Right to Information discussed at Police Administration, PU

Chandigarh, August 19, 2021: The Centre for Police Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh organized a special lecture on “Right to Information: Citizen Police Interface”, to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of Independence of India, by Mrs. Urvashi Gulati, IAS (Retd.) former Chief Secretary and Chief Information Commissioner, Haryana. 
 
Mrs. Urvashi Gulati, termed RTI Act as a revolutionary legislation and has made the governance system participatory. While highlighting the benefits of the RTI, Act the speaker said that the strength of this legislation is low cost and simple procedure. It covers almost all the categories of Public departments/Government departments including Judiciary, RBI and Police. She observed that citizens often approach police for accessing information about their complaints, status of investigation, substance of case diaries etc. Police can deny providing the information on the ground that it may endanger the life of the people. Further, police can also deny providing personal information under sec. 8(1) (j) to protect the privacy of the police officer. Information can also be denied under sec 8(1) (h) where provision of information impedes the process of investigation and prosecution of offender. However, the speaker emphasised that ‘onus of showing that it will impede the investigation or there is such apprehension lies with the police officer’.  
 
Earlier, the Chairperson of the Centre Professor Anil Monga welcomed the Speaker and said that Right to Information Act, 2005 is a landmark legislation which has not only empowered the common man but has also ushered in an era of transparency and accountability in the Governance system of India. 
 
The lecture was attended by Prof.Pawan Kamra, Prof.Ameer Sultana, Prof.Swarnjit Kaur, Prof.Monica Munjial, Dr.Kuldeep Singh, Dr.Gaurav Gaur, Dr.Bhawna Gupta, Dr.Jagdish Rai, Dr.Deepak Sharma, Dr.Namit Kumar, Deputy Registrar (RTI) PU, Research Scholars and Students of Centre for Police Administration. The session ended with vote of thanks by Prof. Anil Monga, Chairperson of the Centre.