Goa whistleblower on cricket nepotism alleges victimisation

NDTV; December 30, 2010,

Panaji: A whistle-blower, who blew the lid off a Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) forgery and nepotism scandal involving a former top official and Congress legislator in Goa, has alleged that he is being victimised by the police.

Shekhar Salkar, who filed a first information report (FIR) against Goa Cricket Association (GCA) president and former deputy chief minister Dayanand Narvekar last week, has now written to state home minister Ravi Naik saying the police were acting at the behest of Narvekar.

"I had filed the complaint based on documents sourced under the Right to Information Act. Now, the police demand that I should submit the original documents, even before starting the investigation," Salkar told IANS.

Salkar, through an RTI Act-based investigation, established that Narvekar, a former vice president of the Indian cricket's apex body, had along with his wife, forged his son's birth certificate four times to enable him to play in state level under-15 tournaments.

The GCA member also accused the BCCI of letting Narvekar go scot free, despite being aware of the forgery.

In his letter to the home minister, he alleged that the "police were acting at the behest of Narvekar", Congress legislator from Aldona, and were intent on destroying the original copies of the evidence he had collected through a lot of leg work.

"I as a layman feel that the Constitution of India has given enough power to Investigating Officer to search any premises, including government and private, and gather documents which are needed to frame charges and prove them in the court of law," Salkar said in the letter dated Dec 29.

In a terse communication to Salkar Tuesday, the investigating police officials demanded that he should submit all the original copies of documents pertaining to the investigation to the Mapusa police station.

"It is ridiculous that the onus of submitting the original copies should be asked from the complainant," Salkar said, demanding that the case should be handed over to the Crime Branch for investigation.

Narvekar, meanwhile, has called the filing of the FIR against him as an act of political vendetta.

"The government has been overzealous in filing the FIR. How can they file a complaint of forgery against my son who was just two years old when the so-called forgery offence was committed?" Narvekar said.

Ruling out influencing of the probe, he said investigations would only go to prove his innocence.

‘State industrial units spewing venom’

Anupam Chakravartty: Indian Express; Fri Dec 31 2010,

Vododara : A Series of surprise checks carried out by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) this year has revealed a dismal scenario of the industrial units in Gujarat. Data gathered through a Right to Information (RTI) query by members of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti shows that not just effluent treatment facilities, even individual companies are flouting pollution control norms.

During a visit to a pesticide manufacturing unit of Bayer Cropscience in Ankleshwar on October 29, 2010, the CPCB team found that the unit had not fully complied with the directions despite facing a closure notice under the Environment Protection Act. The visit came in the wake of the death of a shift engineer, Vaibhav Saxena, during a toxic gas leak on March 11, 2010, after which his son R S Saxena made a representation to CPCB.

A report submitted by the Department of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH) to CPCB revealed that Saxena died at Agro Chem - IV (Ethoprophos plant) due to leakage of N-propyl Mercaptan (NPM) following a fire at the plant. Saxena’s death, the DISH report noted, was caused because he was single-handedly trying to control the leakage of 1,577 litres of NPM.

The CPCB team further found that Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) had through a notification on May 14, 2009 about ten months prior to the accident, asked the company to stop manufacturing Ethopropos, which uses the highly toxic chemical, NPM. In one of the recommendation, the company was also asked to install alarm systems to detect gas leaks. But the company had on January 16, 2010, requested GPCB to grant permission for manufacturing Ethopropanos as necessary improvements were made.

“The company had manufactured 191.2 metric tonnes of Ethopropanos in February and March 2010, but no prior permission from GPCB was taken for such a trial run,” CPCB said in its report, adding that the company officials paid about Rs 60 lakh as compensation to the family.

Visits to a pharmaceutical company, Alembic limited, revealed that the company was incinerating expired drugs in the open, in violation of GPCB norms, while effluent discharges continued even at the time of the team’s visit.

“GPCB has given zero discharge condition. As per consent, effluent should not go outside the factory premises or be disposed on land, therefore the question of compliance of standards and discharge of effluent doesn’t arise. The industry was observed to be using effluent for spraying on open land in the premises despite improvement from the scenario observed on March 25, 2008,” the CPCB report filed last month said. The pharmaceutical company was asked to pay a suitable amount of bank guarantee with a validity for a year.

A visit to Shiva Pharmachem and Kumar Organic Products in October 2010, following a complaint by one Kirit Amin of Farmers Action Group (FAG) of Luna village, revealed that their concerns were not properly represented at the time of issuing the No Objection Certificates.

“The concerns placed by FAG were unfairly represented in the annexure to the minutes of the hearing (on July 27, 2009), and hurriedly signed without explaining the content, opposition of villagers for granting EC to the industry,” the CPCB report said.

Shiva Pharmachem was asked not to manufacture products for which EC or No Objection Certificate was issued, while Kumar Organic Products was asked to build a site to store hazardous wastes as the unit did not have one. “The industry may be asked to manufacture products (as per EC/NOC) only after obtaining consent to operate, and was asked to discontinue the productions of such products,” said a CPCB official during the surprise check at Shiva Chemicals.

RTI shows the way to act

Gangadhar S Patil ; Express Buzz; Friday, December 31, 2010,

At 27, M C Chandan has completed his masters in social work but he isn’t really looking for a job. This native of Kodagu in Karnataka, is more interested in building a non-corrupt system which has also become a career option thanks to the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Indeed, people like Chandan all over the country are hard at work developing the right to information into a powerful tool for transparency.

Chandan comes from a rural background, so he knows first-hand the problems of graft. He has long dreamed of a just society, and the RTI Act gave his aspirations just the boost they needed. For the last four years he has filed nearly 4,500 applications on various subjects. He seems to have found his metier, and developed a distinct vision about corruption and ways to stem it. In the process, he has turned his vocation into a career.

Chandan is one of the early RTI entrepreneurs as he has designed a four-month course on corruption for community leaders and citizens. The course promises to equip the participants with the knowledge of how to use the RTI to fight corruption.

His weapon ? It is called the Association for Social Transparency, Rights and Action or ASTRA (meaning weapon in Sanskrit) a non-governmental organisation based in Karnataka. ASTRA provides training and technical assistance to government officials, and is proving to be a major money spinner. With an annual turnover of about Rs 30 lakh, he believes he is on to a good thing. “It will bring me respect and a new meaning to life.”

Chandan is a founding member and one of ASTRA’s five trustees.

Besides, 10 staff, it has 45 active members across the state. “With RTI gaining popularity and people discovering its power, I believe the course will have many takers,” he says. ASTRA’s income is used for its other programmes, such as social audits, the filing of RTIs and fact-finding reports.

He makes it clear that not everyone is charged. “We conduct seminars and conferences for people (ordinary citizens) free of cost.”

His work has brought Chandan instant recognition among thousands of villagers in about 13 districts, where ASTRA operates. His interest in exposing maladministration has accelerated, and officials are suddenly discovering they are accountable. Chandan doesn’t work alone. He has involved many youths across the state, forming a network for ethical governance whose members are taught to use RTI in their respective panchayats. This is empowerment from the grassroots, and if it takes off, will become an unstoppable force for transparency.

It is also an empowerment with political dividends as well. Some of these youths won in the recent panchayat election in Karnataka, Chandan says. A couple of them are now contesting the ongoing zilla and taluk panchayat polls in the state. Even its most optimistic supporters probably wouldn’t have expected the RTI to open the door to the political arena.

Take 32-year-old B Malangouda. He is one of the 10-member group which used the RTI to finger officials of Gorbal Panchayat in Raichur district for failing to implement government schemes. It’s helped his aspirations for a panchayat seat.

Viswa (26), another member of the group, has formal training in RTI. “Back in 2008, when we started with RTI, hardly anyone recognised us,” he recalls. Despite political pressure, they decided to go ahead with exposing the authorities. “Our image as likely leaders got enhanced”.

Viswanath J has completed 12th standard and works on his farm. “We have filed 25 RTIs to expose corruption in central government funded SGRY and Jal Nirmal Scheme,” he says. Now, the group is all set to contest zilla and taluk panchayat elections in Karnataka.

The story of P Dundappa is also instructive. His exposure of corruption in the public distribution system in his Kardiguddi village of Belgaum district made the 26-year-old a celebrity overnight, confident enough to contest the panchayat election. He lost the last one, but hopes to win this.

The Right to Information Act is more than a new law, because it seems to have created a band of inspired youths across the country, who have become the voice of the voiceless.

