The Sentinel: Silchar: Saturday,
March 11, 2017.
Many citizens
fail to understand or realize the importance or implication of RTI in respect
of their grievances related to state or central government establishments. But,
Okram Prasanta Singha, a social activist, has shown how a RTI can not only
unearth the anomaly or irregularity but also send a signal to those who are
found vacillating in taking a decision even when larger public interest is
involved. Okram Prasanta Singha has been making all out efforts to get the list
of beneficiaries from the Manipuri Development Council (MDC) and even moved the
SPIO, Office of the Directorate of WPT and BC since 2015.
With the
change of guard at Dispur, Okram Singha got positive response. As reported
earlier, he has brought allegations against Jiten Singha, Chairman, MDC, for
misleading him on information in respect of the list of beneficiaries against
various welfare schemes. Rather, when he sought information, he was asked to
pay an amount of Rs.2100 for delivering 70 pages related to the information
sought. According to the Section 4 (a) of Assam Right to Information
(Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005, State Public Information Officer
(S-PIO) can charge at the rate of Rs.2 for each page, created or copied.
Further, he
has also alleged that the Chairman charged Rs.9000 without providing the
details of the calculations which is in violation of Section 7 (3) (a) of the
RTI Act 2005. Moreover, the Chairman furnished false and misleading information
in his reply which contradicts the utilization certificate. Finding no
alternative, Okram Singha approached the Assam Information Commission to take
action against Jiten Singha. He also brought the matter to the notice of Gobin
Chandra Mili, Joint Director and SPIO, Office of the Directorate of WPT and BC.
On the basis of his complaint, Assam Information Commission fixed March 8 for
hearing. Accordingly, both the complainant and the defendant appeared before
the SPIO on the date fixed. After hearing both the parties, Assam Information
Commission has ordered the Directorate of WPT and BC to allow the RTI applicant
or his representative to inspect office records of Manipuri Development Council
under Section 2(j)(i) of the RTI Act 2005. The Commission also ordered the SPIO
to fix a date for the inspection within 15 days from the date of the order that
is March 8, 2017. The Commission also ordered to note the inspection of record
by the Directorate of WPT and BC. The Commission has further directed both the
SPIO and Joint Director WPT and BC as well as MDC to report to the Commission
within 30 days about the development.
Interestingly,
according to the order of the High Court of Delhi in the case of Suresh Gupta
vs Deputy Commissioner of Police, RTI petitioner can inspect the office records
concerned with the assistance of the counsel or an authorized representative.
The Chief Information Commissioner, H S Das, has further ordered that
inspection of the official record must be done in the presence of an officer
not below the rank of Deputy Director of WPT and BC. Assam Information
Commission directed MDC to charge Rs.2 per page as RTI fee. Manipuri
Development Council (MDC) chairman Jiten Singha in a letter dated February 20,
2017 bearing letter no MDC/2017/124, but he charged an amount of Rs.2100 for
delivering 70 number of pages as per the said letter.
The charge
for each page according to the Section 4 (a) of Assam Right to Information
(Regulation of Fee and Cost) rules, 2005, the SPIO can charge at the rate of
Rs.2 for each page, created or copied. On the date of hearing, Okram Prasanta
Singha appeared with Diganta Bharali. The public authority was represented by
Gobin Chandra Mili, Joint Director and SPIO of the Directorate of WPT and BC,
Assam assisted by Mohan Hazarika, Senior Assistant of the Directorate of WPT
and BC. The information sought by the petitioner Okram Prasanta Singha was
certified copies of the names of beneficiaries for 2011-12 and 2013-14
financial years.
But, MDC
furnished misleading, incomplete and false information. MDC also could not
furnish most of the RTI queries. Okram Prasanta Singha has been making
concerted and constant efforts for getting the beneficiary list from the
Directorate of WPT and BC as well as MDC since November 18, 2015. There has
been lot of irregularities in the implementation of the welfare schemes by MDC.
According to the guidelines, the Council should utilize the services of the Sub
Divisional Welfare Officers, but the Chairman of MDC did not utilize their
services. Moreover, the Directorate of WPT and BC also did not initiate the said
guidelines. Expressing his satisfaction at the reply to his RTI by the Assam
Information Commission, Singha is hopeful many irregularities committed under
the garb of implementing welfare schemes will now be exposed and action
initiated against the MDC Chairman.
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