Info panel at doorstep of citizens: Over 1,100 pending 2nd appeals disposed of in Nanded

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The State Information Commission(SIC)'s Chhatrapati Sambhajingar bench has started a special initiative called ‘info panel at doorstep of citizens' under which a total of 1,136 second appeals were disposed of in Nanded.Led by state information commissioner, Prakash Indalkar, the SIC bench is holding hearings at various places to save time and energy of applicants."The special hearing programme for second appeals was organised for Nanded district from March 9 to March 13. A total of 1,136 second appeals, and other cases related to the RTI Act 2005 were disposed of during the programme," said an official release.Hearing notices were issued by the SIC to all concerned parties and a cause list, which is an official schedule that lists the cases to be heard on a specific day, were made available on the official website."Many appellants along with public information officers and appellate officers from different public offices expressed their gratitude towards the SIC for making special efforts by holding district-level hearings," the SIC has said.Under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, a second appeal is the final administrative remedy available to an applicant who is dissatisfied with the decision of the First Appellate Authority (FAA). Filed under Section 19(3) of the Act, the second appeal must be filed within 90 days from the date on which the First Appellate Authority decision was actually received by the appellant or within 90 days after expiry of 45 days of filing of first appeal in cases where no reply has been received.As per official record, 14,469 second appeals are pending with the SIC main bench and seven different benches by Feb-end.