Krishnaraj Rao, a Mumbai-based freelance journalist, believes RTI has also given birth to what he calls non-electoral politics. It has provided common citizens an opening into “the system”, enabling them to understand governance and administration. He believes people can now influence the actions of government without entering the electoral arena.

In the era of coalition politics, he says the true meaning of “Opposition party” has been lost. Citizens using RTI are the only opposition now. “This is what RTI has given millions of Indians, a power they never had before,” he concludes.

Lawyer D Binu has another take on this phenomenon. Talking about his 15 years of experience in advocacy Binu (40), who practises in the Kerala High Court, says he has more cases than ever, which he attributes to RTI. “People are filing more cases on social issues. And the petitioners coming to me have substantial information obtained through RTI to back their cases.” On the side, he trains government officials on RTI, another source of income.

There seem to be more of these unexpected spinoffs than anyone foresaw. One is that several lawyers have taken up the cause of RTI full-time, one of them being A C Chandran of Chennai who quit the legal profession to work on RTI. So what’s the magic at work? Perhaps the fact that while all other Acts depend on administrative initiative, here it’s the citizens who do the work.

Krishna Raj believes RTI has triggered a grassroots movement against corruption which is largely leaderless and therefore quite robust and difficult to disrupt.

According to V Madhav, an activist from Chennai, RTI has brought together of a variety of socially conscious individuals, from businessmen, salaried employees, doctors, lawyers, students, to retired government servants into the fight against corruption. It is rapidly becoming a social movement, an independent reform initiative if you will.

“No other reform has kindled so much enthusiasm among ordinary people,” says Madhav. By making citizens responsible for enforcing transparency the Right to Information Act is being honed into a tool for social transformation. - gangadharpb@gmail.com

A boost to activism:

It took eight years to expose the Telgi fake stamp paper scam, which cost the exchequer a staggering Rs 33,000 crores. Jayant Mukund Tinekar of Khanapur, north Karnataka, who started digging up the issue in 1994, succeeded only in 2003. Sharing his experience he said, “although I did not have RTI at that time, I was lucky to have some reliable and sincere government officials, who supplied the required documents to expose the scam.” With RTI it wold have been much faster. The Adarsh housing society scam was exposed in four months.

JN Jayashree, a Bangalore based social activist, puts it this way. “Before the RTI Act we had to convince our elected representative to raise the issue in assembly or parliament. Today, a citizen can obtain the information without anyone’s assistance.”

A bit of tweaking:

The going might get difficult for RTI lovers as there is another attempt from the government to tame the Right to Information Act. While some believe that the time is not ripe for amending RTI, some argue the urgent need to regulate supply of information in the interest of government. The initial years of every law are seldom peaceful and orderly. It slowly takes shape as it moves, encountering various twists and turns facing judicial interpretation.

l Application should relate to one subject; 2 Request should limit to 250 words; 3 Postage and other expense incurred for furnishing information would be collected from applicant.

Misusing the act: a reality check:

It’s not all roses, as many people say RTI is misused by officials to settle personal scores. C J Karira of Hyderabad, who runs a RTI web portal, says that this is because the grievance redressal mechanism in the government is weak, biased and slow. One of the most interesting cases of misuse was reported in Maharastra, where a below-poverty-line citizen would seek information running into thousands of pages, since it is free for BPL family. It is alleged that he sold the information as waste paper for money. Some information officers complain about requests for unnecessary data, but Karira says this can be dealt with through the provision available in the Act.

Civil hospital under scanner for wasting units of blood

Raakhi Jagga: Indian Express; Fri Dec 31 2010,

Ludhiana : Rights panel registers complaint against hospital for not using 358 units

The Punjab State Human Rights Commission has registered a complaint against the local civil hospital for not using 358 units of blood in 2008 and 2009. These units were destroyed by the blood bank because they had crossed the expiry date.

The piece of information was furnished by the blood bank in response to an RTI application filed by activist Arvind Sharma last month. According to the response, a total of 257 blood units had expired in 2008 and 101 in 2009 and hence they were not fit for transfusion.

Sharma, however, alleged: “The civil hospital often denies blood to patients, and they destroyed so many units because they were not able to properly freeze them. In 2008, dengue fever had gripped the city. Why was the blood not used for platelet transfusion at that time?” The commission has asked the director general, health and family welfare, to submit a detailed report before April 1, 2011, the date of hearing. The order has been passed by Justices L R Roojam and K K Bhatnagar.

The civil hospital has four refrigerators, which can store more than 1,000 blood units. Sources said the refrigerator remained out of order at times, which could be the reason for lack of proper storage of blood.

“Donors give their blood with a motive to help the needy patients. This is inhuman to waste this blood by not storing it properly,” said Sharma.

NGOs received over Rs 28,000 cr in three years

Indian Express: Thu Dec 30 2010,

New Delhi : More than Rs 28,000 crore was received by several non-government organisations in the country from foreign nations between 2005 and 2008.

In reply to an RTI query, the Home Ministry said a total of Rs 28,878 crore was given to 56,362 NGOs and self help groups under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976.

A highest of Rs 11,336.97 crore was given to 18,996 NGOs during 2006-07 followed by Rs 9,663.46 crore to 18,796 and Rs 7,877.57 crore to 18,570 association in 2007-08 and 2005-06 respectively, it said.

"The information regarding foreign contribution received by the registered Associations for the year 2008-09 is being compiled," the reply said.

As per norms, an NGO can receive grant under foreign contribution by either obtaining prior permission from the Central Government or by registering the association under FCRA.

Exercising his Right to Information, Ashwini Shrivastava had asked information on complaints of irregularities received by the Home Ministry in grant of foreign aid to NGOs and details of amounts received by them.

The Ministry denied to disclose information related to complaints against irregularities in receiving financial help from foreign countries.

"As regard receipt of complaints against Associations details thereof, for the periods from 2005 to date, it is informed that in terms of Section 7 (9) of the RTI Act, 2005 it may not be possible to undertake such exercise as it would disproportionately divert the resource of the public authority," the reply said.

According to the Section, "An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question".

NRI Sabha must answer RTI queries

Jasneet Bindra: Fri Dec 31 2010,

Chandigarh : Information commission finds state control over the sabha is extensive and intrusive; rules it is a public authority

The Punjab Chief Minister is its chief patron and various government officials control its affairs, yet the NRI Sabha had declined information under the RTI Act on the plea that it was “not a public authority, but a private NGO formed for welfare of NRIs”. Setting aside this argument, a full bench of the Punjab State Information Commission, comprising CIC RI Singh and SICs, PPS Gill and SIC DS Kahlon, today ruled that the sabha was covered under the RTI Act.

The bench observed, “A plain reading of the constitution of the NRI Sabha shows that government officials at all levels of the organisation play an important role in decision making. They virtually run the affairs of the sabha. The role of the government is not only advisory or of a facilitator, but its control is ‘extensive and intrusive’. The government officials also play a key role in the formation of the sabha and its registration under the Societies Registration Act.”

The decision was taken while hearing the case of Jasvir Singh of Jalandhar, who had moved the commission after he was denied information by the sabha last May. He pleaded that NRI Sabha was a public authority, as it was being run by government officials, and receives substantial financial assistance from the state.

In support of this contention, he placed on record a copy of the constitution of the sabha, the first page of which said, “Constitution of NRI Sabha, Punjab (a society registered with the approval of Govt. of Punjab)”. The CM is the chief patron of the sabha and enjoys the powers to nominate five persons to the international board of governors and as many to the state advisory board.

At the division level, Divisional Commissioner or the NRI Commissioner of the state is the chairman. He enjoys the powers to suspend or nullify any resolution of the executive body, and the executive director of the sabha is answerable to him. The sabha’s district and tehsil units are headed by deputy commissioners and SDMs, respectively. The constitution says that the organisation’s objective is to act as “an agency of state government for promoting the welfare of Punjabi NRIs”. Lastly, it was argued that if the sabha was to be wound up, all its assets would vest with the state government.

Jasvir said the government gives grant for NRI-sponsored community welfare projects, implying that the sabha was substantially funded by the state. The respondent, on the other hand, argued that they do not receive money from the government, rather the grant was provided to NRIs who contribute 25 per cent of the funds. About the CM being the patron or other government officials being on various bodies of the sabha, it was pleaded that they were only symbolic figures without any powers and do not exercise any control. The respondent said the sabha was a private registered society run and managed by NRIs.

After hearing both parties and examining the record, the bench said the contention of the respondent that NRI Sabha does not receive any funds from the state government appears to be correct. However, coming to the issue of state control, the bench observed, “The inescapable conclusion is that the government exercises direct effective control over the sabha and its affairs. This control falls within the scope of the RTI Act, and therefore, the respondent is a public authority.” The respondent was directed to give information within 15 days.

