MAHITI ADHIKAR GUJARAT PAHEL

GCA objects to disclosure of its tax info.

2012-02-13T08:15:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Monday, February 13, 2012.

NEW DELHI: The Gujarat Cricket Association headed by chief minister Narendra Modi has objected to the disclosure of tax exemptions enjoyed by it, prompting the Income Tax department to withhold the information.
The RTI query, aimed at finding the burden on exchequer incurred by cricket associations across the country, was forwarded by the Sports Ministry to I-T department which then forwarded it to various units across the country.
In reply question on tax exemption enjoyed by cricket associations registered with it, the Ahmedabad unit of the department said the GCA has objected to such disclosure.
"With regard to you query and the details sought therein, it is to inform you that, the sole cricketing body assessed to tax with this office is Gujarat Cricket Association. The said Association vide letter February 6, 2011 has raised its objection to any information being divulged under any Act including the RTI Act from its record," the department said in the reply to activist Subhash Agrawal.
In his appeal, Agrawal has objected to denial of information saying, "any objection from GCA is totally irrelevant in view of section 8(2) of RTI Act which clearly stipulates that a public-authority may allow access to information if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interests."
In a case, the Central Information Commission is considering whether the BCCI gets enough indirect funding in the form of tax concession making it answerable under the Right to Information Act.
The Sports Ministry had also submitted before the CIC that the BCCI gets "substantial indirect funding" from the government in the form of revenue forego like "concessions in income tax, customs duty etc" and lands at concessional rates for stadiums.

RTI response exposes irregularities in bypass.

2012-02-13T08:11:00.000+05:30

Deccan Chronicle:Hyderabad:Monday, February 13, 2012.

The ongoing construction of the Aushapura bypass has been opposed by the locals and the civil society organisation, who contend that the authorities have ignored the approved alignment with the National Highway 202 Hyderabad-Warangal section and have instead taken an option that poses serious threat of accidents. While the NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) approved a different smoother alignment over a three-kilometre stretch, the ongoing construction is of a steep bypass of one kilometre stretch only. Interestingly, though the NHAI in an RTI reply has accepted that the earlier alignment was approved and not the new one, there has been no attempt to stop the work. While the locals have been objecting to the construction, it is going on under police protection. “Surprisingly, the approved proposal was overlooked by the project director, Mr Ravindra Rao, and the existing one has three dangerous curves and was not at all considered or approved by the authorities. The decision is malafide, only to help realtors or other monetary considerations. It is detrimental to road safety and free flow of traffic,” said president of Aushapur Welfare Society, K. Ch. Venkata Reddy. “These irregularities have been brought to the notice of higher authorities including CBI, Central Vigilance Commi-ssion, collector, district magistrate and commissioner of police, but to no avail,” added Mr Reddy.

RTI activist wins battle, faces factory workers’ ire.

2012-02-13T08:08:00.000+05:30

DNA:Bangalore:Merlin Francis:Monday, February 13, 2012.

It took three years, 20 queries under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and 13 appeals to the Karnataka Information Commission (KIC) for a woman to get an illegal factory in residential area shut.

Manjula, about 30-year-old, cannot walk without her mother’s support as she is paralysed up to her waist. However, this did not stop her from taking a stand against an illegal handloom factory that came up near her home. Based on her complaints, the factory’s power supply was cut on Saturday.

She said she began complaining to the BBMP and the pollution control board three years ago but her repeated attempts yielded no result.

Last year, a friend of hers told her about the RTI. Not bogged down by her disability, and empowered with the RTI, she filed 20 applications and 13 appeals to the KIC. It opened a can of worms.

The factory was being given four times the electricity it was eligible for. There were a few other glaring irregularities too, such as under whom it was registered, the number of labourers and it did not have a no-objection certificate from the fire department or the pollution control board, even though it was located bang in the middle of a residential area.

Manjula said even though she brought all these anomalies to the notice of various officials concerned, no action was taken against the factory.

The BBMP even issued a letter, saying the factory’s licence had been cancelled and power supply should be stopped. According to the letter, whose copy is with DNA, the cancellation came into effect on November 11, 2011. But the factory’s operations continued.

She said it was only when she complained directly to the managing director of Bescom, and after a series of emails and a direct appointment, that she was taken seriously by the officials. On Saturday, Bescom officials cut the power supply to the factory.

