Daily Pioneer: Bhubaneswar: Friday, June 01, 2018.
RTI activists
under the banner of the Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan (OSAA) on Thursday
staged a dharna in front of the Raj Bhavan here under the leadership of OSAA
convenor Pradip Pradhan in protest against the increasing incidences of attacks
on the RTI activists and alleged malfunctioning of the Odisha Information
Commission.
Later, they
submitted a memorandum to the Governor urging him to ask the State Government
to implement the RTI Act properly and ensure security to RTI activists.
They alleged
that the implementation of RTI Act in Odisha from 2005 has suffered a severe
setback due to anti-people Odisha RTI rules. The Form- A (Application for
information) is complex and over-damaging one which is frightening the public
from applying for information under the Act.
The column -2
asking for Father/Spouse name, colum-3 asking for permanent address and
column-4 asking for particulars in respect of identity of applicant are very
much personal details, the disclosure of which by an applicant before PIO has
been forbidden under section 6(2) of the RTI act. Similarly, the demand for
proof of citizenship from an applicant filling RTI application is also contrary
to section 6(2) of RTI Act.
The State
Government has also made arbitrary provision of charging Rs 20 and 25 towards
first and second appeal fees respectively, which is illegal under the Act, they
said.
They lamented
that the State Government has not taken any step to change the columns and
withdraw fees despite repeated requests made by various social organisations.
As per the
section 4(1b) of the RTI Act, each public authority is required to voluntarily
disclose 17 types information within 120 days. Likewise, as per the section
4(4) of the Act and this information would be disseminated in Odia language.
The State
Government has developed a website, www.odisharti.in, to provide information
but it is not being updated at all. The website doesn’t provide single correct
information.
Even the
voluntarily disclosed information of the office of the Speaker, Odisha
Legislative Assembly, and Office of Governor, have not been updated. Not a
single info is disseminated in Odia language, they lamented.
They too
mentioned that more than 50 activists have been attacked and socially
ostracized by influential and corrupt people during the last three years.
Their demands
include immediate amendment of the Odisha RTI rules to make it citizen-friendly
after due consultation with civil society groups and RTI activists, adoption of
transparent procedure for appointment of Information Commissioners in line of
the concerned Supreme Court judgement, formulation of an internal mechanism to
ensure that each IO would dispose at least 3,000 a year and provision of
penalty for erring PIOs, immediate registration of complaints lodged by RTI
activists in police stations and action against must be registered immediately
and investigated with action against culprits.