Orientation course for newly appointed State Information Commissioners in Punjab

Mr Rajan Kashyap (extreme right), former CIS, Punjab inaugurating the orientation course for newly appointed state information commissioners.

by Punjabnewswire4u (Balbir)

CHANDIGARH, May 21
 In order to update the knowledge and equip the newly appointed State Information Commissioners in Punjab with the latest tools of Right to Information Act (RTI), a three-day Orientation Course commenced today in Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPAP) which was inaugurated by Mr Rajan Kashyap, IAS (Retd.), former Chief Information Commissioner, Punjab here this afternoon.
 The inaugural session was attended by newly appointed State Information Commissioners including Mr Ravinder Singh Nagi, Mr Narinderjit Singh, Mr Harinder Pal Singh Mann, Mr Surinder Awasthi, MrS.P. Singh, Mr Parveen Kumar. Mr Brij Mohan Lal, Legal luminary and faculty member of Chandigarh Judicial Academy was the key speaker.
 In his brief inaugural address, Mr Rajan Kashyap said that the RTI Act has been enacted with a view to bringing about transparency in the Governance and promoting accountability in the Administrative System. Being a new legislation all stake holder's capacity need to build up for meeting the desired objective of the Act. Public expectations are very high from information providers which need to be maintained in a transparent manner. He observed that with the implementation of RTI Act, every individual in the country has the access to all the documents of the Government.
 Stressing the need of bringing Government record online Mr  Kashyap said that since the inception of the Commission, the Government departments have been invariably directed to bring everything online so that there is no delay in dissemination of the information to the members of the public. He said that process has already started and there is a need of achieving 100% target under time bound programme. He asked the new Information Commissioners to be model of transparency and equip themselves with all latest developments to adjudicate the cases in a judicial manner.
 Mr Brij Mohan Lal, faculty member, Chandigarh Judicial Academy dwelled upon the various provisions of Right to Information Act with case laws to derive the point of ongoing timely supply of information. He explained each section of the Act as how best to implement it
in achieving the objective of providing information logically in time to achieve Probity and Transparency in Governance. He said that this Act which is acceptable all over in the Country and the Citizens have got a major relief in getting the speedy justice. He took one by one clause of the RTI Act with the newly appointed Commissioners and impressed upon them to implement the provisions in right earnest while deciding the cases regarding supply of information to the public.
 Earlier Mr S.S Gill, IAS (Retd.), Sr. Consultant, MGSIPAP initiated the discussion and welcomed the delegates.