Internship Experience @ Odisha Information Commission, Bhubaneswar: Quizzed us on what we learnt on a daily basis

Your Name, College, Year of Study, Email ID

Angswarupa Chatterjee, Siksha O Anusandhan National Institute of Law, 5th Year

Name of Organisation, Location city, Team Strength

Odisha Information Commission, Bhubaneswar

Application Process with contact details

I had approached the state head office personally along with my CV.

I was put some questions on matters which I was very confident about.

They tested my knowledge mostly on the human rights and on certain previous internships.

Then they confirmed my application for admission as a candidate..

Duration of internship and timings

The exact duration was from the 1st June, 2014 to 24th July, 2014.

First impression, first day formalities, infrastructure

The head office is situated in Bhubaneswar at The Toshali Bhavan, Satya Nagar.

The building has a massive infrastructure.it is busy especially during the first few hours of the day. The office is easily assessable with an easy layout and proper restrooms.

Main tasks

The Under-Secretary cum AFA mostly assigned us our tasks. Everyday we were asked to attend the Commissioners proceedings and prepare summaries on each case dealt that day and submit to the Under Secretary.

At the very end of the internship I was asked to compile an assignment regarding the statistical analysis and the lacuna and their solutions to the Right to Information Act, 2005.

Sometimes the Law Officer of the commission would call us over for discussion regarding pertinent cases which were slightly out of track of the ordinary cases and clear any doubts that we might have had.

The discussions also included study of important provisions from the RTI Act.

Work environment and people

The persons that I met, who were the law offices and other staff members were really helpful.

They neatly explained to us the do’s and don’ts in this branch of law.

Apart from being friendly they also quizzed us on what we learnt on a daily basis in the commission.

Best things

The best part was meeting other law school students for the very first time and interacting.

Discussions regarding the shared curriculum and other trivia were exchanged.

Bad things

The bad thing was very little personal attention was given to students.

We were allotted work and were expected to complete it and submit it to the concerned authority.

Stipend

No stipend is offered for the internship.

Biggest Lessons

I learnt that there is a lot to learn as a law student. A law student has to look beyond the books to gain the actual picture. There’s lot more that I has to learn beyond classroom discussions.

Any Other Thing

Uniforms were made compulsory for all interns. The authorities were strict ad did not indulge lazy interns.

Overall Rating

3

Accommodation

Since I had easy access to the commission because I was residing at the hostel, I did not require separate accounts.

Office Timings

Office timings were from 9:30 to 5:30 in the evening.