Riot relief scam: Watchdog moves HC for CBI probe

Express India: Dec 29, 2010,

The All Indian Anti Corruption and Human Rights Watch (AIACHRW) has moved the Gujarat High Court (HC) demanding a CBI probe in the Panderwada riot relief scam. First reported by The Indian Express, the scam relates to embezzlement of relief money meant for the victims of the 2002 post-Godhra riots. AIACHRW has accessed details and figures of the embezzlement through an RTI query.

On Monday, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Balwant Singh, personally appeared before HC Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhaya after AIACHRW alleged that slow departmental proceedings was delaying justice and compensation to the survivors and kin of the riot victims.

The Panchmahals collector had conducted an investigation and had filed a police complaint against 14 people from Khanpur taluka of the district, including a Deputy District Development Officer now serving in Vadodara, in this connection. The then Circle Inspector R P Sanghani, who was handling the probe, had estimated the scam in excess of Rs 4 crore. But the Panchmahals district administration submitted to the HC that the embezzlement was around Rs 1.38 crore, and that some 238 claims for compensation were actually bogus. Incidentally, Sanghani, was transferred to Vadodara midway through the probe.

When The Indian Express contacted the Khanpur police station on Tuesday, officers said one of the key accused, Ghulam Kharadi, is still absconding. Kharadi, the police said, had escaped with cheques worth Rs 92 lakh, which he later encashed with the help of some bank officials in Lunawada by producing fake identity cards.

Incidentally, Kharadi is also named in separate FIRs filed against former Citizen for Justice and Peace aide Rais Khan and 10 others for digging up the graves of the Panderwada victims in 2004. Panderwada village sarpanch Anil Modi, now an elected member of the Khanpur taluka, has secured bail along with the other accused government officials.

AIACHRW observer J B Panasarea said in his affidavit on Tuesday: “What has been found so far by the local police is just the tip of the iceberg, and if investigation is done by the economic cell of agencies such as CBI or even CID, the entire rot can be unearthed not only in Khanpur, but all over Gujarat.”

राष्ट्रपति भवन : RTI के अधिकार क्षेत्र से बाहर ?

Prabhat Khabar; Thursday, December 30, 2010,

नयी दिल्ली : क्या राष्ट्रपति या उनके कार्यालय से जुडा संवाद सूचना के अधिकार अधिनियम की परिधि से बाहर है? राष्ट्रपति सचिवालय ने इस प्रकार के संवाद का खुलासा करना ‘संरक्षित’ करार देते हुए दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय के समक्ष एक याचिका में केन्द्रीय सूचना आयोग (सीआईसी) के निर्देश को चुनौती दी है, जिसमें उन्होंने पद्म पुरस्कार को लेकर तत्कालीन राष्ट्रपति एपीजे अब्दुल कलाम और प्रधानमंत्री अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी के बीच हुए संवाद का खुलासा करने को कहा है.

सचिवालय ने अपनी याचिका में कहा है, ‘‘कानून का यह मुद्दा राष्ट्रपति सचिवालय या राष्ट्रपति द्वारा होने वाले संवाद से जुडा है, कि क्या इस प्रकार के संवाद, सामग्री और सूचनाओं को संविधान के अनुच्छेद 74 से संरक्षित हैं या क्या सूचना का अधिकार अधिनियम, 2005 की शर्तों के तहत खुलासा करने के लिए मुक्त हैं.’’

Leaky power lines bleed Punjab, Haryana of crores

Chitleen K Sethi: Express India; Dec 29, 2010,

Chandigarh Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are losing power worth crores in transmission and distribution. Haryana tops the three states averaging a 30 per cent loss each year in the past 10 years.

Information gathered through an RTI query regarding the transmission and distribution (T&D) losses for the three states has revealed how Haryana and Punjab lost energy worth at least Rs 4,500 crore in the past one year on account of line losses and power theft.

While 10 to 15 per cent loss is considered to be normal and termed as “technical” component of the T&D losses, the “commercial” loss in the form of power theft, meter tampering, defective meters, meter reading errors and un-metered supply seems to be going unchecked in Haryana and Punjab.

In the past 10 years, Haryana has remained on the top of the the list in the set of RTI findings with the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitaran Nigam (UHBVN) registering T&D loss ranging from 26 per cent to 34 per cent since 2001.

Haryana hit a low in 2002-3 with a 34 per cent loss but showed consistent improvement in the past few years when the losses have hovered around 26 per cent.

Arun Kumar, MD, UHBVN says Haryana’s losses are on the higher side as compared to its neighbouring states as technical losses account for almost twenty per cent of the total annual losses. “This is mainly due to poor infrastructure. Where the quality of the conductors and transformers is bad the losses are high. Also at many places the length of the feeder is over 20 kilometers and it becomes difficult to check leakages,” he adds.

Punjab comes next on the list. The losses in the past ten years have ranged from 26 per cent to 20 per cent. “The technical losses are between 12 to 14 per cent and these depend on the load mix. In case of agriculture supply, where the LT lines are very long, technical losses are even higher,” says Anurag Aggarwal, MD, Punjab State Transmission Corporation.

Sources however point out that in Punjab technical losses account for only eight per cent of the total with four per cent losses in generation and another four per cent in transmission. Most of the losses in Punjab are commercial due to theft going unchecked.

“In Punjab, every per cent energy loss means a loss of Rs 90 crore calculated at the power tariff of 2009-2010. At 20 per cent average loss in the past 10 years Punjab has lost out on energy which is today worth Rs 20,000 crore,” points out HC Arora, the RTI activist who gathered this information.

Interestingly the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) was also found to be twisting figures to project reduced T&D losses. A report of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission stated, “Till 1999-2000 PSEB had been presenting T&D losses at about 17-18 per cent purely on the basis of their own assumption. A considerable percentage (about 14-15 per cent) of losses were being shown as agricultural consumption.” The report added that actually the T&D losses for that year worked out to be about 30.80 per cent. “In the current state of affairs, consumption by agricultural pumpsets and T&D losses are two sides of the same coin. If we notionally reduce one, the other will increase,” stated the report of 2002.

Both states, it seems, are also grappling with unbridled commercial losses. In both Punjab and Haryana meters are being shifted outside the premises and old electro-mechanical meters are being replaced with new ones to check theft.

Himachal Pradesh has much to cheer about as the state has managed to bring down its T&D losses from 26 per cent in 2001-2002 to14 per cent in 2009-10.

Jaitapur project promoters can't buy off villagers: study

Meena Menon; The Hindu; MUMBAI, December 29, 2010,

It will be a mistake to construe the people's struggle against the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project as an agitation for higher compensation, says a social impact assessment report prepared by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

A majority strongly believe that the project will harm their environment and lives. The people are insecure about the location of nuclear plants in seismic areas, fearing they may lead to a major catastrophe, the report says.

In the first assessment of its kind of the project, the report says higher compensation and better packages will not pacify villagers. A large part of the land planned to be acquired at Madban in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district is being used for farming and grazing. With government support, horticulturists have spent lakhs on making the land cultivable.

Lack of transparency

Another matter of concern is the lack of transparency on the part of the government and the company that is going to execute the project. The issues are much more complex and the people's concerns raise some fundamental questions about the so-called ‘development,' the report notes.

Mahesh Kamble, assistant professor and officiating chair of the Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which has prepared the report at the behest of two people's organisations, says the report was ready by November. A copy was sent to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan a few days ago, but there is no communication from his office.

Mr. Chavan has announced plans to visit Jaitapur to convince the people of the need for the project, but Mr. Kamble feels this is not the right approach: he wants the project halted, and Mr. Chavan to understand what the people's concerns are instead of pushing for it.

Calling for a participatory method of studying impact, the report says the concerns at the development model and social equity have to be addressed. Among the key issues that are not addressed includes the fact that the region falls in seismic zone three a fact acknowledged even by the government. All seven villages studied have frequently experienced minor seismic activities. One of the 123 villagers interviewed for the report sought, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, data on the frequency and severity of the seismic activities over the years. But there was no response to any of his queries.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), in charge of the project, has denied that it is a seismic area. According to an activist of the region, the report of the Vengurlekar Committee, submitted in 1972, sets forth the criteria for establishing nuclear reactors in seismic regions. Reactors can be set up only in seismic zones one and two.

