The state chief information commissioner said that the RTI Act empowers the citizens to question the government, so that there is transparency and accountability.
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“The Right to Information Act helped in bringing closeness between the hills and valley in Manipur,” said state chief information commissioner Oinam Sunil Singh on Tuesday.
He made the remark during the “Right to information week celebration 2021” at Sangai Bazar, Hiyangthang.
Speaking as the president of the function, he exhorted the people to
make RTI a movement.
Sunil further said that it is not just the government, but the society is also corrupt. Stating that these days no one is ashamed of bribing for government jobs in our society, he warned that it is a dangerous trend.
He urged the citizens to use RTI Act to check the corruption of not just the government, but the society as whole.
Maintaining that RTI is the most pro-people Act that the parliament has enacted, he said “We have to know how to apply and make sure that we do not infringe upon individuals’ rights”.
The state chief information commissioner also said that the RTI Act empowers the citizens to question the government, so that there is transparency and accountability.
“It is an Act to check corruption and also to make the citizens better informed about the developmental works,” he added.
The situation in the state, in terms of the government giving out documents, has improved, he said adding “but we need to do more”.
Sunil also urged the state public information officers gathered in the function to make everything available in the public domain, except for national security and personal information.
He also said that the state revenue department is infamous, where the most common occurrence of files being lost happened. Missing is very common across the country, he said while adding that it is a big challenge.
Speaking as the chief guest of the function, MLA Dr Ranjan contended that some were misusing the RTI Act by applying for information on “non-serious” matters, while expressing his desire to use the Act in more serious matters.
Dr Ranjan further contended that the number of RTI applications increased just before the election. Stating that all the information are uploaded in the respective departments, he urged the citizens to use the RTI Act judiciously.
As a part of the celebration, a workshop was also held on the theme — Jurisdictional Crisis: Information Commissioners vs High Courts, with senior advocate Ch Narendra Singh and advocate Pushpa Gurumayum as resource persons. An interaction programme was also held between the resource persons and the participants.