On Monday, the Central Information Commission (CIC) decided to continue disposal of cases only based on written submissions of parties as Delhi is placed under a lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an order.
The decision was taken at an emergency meeting convened by Chief Information Commissioner Bimal Julka following an advisory by the Department of Personnel & Training on preventive steps to contain the spread of the Coronavirus.
The officials noted that being a "quasi-judicial" body, the panel will take call on case to case basis any request for a personal appearance during its hearings for disposal of appeals & complaints filed by RTI applicants.
The CIC will also explore "intensive use of technology of tools" for the disposal of cases during the lockdown following which a review of the situation will be done on March 31.
Chief Information Commissioner Bimal Julka told news agency that "The Commission is using technology in a big way. I did audio/video conference today & good response".
It was a surprise for many applicants to get a call directly from Bimal Julka who kept disposing cases from home using audio conference, sources close to him said.
The Chief Information Commissioner said if this experiment of audio conference gets successful, the Commission may institutionalise it to save time, money & energy of applicants & Govt. officials.
The Commission, burdened with over 35,000 pending appeals & complaints is on a tight rope to prevent increase in the backlog & follow the lockdown to ensure safety of applicants, officials & it staffers.
The minutes of the meeting said that "In view of theextraordinarysituationrequiring extraordinary action, disbursement of salary for allofficers & staffersincluding thoseworkingas contractual consultants will be done onthe basis of salary drawn for the month of Feb 2020 as far as possible".
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