The government had proposed a baseline survey for the social impact assessment and rehabilitation to be carried out by the Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (YASHADA), but the study has not yet started what with local protests. The final Environmental Impact Assessment is not available to the people; there is no information either on a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA), the report points out. The people believe that the government is rushing the project through without proper impact assessments.

The report says the people's concerns are related to the project's possible impact on their health, livelihoods and environment, and their lack of faith in the government is evident. Instead of a conventional rehabilitation package, the report notes, the government could think of some innovative ways by making the people “partners” or shareholders in the project. The main occupations of the people in the area are farming and horticulture, especially mangoes and cashew, besides fishing. According to the report, the NPCIL said that of the 938 hectares acquired mainly in the villages of Madban, Mithgavane, Karel, Warilwada and Niveli, 626.527 hectares is non-productive. But the people maintain that this land is used for horticulture and rice cultivation, and as pasture. The data secured under the RTI Act showed that the government paid out Rs. 1,37,07,000 in compensation for the loss of mango production in the 2007 floods. In the Rajapur block, which includes Madban, Karel, Mithgavane, and Niveli, 33,283 farmers received compensation again in 2009.

The likely impact of the project on health is one of the prime concerns of the villagers. People are aware of Hiroshima, Chernobyl, Pokhran and Jadugoda, where radiation is believed to have harmed the people's health and the environment.

There are fears of damage to the environment, too. The area lies in the Konkan belt that boasts a long seashore, creeks and dense deciduous forests, with more than 150 species of birds and 300 species of plants. Some rare species of birds and plants are on the verge of extinction. There are concerns at the cumulative impact of the more than 12 power plants proposed on the coastline. The region borders the tourism district of Sindhudurg; Ratnagiri has been declared a ‘horticultural district' by the State government.

The people are also afraid that the project will have a negative impact on fishing: heated water disgorged by the plant will impact the catch, forcing fishermen to migrate.

The experience from the other mega projects around the area in the past is an important factor that has led to protests against the Jaitapur project. The people expect the government to explore renewable and alternative sources of power such as tidal and wind energy, the report says.

But a small minority supports the project, but it too is not convinced that the health and livelihood of those living in the area would not be harmed. It believes that a mega project will have the potential to spark development in an underdeveloped Jaitapur.

Students can access question papers of competitive exams

Hindustan Times; New Delhi, December 30, 2010,

In a significant ruling on Wednesday, the Delhi high court said students appearing for competitive exams at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) can access the certified copies of old question papers.

The judgment becomes important as students appearing for IIT-JEE, CAT and other such exams can also site it as a precedent and get access to question papers, which are till now barred.

“Unless the public authority (AIIMS) is able to show that the information sought is exempted from disclosure under RTI, the information sought is required to be disclosed to the applicant,” said justice S Muralidhar, dismissing an appeal filed by AIIMS, which challenged a Central Information Commission order asking it to provide certified copies of the question papers to one Vikrant Bhuria.

AIIMS had challenged the order, saying question papers are its “intellectual property” and that the larger public interest does not warrant their disclosure. It said many experts had contributed their time and expertise to develop the question bank and it should be "considered as having been given to the students by such experts in confidence".

The court said the grounds raised by AIIMS for denying the questions papers to aspiring students are tenable in law.

Law Commission file missing from govt custody

Panaji, Dec 28 2010(IBNS)

In a revelation that would put Goa Government to embarrassment, the appointment file of the Goa State Law Commission Chairman Ramakant Khalap has gone missing from the Secretariat.

In a reply under Right To Information (RTI) to social activist Advocate Aires Rodrigues, the law department said that efforts are made to locate the missing file.

The law department has informed the advocate that they have issued a circular to heads of all departments to check out whether the file had inadvertently been received by their department.

“We have requested the departments to return back the file, if it has reached them inadvertently,” the RTI reply reads.

Adv Rodrigues has, however, demanded a thorough probe into the disappearance despite there being a computerized File Management System in place.

“Is this the Goa Law Commission or the Congress Law Commission?” he questioned, stating that Khalap being a former Law Minister is not a qualification or criteria for heading the State Law Commission.

Rodrigues has also stated that it was shocking that a total expenditure of a whopping

Rs 42, 03, 029 was incurred by the Goa Government on the Law Commission from April 2009 to Nov 2010.

Reacting to the missing file, Khalap said that a police complaint should immediately be registered.

“A police complaint has to be registered into the missing file. It’s not a contract or promotion of any kind…the documents should be made available for public scrutiny,” he said.

Major Initiatives of Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions During 2010

PIB: Wednesday, December 29, 2010,

The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions took several new initiatives during 2010 for raising the efficiency of bureaucracy and better service delivery mechanisms. Steps were taken towards capacity building and strengthening of the historic Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. Major policy initiatives taken by the Ministry are as under:

Whistleblowers’ Bill tabled in Lok Sabha

The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons making the Disclosure Bill, 2010, (commonly known as Whistleblowers’ Bill) was tabled in the Lok Sabha. The bill is presently under examination with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice.

The Bill provides for adequate protection to the persons reporting corruption or wilful misuse of power or wilful misuse of discretion which causes demonstrable loss to the government or commission of a criminal offence by a public servant. The identity of the complainant is kept secret. It also provides punishment for revealing the identity of a complainant, negligently or malafidely.

Steps to Strengthen RTI Act 

1. A new Central Sector Scheme on ‘Improving Transparency and Accountability in Government Through Effective Implementation on RTI Act’ has been approved. The scheme aims at Awareness Generation and Capacity Building of Stakeholders. Draft RTI Amendment Rules have been posted in the website persmin.nic.in for seeking comments finalising the same.
2. The provisions related to RTI applications received by a public authority regarding information concerning other public authority/authorities have been clarified.
3. 35000 RTI Posters on Regional Languages i.e. Bangla, English, Marathi, Oriya, Kanada and Malayalam were displayed in Regional Post Offices.

RTI Logo & RTI Portal launched

Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) launched RTI logo & RTI portal with a view to give this historic legislation an iconic symbol and one stop knowledge bank for information seekers. The simple and iconic logo represents people’s empowerment through transfer and accountability in Governance. The logo’s shape and structure make it easy to remember, recall and replicate with minimal distortion.

In the last five years the RTI regime has heralded a regime of transparency and accountability and strengthened the democratic structure of the country. Success stories of citizens using the RTI Act abound. The Act has achieved great success in empowering the citizens of India. However it was felt that the core values of the RTI regime Empowerment, Transparency and Accountability- need to be given a shape in the form of a logo. The logo would be displayed at all public authorities and will be used in various communications related to RTI.

The Right to Information Portal www.rtigateway.org.in is one stop knowledge bank for information seekers, information providers, trainers, Information Commissions, students and academicians. It provides for a digital library, discussion fora, e- newsletter and a blog.

CIC wants to know rules for action against dowry seekers

DNA; Mayank Aggarwal; Thursday, December 30, 2010,

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked Andhra Bank to disclose if they have any rules under which action can be taken against an employee for giving or encouraging giving dowry.

The direction came after one Surendra Myneni sought information regarding property details of his father-in-law, an employee with the same bank, using the Right to Information (RTI) Act. But when the bank denied information, he approached the CIC.

“We have consistently held that the property returns filed by an employee are in the nature of personal information and cannot be disclosed unless it would serve a larger public interest,” information commissioner Satyananda Mishra said.

Myneni had also sought information relating to the disciplinary proceedings against the same employee. On which, Mishra said: “Information regarding the disciplinary proceedings or departmental action against the employeescannot be classified as personal. Therefore, we direct the CPIO [Andhra Bank] to provide to the appellant a photocopy of the entire file regarding any action taken against the said employee. We also direct the CPIO to provide to the appellant the copy of the relevant rules, if any, under which action can be taken against an employee for giving or encouraging giving of dowry,” Mishra said.

Info panel fines 519 officials

TNN, Dec 30, 2010,

BANGALORE: Babus who sought to muzzle information are being made to pay up. The Karnataka Information Commission (KIC) has slapped a total fine of Rs 22,69,750 on 519 officials, for holding back facts.

Besides, 133 officers were asked to compensate applicants for troubling them and not providing the information needed. The KIC balance sheet for 2010 shows that of a total of 15,886 applications received, only 6,960 applications were disposed of.

The 519 officers who have to pay up costs include first division assistants, secretaries of gram panchayats, tahsildars, commercial tax officers, university registrars, law officers, revenue officers of various civic bodies, engineers and a few IAS officers. The cost ranged from Rs 250 to Rs 25,000.

