Law graduates and students to help state information commission
10 Jan, 2013The State Information Commission (SIC) of Tamil Nadu has been receiving around 55, 000 appeals under the Right to Information Act (RTI) Act per annum but due to shortage of manpower, there has been a huge pile of pending cases. To help the situation, the SIC has decided to take in batches of law students and law graduates whose services will be utilized as part time assistants to dispose of the backlog.
The chief information commissioner has said that the students who want to volunteer can apply directly to the SIC and they will help in studying cases and preparing reports. The SIC will be taking the first batch of ten such volunteers. The CIC said that it would prove to be good learning experience for the students also as they will have a closer look at the functioning of the transparency law. The State chief information commissioner K S Sripathi informed that currently no payment would be made to the students but, if the government gives its approval, some incentives would be provided. Certificates would, however, be issued to those who complete the programme.