LEX COGNOSCENTI S WEBINAR ON RIGHT TO INFORMATION CT …
Transcript of LEX COGNOSCENTI S WEBINAR ON RIGHT TO INFORMATION CT …
LEX COGNOSCENTI’S WEBINAR ON RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005
22nd August 2020 (04:00 PM onwards) Page | 1
LEX COGNOSCENTI’S WEBINAR ON RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005
22nd August 2020 (04:00 PM onwards) Page | 1
I. ABOUT THE TEAM LEX COGNOSCENTI
Lex Cognoscenti is a virtual learning platform. The basic purpose of this virtual platform is to
disseminate legal knowledge among all. It is aimed at organizing various events for spreading
legal awareness.
II. ABOUT THE HON’BLE GUEST SPEAKER
“On 13th November 2019, a 5-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in
a historic judgment ruled that India’s landmark transparency law – the Right to
Information – applied even to office of Chief Justice of India. The verdict marked
the culmination of a more than decade old legal war bravely fought by one of
India’s best-known RTI-activists for the struggle for transparency in governance
and high offices, Shri Subhash Chandra Agrawal. An ordinary citizen, who was
leading a peaceful life in the bylanes of historical old Delhi, till the RTI law came
into existence in 2005, single handedly revolutionised the use of RTI for the
common citizens of India.”
With a brilliant academic record, Subhash Chandra Agrawal’s observative mind inspired
him to fire his first ‘letter-missile’ in ‘Hindustan (Hindi)’ in 1967 while facing pocketing of
ticket-money by a DTC bus-conductor without giving him a proper ticket. Quick response by
DTC authorities made him realize the impact of print-media, which resulted in his achieving
“Guinness World Record” as he began writing almost daily to the “Letters to the Editor’
column in different newspapers and magazines, highlighting the areas concerning the woes of
the common man.
Over the years, the authorities in legislature and bureaucracy began admiring his
suggestions through his letters which carried no personal agenda. Once, the then Vice President
of India, Mr. M. Hidayatullah, gave him a unique honour by sending him a hand-written letter
saying that “…because you think so seriously and sincerely in public interest, you are my
personal friend, and I will not use official machinery in communicating with you!”
Agrawal’s numerous suggestions were implemented by various public-authorities even
before Right-To-Information Act 2005 came into operation; for example, change in design of
Railway Coaches, change in size and metal of coins, publication of Readers’ Digest in Hindi,
improvement by Johnson & Johnson in Band-Aid, entry of women in Rotary International etc.
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May it be constitution review, finance, banking, communications, posts, railways, transport,
consumerism, radio, television, civic problems or any other field, his suggestions have been
appreciated and recognized at highest levels as well as by public.
RTI Act added more shine to his passion for letter writing for public causes, and he started
using it right from October 2005 itself when the Transparency Act came into force. He utilized
the RTI Act to reveal crucial information from all wings of governance, having filed about
6000 RTI petitions, all in the public interest, with about 600 of these having reached to the
Central Information Commission. It is a matter of fact that almost all the CIC-verdicts have
gone in his favour - a remarkable achievement indeed!
Responses to his RTI petitions have been prominently highlighted in media. The media
trusts him for his independent views on the Transparency Act. The scribes are constantly after
him to interview him for their newspapers and magazines or get his ‘sound bytes’ for TV-
channels. He is also a regular invitee of several TV channels to participate in their panel
discussions. Amongst numerous awards and honours to him, is also an award of rupees twenty
five lakhs (one crore prize-money shared amongst four) by Sitaram Jindal Foundation for his
crusade against corruption. Rotary International honoured him with ‘Bhagsingh Memorial
Trophy’ for enhancing public-image of Rotary. He was also honoured with ‘Swachch Bharat
Ratna Award 2015 and recognized as one of the Giraffe Heroes India.