"We have imposed cost on erring officials. We have also recommended a departmental enquiry against those officials in many of the cases," H N Krishna, information commissioner, told reporters at the inauguration of the their new SMS service, which comes into effect from the New Year.

"It is a good sign that the number of applications under RTI are increasing, with more and more responses from rural people. There is no formal RTI application. All you have to do is write on a piece of white paper, give your name and address along with your signature and a DD/PO/MO for Rs 10. If the officer concerned has the information, he has to give it within 30 days, if the information is not available with him and is available elsewhere, the officer has to forward the application there within five days. You can seek information about the PMO before a DC in Tumkur," Krishna explained.

He also said that KIC had conducted sittings in five districts and dealt with 1,059 cases, apart from conducting proceedings via video conferencing facility, where 18 cases were heard.

To avail SMS facility, an RTI applicant has to mention his mobile number along with the application. The KIC would be sending three messages (free of cost), case number assigned to that particular complaint/application, when it is listed for hearing, and when it is disposed of, all free of cost. For the status of the case when it has been adjourned, an applicant has to send a message to the number 9212357123.

Type KICKSTAT(one space)Case number

For example: KICKSTAT KIC10877PTN2010 and send to 9212357123.

Think twice before you blow the whistle on someone

DNA; Rakshita Adyanthaya; Bangalore; Wednesday, December 29, 2010,

Fighting for citizen rights can turn a tad ugly. So it is wise to be on your guard while pointing fingers at something, or somebody. A family of RTI activists had to suffer abuses and assaults when they accused a school of illegal functioning.

Brothers Uday Shankar and Dharmapalya were beaten black and blue by the DJ Halli police on December 16 when they filed an RTI, suggesting the illegal functioning of Amar English School.

They incriminated the school of cheating the government, which even led to the harassment of their 67-year-old mother and 75-year-old uncle.

On May 10, Uday sought details about Amar English School located in DJ Halli, Survey No 4. The response from RTI ran thus: The town planning department had not sanctioned any plan for the construction of any school and there were no details available with the department regarding the school.

However, the school followed its routine, forcing Uday to send out another complaint on December 10.

The brothers sought an RTI response. On December 14, a notice was sent to Anser Pasha of the school, which read thus: It has come to the notice of BBMP, KG Halli sub-division that you have constructed the building premise No 307/1, Survey No 4, Muniramappa Block, DJ Halli.

You are directed to produce the sanction plan immediately within three days, failing which it is presumed the building construction is unauthorised and action will be taken to demolish the building as per KMC Act 1976.

Till December 15, all was well in the activists’ household. Trouble began the day Anser signed the notice. “At 9.45 am, a Hoysala jeep with two constables asked us to accompany them. They said DJ Halli police inspector BV Pradeep wanted to meet us. We said we will follow them in our car, as we are not thieves to sit in their jeep. Around 11.45 am, the inspector came to the station and abused us. He dragged my mother and uncle out of the station and booted her.” The victim, in 2001, was felicitated by the government when her husband was awarded the prestigious Kempe Gowda award for the best dog trainer.

Dharma Gowda said, “They put us in the lock-up for a while and then in a room where we were tied and gagged. The inspector and four other constables started hitting my feet and vigorously dipped my swollen feet into a tub of hot water.”

Uday however escaped torture as he had just recovered from an appendicitis operation. He said, “When they came to hit me, my brother said I would die as I had just been operated.”

Only when the family sought help from the higher ups, they were freed at 2 pm. A complaint was sent to DCP Chandra Shekar and ACP B B Ashok Kumar.

The brothers have now registered a case with the State Human Rights Commission and the DG and IGP who have accepted the complaint and are yet to take any action.

New info commissioner acts tough, keeps fining defaulting officers

DNA; Ashutosh Shukla; Thursday, December 30, 2010,

Here is some good news for RTI activists who plead with the information commissioner to be strict with defaulting public information officers (PIOs). Chief information commissioner Vilas Patil, who started his hearings from November 11, has already fined Rs1.20 lakh and asked for a departmental enquiry to be initiated against some such officers who default in giving out information.

Patil who was earlier the information commissioner of Nagpur took oath of office here in October. Though he said his priority was reducing pendency, in his earlier job too he had fined more PIOs as compared to any other commissioner.

Activists often said that since PIOs made light of the Act, a large number of appeals came to the commission. This, in fact, was the result of lack of fining, they claimed.

Until December 24, from the 270 second appeal hearings held by Patil, he pulled up 50 PIOs. At least 8% of 270 officers has either been fined or asked why fine should not be imposed on them. Directives for disciplinary action were given to eight of them. Most of the penatly was against officers of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The maximum fine imposed by the commissioner was of Rs10,000 and the maximum compensation provided to an applicant was Rs10,000.

“Fining officers will make functioning more systematic. These fines need to be included in the annual confidential report of the officers. That would hinder the promotion of the officers. The directives that are given should be marked to the head of the public authority so that he knows the lacunae in the functioning,” said Bhaskar Prabhu, an RTI activist.

Activists target Punjab information panel's decisions

Chandigarh, Dec 29 (IANS)

Upset over the manner in which the Punjab Information Commission works, a group of Right to Information (RTI) activists here is all set to bring out a book highlighting a hundred of its 'ridiculous' decisions. The chief information commissioner has refuted their charges.

Punjab's RTI activists' federation has accused state Chief Information Commissioner R.I. Singh of favouring government officials by not disclosing information about their misdeeds.

'We have sent written appeals, memorandums and even staged protests outside the office of the information commissioner but nothing fruitful has come out,' federation's president H.C. Arora told IANS.

'We have hundreds of cases with us, with all proof about illogical decisions of the commission,' he added.

'There are several cases where the commission straightaway declined to provide information by citing illegitimate reasons. So we have decided to publish a book, 'One hundred ridiculous decisions of Punjab state information commission',' he said.

Arora said the book will be sent to Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil and all high court judges in the country.

'The book will be published by the end of January 2011. We will present it to the Punjab governor and also to all information commissioners as well as high court judges across the country,' he said.

The RTI activists' federation has also urged that 'more competent individuals' from different walks of life and with proven track records be appointed as information commissioners in the state.

'Retired IAS (Indian Administrative Service) and police officers should not be appointed as information commissioners as most of them are biased and incompetent,' Arora asserted.

'Some prominent RTI or human rights activists and individuals with high integrity should be appointed as information commissioners,' he added.

The state's RTI activists' federation was constituted in June 2009. It has over 900 members across the state.

Federation secretary Anil Vashisht said some information commissioners were manipulating the log books of official cars through their drivers.

'They are showing travel of about 50-60 km even on Saturdays and Sundays and on other holidays. But in reality, they usually do not sit in their office for more than two or three hours, and that too for only two or three days in a week,' Vashisht said.

But Punjab's chief information commissioner, who is a retired IAS officer, denied the charges.

'I do not understand the reason behind all this protest. I am always available in my office and anybody can meet me any time. If they have any problem, they can discuss it with me,' said Singh, who has served as chief secretary, Punjab, and retired from the post of secretary, government of India.

'Earlier they had submitted a memorandum of their demands and accordingly I had sent my recommendations to the Punjab governor,' he added.

'We are working in a very transparent manner and every information is displayed on our websites and notice boards. If any information commissioner is not abiding the law, they can register a complaint with me. We have always provided information to the applicants as per the law of our country,' Singh told IANS.

Rule and intent: The Central government's newly proposed RTI rules make its intentions suspect.

V. VENKATESAN; Frontline; New Delhi; Volume 28 - Issue 01: Jan. 01-14, 2011

An activist of the Jammu and Kashmir RTI movement speaks at an awareness programme on December 19.

GOVERNMENTS which have only superficial commitment to the promotion of human rights often come under considerable pressure from within to impose stealthily restrictions on their exercise. They try to introduce such restrictions without much publicity, seek to execute them in a tearing hurry, and couch them in legal jargon. The Central government's proposal to notify the Right to Information (RTI) Rules is one such instance of acquiescence to bureaucratic pressure. There has been considerable pressure to curtail the ambit of the RTI Act, 2005, which is hailed as one of the progressive legislative achievements of civil society.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), under the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, sought to notify the rules through an Office Memorandum on December 10, ironically celebrated as International Human Rights Day. Signed by R.K. Girdhar, Under Secretary of the Department, the memorandum proposed to notify the rules in supersession of the existing rules, namely, the RTI (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005, and the Central Information Commission (Appeal Procedure) Rules, 2005. It gave civil society just 17 days to respond to the proposed rules, without indicating whether the comments would be taken into consideration.

