RTI Act has become a people's movement, says CIC Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha
Right to Information Act has become a people's movement with a large number of them seeking information of public interest and getting replies, Chief Information Commissioner Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha said, hailing the ground-breaking law enacted in 2005.
«No country can boast of such a large number of applications being filed and such a large number of replies being given,» Sinha said Thursday in an interaction with PTI on the sidelines of an event here.
He was in the state capital to attend the inaugural session of the two-day-long national meet 'National Meet of RTI Act' organised by the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises, or SCOPE.
«I think India fares very well, because (of) the sheer scale, no country can boast of such a large number of applications being filed, such a large number of replies being given, second appeal. We are the most populous country in the world, but the population is not enough.
You have other countries which are highly populated, but they don't have the Act,» the CIC said.
Sinha said that since the initial days of its enactment, the RTI Act has come a long way, but there are still shortcomings.
«Obviously, there are lacunae and drawbacks, which need to be addressed, but there is a process, which is already underway, and hopefully with time and with experience, and the experience of how the Act is implemented, things will become better,» he said.
Asked to comment on his journey from a diplomat to an Information Commissioner and then becoming a Chief Information Commissioner, Sinha said, «People have asked me this question before. We do not have too many people from foreign service becoming information commissioners» as he cited the example of former Information Commissioner Sharat
