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



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.



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.



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.”



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

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfZGhBiFQVRURLQTOR8IstQwzaaCILbU-6zkWN4xFmu-cRNOw/viewform?usp=sf_link

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfZGhBiFQVRURLQTOR8IstQwzaaCILbU-6zkWN4xFmu-cRNOw/viewform?usp=sf_link

mailto:[email protected]



OUR MEDIA PARTNERS



OUR MEDIA PARTNERS



OUR MEDIA PARTNERS



OUR MEDIA PARTNERS

Documents

LEX COGNOSCENTI S WEBINAR ON RIGHT TO INFORMATION CT …