The draft notification of the rules, signed by Joint Secretary Rajeev Kapoor, has raised considerable concern among RTI activists and users.

WORD LIMIT

The proviso to Rule 4, which deals with request for information, says the request shall relate only to one subject matter and shall be limited to 250 words, excluding the addresses of the Central Public Information Officer and the applicant.

The proviso has caused widespread consternation. An observer remarked that it was like asking one to speak in only so many words before even he or she could begin talking. Another wondered whether the government viewed RTI as nothing more than a social medium like Twitter, which imposes a 140-character limit on entries. RTI applicants question whether the proposed change is a ruse to evade accountability and reject applications for want of clarity, as this is bound to happen in view of the word limit permitted and the requirement that the application be limited to one subject. The proviso, it is believed, will give Information Officers wide discretion to decide whether an application deals with more than one subject and reject it summarily for that reason.

It has been pointed out that there are very few applicants who misuse the provisions of the RTI Act by posing a large number of questions in one application, but the Information Officers enjoy enough powers to reject such applications or request the applicants to prioritise their questions. It is suggested that applications in different languages entail distinct word usage; therefore, it will be impractical to impose a uniform word length. RTI activists are concerned that the requirement to write brief applications will demand linguistic skills, which will discourage, if not disqualify, semi-literate people from using the RTI Act.

The proposed Rule 5, dealing with fees for providing information, has also stirred up a controversy. Rule 5(g) states that one could be charged the actual amount spent by the public authority on hiring a machine or any other equipment to supply information. Rule 5(h) requires the public authorities to collect postal charges, in excess of Rs.10, involved in the supply of information. These rules, some activists say, could result in harassment of applicants, apart from restricting the number of applicants by unjustly hiking the cost of an application.

Rule 16, which states that the proceedings pending before the Central Information Commission shall abate on the death of the appellant, has also come in for criticism. RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak argues that appeal proceedings are about the violation of the RTI Act and, therefore, Information Commissions should continue to hear cases even after an appellant's death. Besides, there is the risk that RTI applicants seeking to expose corruption and wrongdoing could be killed by vested interests in order to stop the pending proceedings before the commission, he has warned. The rule appears to accord inadvertently a legal sanction to the spate of murders of RTI activists across the country.

Rule 19 requires that the head of a public authority shall ensure that an order passed by the Information Commission, unless varied or stayed by a validly passed order, is complied with and the compliance report filed with the commission within the time limit specified by the commission, or within 60 days if no such limit is specified. RTI activists suggest that the rules should also lay down punitive action to be taken against public authorities who fail to comply with the commission's orders.

As the government has not explained why these changes are required in the administration of the RTI Act, it has given rise to speculations about its intentions. According to RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, these rules constitute a major policy change and are against the letter and spirit of the RTI Act.

Other activists, such as Lokesh Batra, are surprised that the government has not thought it necessary to explain, through a press release, the reasons for the formulation of these rules. By asking the public to respond to an e-mail ID (usrti-dopt@nic.in) by December 27, the government has deprived RTI users who are not Internet savvy of an opportunity to respond, Batra says. He also suspects that the rules seek to introduce complicated procedures, which may discourage people from all sections from voluntarily joining the RTI movement.

In its draft notification of the rules, the government has claimed that it drew its powers to notify the rules from Section 27 of the RTI Act. Subsection 1 of Section 27 enables the Central government, by notification in the Official Gazette, to make rules to carry out the provisions of the Act.

Subsection 2 seeks to enumerate matters that such rules may provide for. These matters include fee payable by the applicants, salaries and allowances of employees, and the procedure to be adopted by the commission in deciding the appeals.

Besides these, Subsection 2(f) includes “any other matter which is required to be, or may be, prescribed”. It is apparent that the government will seek to justify some of the controversial rules in terms of Section 27 (2)(f). It is, therefore, incumbent on the government to justify whether the changes in the existing rules are indeed “required to be prescribed”.

If there is no valid requirement to do so, then the government must explain whether the proposed rules are the only possible way to implement the Act. Failure to provide justifications will make the notification of the rules illegal. Section 4(1)(c) of the RTI Act requires the government to publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing decisions that affect the public.

Political heavyweights, RTI hog limelight in 2010 in Delhi HC

Indian Express: Wed Dec 29 2010,

New Delhi : Efforts to expand the ambit of the RTI law in various public institutions culminated into a path-breaking judgement in 2010 by the Delhi High Court which held that the CJI's office was amenable under the transparency law to provide information on judges' assets.

The high court's verdict, in the very first fortnight of the year, ordering disclosure of the apex court judges' assets came as a blow to erstwhile Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, who wanted to keep the CJI's office out of the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005 on the grounds of judicial independence and autonomy.

Stung by the high court's verdict for disclosure of its judges' assets, the apex court went on to have it challenged before itself and is currently adjudicating it, sitting in the judgement over its own cause.

Observing that judicial independence is not a judge's personal privilege but a responsibility cast upon him, the high court had dismissed the Supreme Court's appeal against its September 2009 ruling which had sought to bring CJI's office within the purview of the RTI Act.

As legal luminaries and civil societies hailed the high court's ruling to include CJI's office in the RTI's Act as "path-breaking", an emboldened Delhi High Court went on to cast the net of the transparency law wider over, allowing public scrutiny of the functioning of the stock markets and other economic institutions.

The high court held the stock exchanges, Industrial Finance Corporation of India Ltd (IFCI), National Agricultural Cooperative Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) as public authorities, bound to disclose various information under the the transparency law..........

Invoke section 17 of RTI act to remove Tiwari

TNN, Dec 29, 2010,

PUNE: City-based non-governmental organisations on Wednesday sent a letter to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan saying that the state should make a recommendation to the governor to invoke section 17 (3) (e) of the Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005 removing Ramanand Tiwari from the post of state information commissioner.

The letter was sent by Sajag Nagrik Manch president Vivek Velankar, Surajya Sangharsha Samiti president Vijay Kumbhar, RTI activist Vihar Durve and Nagrik Chetana Manch president Maj Gen (retd) S C N Jatar.

It was sent following media reports that Tiwari was not tendering his resignation, despite being asked to do so by the government, on account of his alleged involvement in the Adarsh society scam. Tiwari, whose son had got membership in Adarsh, was the urban development secretary and was directly dealing with the Adarsh proposal.

The letter said, "The media has published news items stating that the state government has directed Ramanand Tiwari, state information commissioner, to resign from his post for his alleged involvement in the Adarsh scam, but Tiwari is not co-operating and tendering his resignation."

The letter pointed out that the Governor of Maharashtra has powers under section 17 (3) (e) of the RTI Act 2005, which states that "Governor may by order remove from office the State Information Commissioner if a state information commissioner has acquired such financial or other interest as is likely to affect prejudicially his function as the State Information Commissioner."

"Tiwari has acquired such interests in the Adarsh case wherein if any second appeal pertaining to this case comes before him for hearing, his function as information commissioner can get prejudicially affected," the letter said.

Delhi HC allows convict access to case details

United News of India; New Delhi, December 29, 2010,

The Delhi High Court has allowed a convict access to his case details through a Right to Information (RTI) application, upholding the order of the Central Information Commission (CIC).

The Delhi Police had moved the court to quash the order of CIC asking it to allow access to a convict the details of his case.

Hearing the arguments, Justice S Muralidhar earlier this week upheld the CIC order. The CIC had asked the Delhi police to furnish details of the probe to convict D K Sharma who had moved the RTI application.

The order reads, "The right of an applicant to seek such information pertaining to his own criminal case, after conclusion of the trial, by taking recourse to the RTI Act, cannot be said to be barred by any provision of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC)."

Communication from Rashtrapati Bhavan beyond RTI ?

Economic Times; Thu, Dec 30, 2010,

NEW DELHI: Can communication from the President or its office be disclosed under the Right to Information Act ?

Maintaining that such a communication is "protected" from disclosure, the President's Secretariat has raised the issue before the Delhi High Court in a writ petition challenging the CIC directive on the disclosure of the communication between the then President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the Padma Awards.

"The issue of law which arises pertains to the communication entered into or which emanates from the President's Secretariat and the President of India; whether such communication, material and information is protected by the operation of Article 74 of the Constitution of India or whether...open to disclosure in terms of the Right to Information Act , 2005," the secretariat has pleaded in its petition.

The communication between the Council of Ministers and the President is protected under Article 74 of the Constitution of India and hence cannot be subject matter of disclosure, the President's office said.