He has been invited by many prestigious organizations including Lal Bahadur Shastri
Academy (Mussoorie), Railway Staff College (Vadodra), Defense Research & Development
Organization (New Delhi), National Academy for Defense Production (Nagpur), National
Police Academy (Hyderabad), State Information Commissions etc to educate their officers
handling the RTI petitions. Considering his positive mindset for use of RTI Act, Lt. Governor
of Delhi appointed him as consultant to Delhi government handling RTI matters, and for other
matters concerning administrative reforms He even continued represent public-authorities at
CIC during lockdown when he was instrumental in getting dismissed 141 RTI petitions of an
individual against office of Lt Governor of Delhi through teleconferencing. His training at
public-authorities is always taken up enthusiastically by officers attending RTI workshops,
demanding more and more such workshops to be conducted by him.
Apart from his being invited in conferences/seminars relating to RTI Act, he is also invited
by other authorities like Election Commission for important discussions considering his
mastery over various subjects concerning day-to-day public-life including on poll-reforms.
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Central Information Commission at times lists his public-interest petitions for priority-hearing.
His art of using RTI Act as a tool to plug loopholes and corruption in system, is being keenly
observed in judicial, legislative and bureaucratic circles. Law schools’ text-books have
prominently included his RTI petitions especially relating to the Supreme Court. His RTI
petitions have resulted in landmark reforms including like introduction of ‘Judicial
Accountability Bill’ in Parliament.
He regular conducts seminars at educational institutions like Indian School of Mines
(Dhanbad), Amity University (Noida), Birla Institute of Technology (Pilani), Delhi
University’s Law Faculty, Miranda House, Delhi School of Social Work etc., to educate
students about RTI Act. He has been addressing gatherings at the Rotary Clubs and other social
organizations. He is a regular invitee at National Law Schools to speak on RTI-related issues.
He is regularly invited in conferences/conventions of Central and State Information
Commissions, Election Commission and several other bodies as a panelist or participant. He
was also invited for key-note address and Chief Guest at prestigious Symbiosis International
University Pune. He was amongst the six nominees for ‘Indian of the year Award 2013’ by
CNN IBN. Transparency International invited him to participate in a conference of SAARC
nations in Kathmandu (Nepal) to deliberate on transparency Act in India.
Soon after their marriage in 1975, they took a bold decision of not to have a child. The
cheating in family business by his uncle made him rise above the materialistic world, and he
started liking the philosophy of the Parsi way of life – work for the society, and not for yourself.
His wife supported him in adopting ‘no-child’ policy. It gives them sufficient time to devote
themselves for taking up public-interest causes through letters to the media and the RTI queries.
For powerful mediums – letters to the Editor and the RTI applications – Subhash says: “No
subject is too trivia – small-small corrections in the society can make a big difference.”
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III. DATE AND TIME OF THE EVENT
22 August 2020 (Saturday) from 04:00 PM onwards.
IV. ELIGIBILITY FOR PARTICIPATION:
There is no such bar for participation of anyone. Any citizen of India may take part and attend
the webinar.
V. REGISTRATION PROCEDURE
• Registration and entry for the Webinar shall be free of cost.
• However, if anyone wants to procure a Certificate for participating in the Webinar,
he/she has to pay a nominal amount of Rs. 20/-.
• The amount can be paid through BHIM UPI/Google Pay/ PhonePe to +91-7008955045.
Note: We don’t accept payment through PayTM Wallets.
Registration for the Webinar may be done through the following link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfZGhBiFQVRURLQTOR8IstQwzaaCILbU-
6zkWN4xFmu-cRNOw/viewform?usp=sf_link
VI. LAST DATE FOR REGISTRATION
21 August 2020 (Friday).
VII. FOR QUERIES, CONTACT US AT
Email ID: [email protected]
Contact Number: 7205118819/ 8455852908/ 7008955045
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OUR MEDIA PARTNERS
LEX COGNOSCENTI’S WEBINAR ON RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005
22nd August 2020 (04:00 PM onwards) Page | 6
OUR MEDIA PARTNERS
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22nd August 2020 (04:00 PM onwards) Page | 7
OUR MEDIA PARTNERS