Central Information Commission to provide real-time information on RTI appeals

NEW DELHI: Filing a complaint or appeal under Right to Information ( RTI) Act, you will now get real time updates. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has taken an eleap and would function like an ecourt with all its case files moving digitally and the applicant being alerted about case hearings through an SMS and email. Starting next week, CIC would move to a new software which would make the hearings faster and more convenient.

As soon as an RTI applicant files an appeal or a complaint, he would be given a registration number and would get an alert on email and mobile phone about his case. The case would then be electronically transferred immediately to the concerned information commissioner’s registry electronically. All this would be done within hours.

At present, the process takes a few days. The new system would also alert the RTI applicant about the date of hearing. An automatic SMS and email would be generated. Apart from this, the applicant would get an email in advance listing out the records given by him to CIC and the government’s submissions in his case.

A senior CIC official told ET, “At present the appellant and the ministry sometimes appear in the case without knowing what the submissions are. So this would help both sides in preparing for the case.” The Commission would be able to expedite the processing of applications with the new software. At present, it also has to deal with complaints of loss of case files and non-registration of cases.

It would take care of this with the software. The facility would not only benefit the appellants but also information commissioners. When a commissioner would open a case file on his computer, he would get a ready background of the specific case and also details about the appellant. The official said, “We would know if he has more appeals pending.

This could facilitate hearing of multiple appeals of the same person on a given day. It would directly impact pendency as more cases would be disposed in a day.” CIC has already scanned 1.5 lakh files and converted them into electronic files. The Commission would also be able to separate complaints from the appeals. At present, the Commission has colour codes for the physical files – yellow colour for appeals and dark brown file cover for complaints.