The CIC had ordered the part disclosure of communication between the two leaders in which President Kalam reportedly has raised question marks over some of the people considered for the Padma awards. The communication were sought by activist S C Agrawal in his RTI application.

"The CIC has pronounced an order on a constitutional issue, being the scope and operation of Article 74(1) which in the respectful submission..., it lacks jurisdiction to pronounced upon. The CIC is an authority whose powers and jurisdiction are conscribed by the provisions of the RTI Act, and in the present matter, the CIC has traversed far beyond the same," the President's office said in the plea.

It said calling records of the President's Secretariat or the President of India would "amount to treating the President of India as a party before a court/authority is in the teeth of Article 361 of the Constitution of India which confers an immunity on the President of India from being answerable to any court of law for the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of the office or for any act done or purported to have by her/him in the exercise and performance of those powers and duties."

It said orders passed by the CIC have "grave and far reaching" ramifications on the manner in which information, communication and material emanating from or available in the President's Secretariat.

Delhi HC chief justice declares assets on website

Harish V Nair; Hindustan Times; New Delhi, December 30, 2010,

The Delhi high court chief justice Dipak Misra has made public his assets by posting it on the court website, seven months after taking charge of the office.

The declaration dated December 6, 2010 put on www.delhihighcourt.nic.in recently gives details of landed property, bank deposits and investments made by him, his wife Suprama Misra and daughters Kajal and Sheetal.

However, like other judges of the court, he has not made any mention of jewellery or vehicles owned by him and family.

Justice Misra (57), a native of Orissa, owns a house in Cuttack. He declared the land was acquired in 1981 for R25,000 out of the “self earned income” as an advocate before he became a judge in 1996. Its construction was completed in 1988 at a total cost of R6.75 lakh. In 2003 he had also bought a flat in Supreme Enclave, Mayur Vihar, taking a loan of R22.50 lakh from HDFC bank. He has not invested in shares and mutual funds. He has R7.2 lakh in fixed deposits, R4 lakh in GPF and R3 lakh worth investment in life insurance.

His wife Suprama Misra has R9.7 lakh in fixed deposits and investment in LIC worth R one lakh . Justice Misra’s daughters Kajal and Sheetal have R6.78 lakh and R4.76 lakh as fixed deposits in banks, respectively.

Justice Misra, transferred from Patna high court, became the chief justice of Delhi high court after Justice AP Shah retired on February 12.

Judges of the court led by Shah had declared their assets on the website on February 5, 2010. It came close on the heels of a similar exercise by judges of the Supreme Court following a sustained campaign for transparency and accountability in judiciary and a Delhi high court judgment in this regard.

Bringing the CJI under the ambit of RTI and stressing on need for judges to make public their assets, the court had said: “democracy expects openness and openness is a concomitant of free society. Sunlight is best disinfectant.”

An interview with Parveen Amanullah, Social Welfare Minister, Bihar

TwoCircles.net; Mumtaz Alam; Tuesday, December 28, 2010,

Parveen Amanullah, Delhi University graduate daughter of former parliamentarian and diplomat Syed Shahabuddin, is Social Welfare Minister in Nitish Kumar-led JDU-BJP combine government in Bihar. She is perhaps first Muslim woman minister in the state since Independence. Mumtaz Alam Falahi talks to her about her ascent, agenda and all.

Parveen Amanullah in her ministerial office

What are your priorities and task ahead as Minister of Social Welfare ?

Our ministry is large as it has so many concerns, thus our task is immense. We have social welfare schemes that deal with children and women; social security directorate that deals with pension for old, widows and disabled; women development corporation and many more. However, what stands out significant is ICDS – Integrated Child Development System which is popularly known as Anganwadi.

In your first statement after assuming office, you promised reformation or restructuring of Anganwadi centres that come under your ministry. What is your plan ?

The system to run anganwadi centres is good. Everything is in place. But the problem is that powers of the people who run it are not clearly defined. The beneficiary sabha (committee) which has key powers to play is generally not able to use those powers as they are seized by head of an anganwadi centre. We are going to define powers, duties and functions of all and going to more empower the beneficiary sabha.

There are seven minority concentration districts in Bihar. The central government is opening several hundred new anganwadi centres in these districts under the MsDP program. How are you going to make it a success ?

That scheme does not come under our ministry. That is with the home ministry. Anyway, we need hundreds and thousands of anganwadi centres.

As head of Social Welfare Ministry, how are you going to make your agenda inclusive so that Muslims, the most backward community socially, educationally and economically, are not left behind ?

We will have to do good things, and when we deliver good things at village, panchayat, bloc and district level, I don’t think there will arise a question of exclusion or inclusion. We are going to work very fairly. Obviously, our agenda will be to benefit every needy irrespective of caste or creed.

You are well educated, a Delhi University graduate. You came to light through your RTI activism. Recently you contested assembly poll and won and became minister. You are perhaps first Muslim woman minister in Bihar. How do you see all these in terms of Muslim women empowerment ?

This has really nothing to do with Muslim women empowerment. What I believe in is that you will have to work. You can’t sit and keep on begging. People will have to work hard and show their mettle. I was never concerned about post or pay or privilege, I was just working without getting any kind of remuneration or post. That is what people should remember – they will have to show their mettle. The ministry I got is just a lucky break. I can’t say it is a manifestation of Muslim women empowerment.

You got thunderous applause at the swearing-in ceremony on 26th Nov when your husband and special secretary to Governor Mr Afzal Amanullah called you to take oath as minister. What was your feeling at that moment of time ?

(Laughing) That time I was just concentrating on being able to get there properly and being able to read properly what I was to read out. I was just concentrating on that. I wasn’t thinking about any other thing. The ministers sitting with me were laughing and cracking jokes and saying this will be a historic moment for me. I was just too nervous and concentrating on the oath handout.

When Parveen Amanullah, the daughter of stalwart of Babri Masjid movement Mr Syed Shahabuddin, was taking oath, the stalwart of Ram Mandir movement and an accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case Mr Lal Krishna Advani was sitting on the stage as a mute spectator. How will you describe it ? Was it just a cycle of time, luck or just a political incident or political coincidence ?

I would call it just a political coincidence. Nothing was planned. It just happened.

National women, minorities panels plagued by vacancies

Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN, Dec 28, 2010,

NEW DELHI: The UPA government seems to have learnt no lessons in timely filling up of vacancies in national commissions despite the Supreme Court, in the recent past, forcing it to make appointments to National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC) and National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC).

Vacancies appear to be impeding the functioning of these commissions, all created under specific laws enacted by Parliament. Two PILs have been filed in the SC seeking a direction to the government to fill the vacancies in National Commission for Minorities (NCM) and National Commission for Women (NCW).

Petitioner advocate Radhakant Tripathy had recently brought to the SC's notice vacancies to the posts of chairperson and members in the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the apex court had issued notice to the Centre on December 13.

However, armed with information obtained under RTI Act, Tripathy has now filed the PILs complaining that while NCM is functioning without its chairperson and member from the Parsi community, NCW is without half of its six members. Tripathy has also obtained information through RTI to say that National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) is functioning without its chairman.

Waqf board member is a Class IV employee of RSRTC

Shoeb Khan, TNN, Dec 28, 2010,

JAIPUR: A Class IV employee of RSRTC is holding a prominent post in the state administration for the last one decade without having the mandatory clearance for holding the two posts.

Yusuf Khan, a helper in RSRTC in Ajmer, is drawing salary from state roadways as well as enjoying all privileges of being a member of Waqf board and Mutwalli (caretaker) of a shrine in Sarwar.

As per an RTI report, he joined state roadways as a helper in 1976-77 and he is currently getting a monthly salary in the pay scale of Rs 4,590. He became a member of Waqf board under Mutwalli quota in 1999. Since then he is a member of the board. The report says that he never sought permission from the state roadways for becoming a member of Waqf board, which is against the rule book of state employees.

Documents in possession of TOI suggest that in 2000, the then Waqf board chairman NA Naqwi took cognizance of his alleged corruption charges in collection of rents of board shops in Sarwar. Even the chairman initiated a departmental inquiry by forming a four-member committee but the matter was kept under the wraps as the committee never submitted its report.

Even the Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2008, has written a letter to state roadways and board to initiate an inquiry against him on alleged charges of corruption levelled by social activists, Congress and BJP leaders, but all in vain. The charges were not even investigated by both roadways and board.

He was also allegedly involved in a controversy over Waqf land in Sawai Madhopur in which, he along with former member and Congress leader Mahir Azad, signed a proposal in favour of converting a Waqf land into a non-Waqf property. However, the board had revoked the decision after Waqf board tribunal intervened.

