PTI: New Delhi: Monday, April 24, 2017.
The Central
Information Commission has decided a whopping 1,288 appeals filed by a retired
air force official in one go.
Retired Wing
Commander Sanjeev Sharma filed these appeals before the CIC after not getting
information on issues ranging from gifts given on farewell parties of the
officers, felling of trees, working of AFWWA to contingency funds among others.
Sharma had
filed 6,443 RTI applications with various wings of the Indian Air Force.
In his order,
Information Commissioner Divya Prakash Sinha chided the Indian Air Force for
poor management of Right to Information-related matters.
"The
lack of sufficient number of CPIOs/APIOs in one of the three largest wings of
Ministry of Defence raises a serious concern regarding the kind of importance
that is accorded to the RTI Act provisions," he noted.
Central
Public Information Officers (CPIOs) and Assistant Public Information Officers
(APIOs) are deputed to handle Right to Information applications in a public
authority.
Sinha said
the dismal rate of disposing first appeals by the officers concerned of Western
Air Command and Central Air Command is "alarming".
He gave a
four-point advisory to the IAF from posting a Central Public Information
Officer and Assistant Public Information Officer at every unit, conducting
sensitisation exercises for them, bringing details of non-public fund ventures
in public domain and maximum disclosure of NPFVs.
"A copy
of this order is marked to the Chief of Air Staff and the Defence Secretary to
take note of the observations made above as well for appropriate action as may
be deemed fit for translating the advisory into effective implementation,"
he said.
Justifying
his decision to adjudicate 1,288 appeals in one go, the Information
Commissioner said this has been done after taking into consideration the fact
that these RTI applications are seeking the same information but in the context
of different air commands.
"...the
basic contentions and relief sought in appeal would be suited for a composite
listing of the matters in order to cut down on the time and resources invested
in adjudicating on each appeal separately," he said in the order.
During the
hearing, applicant Sanjeev Sharma said he had filed these applications as there
is a parallel economy running inside the IAF fraternity and there are different
sources of corruption.
Sinha
appreciated the efforts of Sharma to expose alleged corruption but cautioned
him that he should be aware of the spirit of the RTI Act.
"...however
noble the end of this vociferous attempt of bringing about probity in the
functioning of IAF would have been, fact remains that the means adopted by the
appellant regrettably speaks volumes of his ignorance of the spirit of the RTI
Act," he said.
Sinha, a
former senior officer of Intelligence Bureau, said commission is of the opinion
that the kind of time and resources spent by Sharma in filing these RTI
applications and appeals do speak of certain kind of accountability which
appears to be lacking in the IAF.
Commenting on
the development, RTI activist retired Commodore Lokesh Batra said it is a
landmark order covering a comprehensive reading of the excerpts, analysis and
submissions of both the parties and other Commissioners need to emulate the
practice of such a well-drafted order.