New Delhi: For the first time in its history, the Central Information Commission today heard 18 cases through audio-video tools to tide over the mounting pendency that has been aggravated both by a shortage of information commissioners as well as the national lockdown over COVID-19 pandemic.During the hearing, the Commissioners as well as the applicants and the respondents came together online using Zoom, a platform for video and audio conferencing.Photo: CIC‘Applicants, respondents came well prepared’Talking to The Wire, Chief Information Commissioner Bimal Julka said, “In these trying times, the Commission is trying to do the best it could.”He expressed happiness at the way events unfolded today. “The best part was that all the applicants and respondents came well prepared for the hearing,” he said.Julka said a lot of work had gone into the preparation of taking the Commission’s work online. The Commission held its first online office meeting via Zoom on March 23, which incidentally was also the first day of the nationwide lockdown.Decision on online hearings was taken on March 23, first day of lockdownDuring that meeting, which was chaired by Julka and attended by all the other six central information commissioners, secretary to the Commission and other senior officers, it was decided that the deputy registrars would fix dates in consultation with the information commissioners and issue the notices in all cases where the contact details of the parties were available. For this, it was also decided that the contact details of nodal CPIOs would be made available to the deputy registrars.Also read: Coronavirus Daily Updates: More Than 20 Lakh Confirmed Cases WorldwideJulka said in consonance with the decision that the Commission would start all scheduled hearings through audio or digital mode by April 15 in larger public interest, relevant information about the cases was sent out to both the parties by its officers.NIC’s Vidyo to replace Zoom Julka said that due to security concerns over using Zoom, the Commission was in consultation with the National Informatics Centre and has been training its staffers and commissioners to use ‘Vidyo’, which is an indigenous tool for audio-video conferencing that has been developed by NIC. The panel had earlier “collectively agreed” that it would “strive to introduce latest technological tools for its smooth functioning”.The Commission also decided that the registrar would train deputy registrars periodically to iron out administrative or technical support issues that may arise with the National Informatics Centre.Photo: CICE-mails being sent to applicants, respondentsOn how the hearings are being arranged, the Chief Information Commissioner said: “There are over 35,000 cases pending and out of these we have with us phone numbers of applicants and respondents of around 29,000 cases. We are approaching them all through e-mails.”While day-to-day hearings may still take some time, Julka said the Commission will examine how many cases it was able to handle by the end of this month. “We want to institutionalise this mechanism of conducting hearings online and would try to provide this option to all the applicants and respondents,” he said.Advocates can also appear for clientsOn whether advocates, who often appear on behalf of the clients would also be able to join in, the CIC said even today two advocates appeared. “They would be able to attend the hearings wherever they have been authorised by the applicants or the respondents.”While not commenting on the Commission working with four Commissioners less than the sanctioned strength of 11, including the chief, and the Centre not following the Supreme Court’s directions of February 2019 to fill up the vacancies expeditiously, Julka said the Commission wants to fulfil its duties to the best of its abilities.First-ever online hearing from homeFormer central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has pointed out that this video-conferencing was not the first-ever in the history of the Commission, but the first-ever in which officials, appellants and respondents operated from home.Stating that “CIC has been doing video conferencing since over a decade now”, using a NIC platform, he said, “the only change (now) appears to be that people could join from their homes using Zoom.” So, “the same technology is now being used from home and PIOs and appellants do not go to the NIC studios.”