However, talking to TOI, Yusuf Khan said: "All the allegations are baseless and were levelled against me as part of conspiracy." He refuted the claims made by state roadways that he never sought permission for holding these two positions, which is against the state government employees act.

Sources said that he is on the forefront of contesting election for the post of chairman of Waqf board on Tuesday. RTI report also suggests that he had not even cleared secondary exam. "Every Waqf member should know how to handle legal cases, make rent calculations etc," said Professor M Hasan, member of Rajasthan Rajiv Gandhi Social Security Mission. He suggested government to give chance to an academically competent Muslim on such important posts.

एमसीडी ने खेला खेल, सीआईसी ने फटकारा

नवभारत टाइम्स , Monday 27 December 2010,

प्रमुख संवाददाता॥ नई दिल्ली

सेंट्रल इन्फर्मेशन कमिशन (सीआईसी) ने एमसीडी को अवैध निर्माण तोड़ने के मामले में एफआईआर कराने पर फटकार लगाई है। निगम बोध घाट पर अवैध तरीके से सेमी वीआईपी शवदाह स्थल बना दिए गए थे। जिसकी शिकायत करने पर एमसीडी ने जवाब दिया कि यह अवैध निर्माण आर्य समाज ने किया है। जब शिकायत के बाद आर्य समाज ने अवैध निर्माण को तोड़ दिया तो एमसीडी ने आर्य समाज के खिलाफ ही एफआईआर करा दी।

सीआईसी ने कहा कि यह दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण है कि एमसीडी अवैध निर्माण हटाने में बहुत उत्सुक नहीं दिख रही है, इसके उलट अवैध निर्माण हटाने के बाद एफआईआर कराने की बहुत जल्दी है। सीआईसी ने इस मामले में आरटीआई के तरह सूचना मांगने वाले सुभाष चंद्र अग्रवाल को एक हजार रुपये का मुआवजा देने के निर्देश के साथ ही एमसीडी को कारण बताओ नोटिस जारी कर दिया है।

अग्रवाल ने 2008 में आरटीआई के जरिए यह मामला उठाया था। उन्होंने शिकायत की थी कि निगम बोध घाट में शवों के साथ भेदभाव किया जाता है। यहां वीआईपी, सेमी वीआईपी और आम आदमी के लिए अलग शवदाह स्थल बनाए गए हैं और इन्हें रेलिंग लगाकर अलग-अलग किया गया है। वीआईपी स्थल तो बहुत सालों से है। उन्होंने पूछा था कि सेमी वीआईपी शवदाह स्थल बनाने की इजाजत किसने दी। तब एमसीडी ने कहा कि सेमी वीआईपी स्थल बनाने की जानकारी उसे नहीं है और न ही हमने इसकी इजाजत दी।

एससीडी ने कहा कि निगम बोध घाट के मरम्मत की जिम्मेदारी आर्य समाज की है और शायद उन्होंने यह अवैध रेलिंग बनाई होंगी। जब बात आर्य समाज पर आई तो उन्होंने अवैध निर्माण हटा दिया और शिकायतकर्ता को इसकी जानकारी भी दे दी। सोमवार को सीआईसी के सामने मामले की सुनवाई के दौरान आर्य समाज के अधिकारियों ने बताया कि एमसीडी ने अवैध निर्माण तोड़ने पर आर्य समाज के खिलाफ एफआईआर दर्ज करा दी है।

Dying for data: the Indian activist killed for asking too many questions

Jason Burke; guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 December 2010,



Mahdidar Mishra holds a photograph of his brother Shashidhar,
 a murdered RTI activist, at their home in Baroni, Bihar.
Photograph: Jason Burke for the Guardian

 Shashidhar Mishra uncovered official wrongdoing using India's Right To Information law. Now he's become an RTI martyr

Shashidhar Mishra was always a curious man. Neighbours in the scruffy industrial town of Baroni, in the northern Indian state of Bihar, called him "kabri lal" or "the news man" because he was always so well informed.

Late every evening, the 35-year-old street hawker would sit down with his files and scribble notes. In February, the father of four was killed outside his home after a day's work selling pens, sweets and snacks in Baroni's bazaar.

The killing was swift and professional. The street lights went out, two men on motorbikes drew up and there were muffled shots. Mishra, an enthusiastic RTI activist, as those who systematically use India's right to information law to uncover wrongdoing and official incompetence are known, became the latest in the country's growing list of RTI martyrs.

The RTI law, introduced by the Congress party-led government in 2005, was a radical piece of legislation giving private citizens the right to demand written answers from India's always opaque and often corrupt bureaucracy and state institutions such as the police and army.

"It was a total paradigm shift from a regime of secrecy to one of transparency," the law minister, Veerappa Moily, said in an interview in Delhi. "It has changed the entire culture of governance."

In many ways, the law has been an astonishing success, prompting requests from tens of thousands of often poor, sometimes almost illiterate, always highly motivated citizens. In Bihar, more than 100,000 demands were made last year, 20 times as many as five years ago, said AK Choudry, the chief information commissioner for the state. In India as a whole at least a million RTI requests have now been filed.

"This act is for the common man of India. Without paying a bribe a poor man can get answers. We have the right to know what is happening in this country," said Afroz Alam Sahil, a student from Bihar who has registered hundreds of requests.

Yet, with the rule of law weak in much of the country, exercising new rights can mean danger. At least 10 activists have been killed so far this year. All found themselves up against powerful individuals, often in league with local authorities. One uncovered a series of corrupt land deals and thefts of social benefits by officials and was subsequently hacked to death near his home near the city of Pune, Maharashtra state.

A 55-year-old stallholder was killed after investigating electricity supplies and gambling dens in his home town of Surat in the western state of Gujarat. Two activists investigating fraud in government labour schemes for the poor were killed in the lawless eastern state of Jharkand, while others - including a 47-year-old sugar cane farmer in the central state of Maharashtra and an activist near the southern city of Bengaluru - were killed after investigating land acquisitions by big businessmen.

In July, Amit Jethava, a pharmacist in Gujarat who had hounded officials about mining endangering Asian lions, spotted deer and wild boar near his village was shot dead. There has since been a lull in the killings, but beatings, intimidations and threats continue.

Amitabh Thakur, who heads an RTI network in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and is writing a book on the RTI martyrs said that "cases of murder, persecution, prosecution and harassment" are legion. "When you are digging for information there are people who try to hide it from you," he said. "They will do what it takes to keep it hidden."

The true number of activists killed could be much higher. Frequently, campaigners say, the authorities deny a link between the RTI requests and violence, dismissing incidents as everyday crime.

Choudry said that no killing linked to RTI had taken place in Bihar and that Mishra's death in February was "not linked to any RTI application". Local police denied Mishra was an activist and said they no longer had possession of the investigation file opened on his death. It contained, his family said, most of the answers he had received to his various RTI requests.

The dead man had hidden a box of papers at home that suggest the hawker's activism was indeed the reason for his murder. The documents, seen by the Guardian, included receipts for hundreds of different applications for information about local officials, businessmen and even the police themselves.

Mishra, described by his sister as a "sharp and smart guy", had started demanding information two years before his death. His first target was a local government-run dairy, a big employer, where he suspected animals were being mistreated. His next campaign focused on unlicensed stalls run on public land outside the local railway station. These were eventually demolished.

Encouraged by his success, Mishra asked for records of land purchases and sales by members of the local council over the last 20 years. In June last year, he began investigating the local market, largely built by local businessmen on government land. A month later, he asked why there was no electricity in the local health clinic. By the end of the year, he had established that many of the contracts awarded to resurface a road through the town were suspect. He spoke darkly to his family of death threats.

In December and January, Mishra filed a flurry of further information requests, asking for details of the postings of certain policemen and the whereabouts of vehicles the police had recently impounded.

On 9 February , he requested a list of those contracted to carry out construction of a road in the market. He also demanded the local council's 2009 accounts. The answer which showed that at least £80,000 had been paid to contractors for work that had never been carried out arrived in May, three months after his death.

His killers had used silenced handguns, the mark of professionals. That a power cut plunged the street into darkness for the few minutes they needed to work indicates the involvement of officials, campaigners claim.

Now his brother Mahdidar is trying to look after four extra children on a family income that has been halved. He told the Guardian he was "desperate".

"I want justice for my brother, but what can I do? There are many corrupt and powerful. I am just one man."

Cases of intimidation and violence are "isolated", Moily, the law minister, insisted. "Wherever protection is needed the government provides it."