave their city. In Mumbai we can use the video conferencing facilities in Mantralaya or the new administrative building. The applicant need not travel to Mumbai, but will have to visit his area's divisional commissioners' office which has video conferencing facilities. As usual, we will issue notices of the hearing to all parties," Joshi said.

The Central Information Commission , which is based in New Delhi and is the appellate authority for issues relating to the central government, hears cases using video conferencing. Joshi said he tried introducing video conferencing about two 1months ago, but came across some problem in the system. "I have spoken to the IT department regarding the issue," he added.

The information commission, which was constituted three years ago, has commissioners in Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad, besides Mumbai . Till date, 27,000 appeals have been filed with the commission. Of these, about 15,000 are pending, the most being 3,500 applications from Pune.

Joshi has also proposed a second post of an information commissioner in Pune. However, Joshi has so far been unable to get the posts of information commissioners appointed in Nashik and Amravati.

The government sanctioned these two posts a year and half ago, but has not even selected candidates for the post. The government had shortlisted V N Deshmukh, former chairperson of MPSC, for the post in Amravati, but he was reluctant to accept. There was also a move to depute the information commissioner from Nagpur to Nashik but that too got shelved. RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi welcomed the move to use video conferencing for appeals, but cautioned that it was a peripheral issue. "The real issue before the state information commission is to clear its pendency and it should focus on it rather than sidetracking it," he said.

Video conferencing for outstation RTI applicants-Quickies -Features-The Economic Times