Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, RK Mathur inaugurated the National Meet on Right to Information (RTI) Act organised by the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) in Leh on September 15.

The SCOPE film on PSEs in pursuit of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat was released and also launched the webpage (https://ladakh.nic.in/departments/) for suo-motu disclosure of information under RTI Act Section 4(1)(b) for Ladakh. 

Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), YK Sinha was the guest of honor for the event.

The objective of the event is to provide a platform for Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) to deliberate on the challenges faced by them in the management and implementation of the RTI Act. Officials from Ladakh, Chief Executives, Directors, Executive Directors, CPIOs, PIOs, nodal officers, and executives from more than 30 CPSEs are taking part in the three-day event. 

LG Mathur called SCOPE a moral force and appreciated them for choosing Ladakh for the National Meet on RTI Act to build the capacities of government officials from the region on the RTI Act along with the officials from PSEs from other parts of the country. He termed RTI Act as leading towards the light from the darkness. 

Calling the number of RTIs filed by its employees and others as the parameter of the performance of a PSE, LG Mathur stated that the filing of more RTI queries by its employees shows the inefficiency of a PSE. He stressed the importance of understanding the RTI Act and learning its nuances to enable them to handle and reply to the queries effectively and efficiently. 

Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) YK Sinha shared the efforts being made to bring down the number of pending RTI cases and further strengthen and implement the Act effectively throughout the country. He stated that the feedback received from the participants during the National Meet would enable them to submit recommendations in Parliament to further strengthen the RTI Act. He emphasised the need for adopting innovative methods to resolve RTI cases at the earliest. 

Programme Director, SCOPE, OP Khorwal, highlighted the programme perspective and various initiatives taken by SCOPE to build the capacities of representatives of PSEs to enable them to address issues faced by them in implementing the RTI Act, etc.