Shri Yashovardhan Azad, Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission, New Delhi in his address at the Inaugural Session of the one day Symposium on “Right to Information Act 2005” Organized by NLC India Limited at Learning &development Centre,Neyveli, today (26.02.2018) said, “The foremost important thing while providing information as per the Right To Information act is to ordine a balance between transparency and confidentiality, because the misuse of the RTI Act for vested interests has been a matter of grave concern which is adversely affecting the performance of enterprises”. He said, organizations should Act more inclusive with greater clarity for ensuring its effective implementation and to uphold the spirit of the Act for which it was envisioned.
Shri Yashovardhan Azad, informed that rejection of RTI queries are reducing year by year (8.5 % to 6.5%) indiacates a good sign for increasing transparency, but an application for information received under the RTI Act can be rejected only for any of the reasons u/s 8 or 9 of the Act and it can not be rejected under the Provisions of any other law. As the government machinery becomes more transparent, the number of requests would also reduce, He added.
Shri Azad appreciated the efforts of NLCIL in organizing such a symposium which would clearly help for effective implementation and to uphold the spirit of the Act for which it was envisioned. He clarified the various queries on RTI Act raised by the participants .
As part of this Symposium eminent RTI practitioners Shri S. Sridhar , Executive Director (PR) & appelete Authority,NLCIL (Retd), Shri .D.Prakasham Reddy ,Advocate , High Court Of Andhrapradesh,Hyderabad, Shri G.M Al. Rafeeq Moidheen GM/Legal , Manglore Refineries &Petrochemicals Limited and Shri S.Sridhar DGM/HR,Law & CPIO,
BHEL handled technical sessions on topics like Public information Vs Personal Information , RTI compliance Vis-a-Vis Business Intrests of CPSEs, Exempted Information under RTI Act-Legal Perspective and Larger Intrests Vs Disclosure of Commercial Information.