But now, Manjula and her family members are afraid of stepping out of their house. She said as soon as the factory’s power supply was cut, about 40 workers surrounded their house and hurled abuses at them. She said when her mother went out of the house, one of the workers tried to hit her. Manjula called police and a sub-inspector was sent to the spot; he dispersed the crowd. However, Manjula and her family got no assurance of protection.

J&K RTI Movement starts membership drive ; Plans to register 30,000 members this year.

2012-02-13T08:03:00.000+05:30

GreaterKashmir.com:Monday, February 13, 2012.

Srinagar, Feb 12: Jammu and Kashmir RTI Movement has started a membership drive across the State for awareness and sensitization of public about matters related to governance, corruption and other allied issues by making rigorous use of the Right to Information Act (RTI).
The Convener of J&K RTI Movement Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat in a statement said the group plans to register 30,000 members across the State this year.
“The aim of this membership drive is to creating mass awareness about corruption, mis-governance, issues related to accountability and transparency by creating awareness about RTI Act,” Bhat said.
He said there are hundreds of volunteers and activists associated with RTI Movement. “But for last couple of years, the activists have been demanding that they must be given various tasks to work in different areas and should have some kind of identification in order to ensure better working of the RTI Movement. So the working committee of the RTI Movement decided to start the membership drive across the State,” said Dr Sheikh Ghulam Rasool founder member of the RTI Movement.

After RTI…..? Transparency is okay, but what about accountability ! : RAMAN SHARMA

2012-02-13T08:01:00.000+05:30

GreaterKashmir.com:Monday, February 13, 2012.

With each passing day, the most talked and obviously powerful civil right, i.e. Right to Information Act is gaining momentum in Jammu and Kashmir State and helping the citizens to get the information from the government and administration. In this process of obtaining information many RTI users have been able to unearth major scams in the state. Now, the officers, the Public Information Officers are providing information to the general public and there is a tangible change one can see where officers respecting the provisions of the transparency law. This fact is even authenticated by many RTI activists that now by and large their RTI pleas are being responded by the officers. But on the other side, the activists feel helpless when after hectic exercise and paying hefty RTI fees, the information they collect remain just piece of papers and the purpose for what the information is sought remains absent. RTI is just a preliminary means to highlight the corruption related issues, otherwise the scope of RTI (the PIO, 1st appellate authority or the state information commission) is limited.
This is the reason that now the citizenry and activists demanding accountability in the system. ‘‘Openness is Okay but what about accountability? The information that citizens receive under RTI after hectic efforts remain useless in absence of any strong institutions that can make the corrupt officers and institutions accountable and initiate proceedings against them. For follow up, we have no strong institutions, we urge the government to strengthen its other organizations also for ensuing accountability ’’ demands Dr. RR Khajuria a known social activists and founder chairman of Vichar Kranti Manch International. The real journey starts after receiving the information and the data from the public authorities, most of the citizens do not know what to do after getting the information. However in personal RTI pleas the appellants after getting the requisite information approach the court of law for getting the justice but in case of mass corruption, huge land scams, irregularities and deviation of stipulated rules by the officers and the departments, the information seekers remain helpless. As of now, the citizens remain confused as there is no such institution in the state where they can go with the information in their hands for seeking action against the defaulters and remedial measures. There are strong voices demanding straight action from the Accountability Commission. Shafiq Mir, Sarpanch of remote village Poshana, Bufflaiz block in Poonch and an RTI activists says “I think after RTI exposures, it is the duty of the accountability commission to take the cognizance of at least serious cases and obviously the accountability commission has a bigger role to play, the Commission must prove its credibility by nailing the big fishes, otherwise this all seems an eye wash ”. In few cases it has also been noticed that many applicants even after getting the information under the RTI act eyes the State Information Commission for remedy but being ignorant of the fact that the SIC cannot move beyond a point, it has a limited jurisdiction.
Therefore despite getting the valuable information with them the citizens feel powerless and helpless. Though textually, the state government has appointed the members of the state accountability commission where an ordinary citizen can file a complaint related to corruption cases against the politicians. But we all know that this institution of SAC is almost defunct since last more than 3 years. And who knows the fate of those cases against the bureaucrats that are registered with the state vigilance organization; the corruption cases against the bureaucrats are never given sanction by the state general administration department. Therefore it is expected that the state government would soon be taking necessary measures in this regard so that both openness and accountability go together.
(Raman Sharma, is an RTI activist and can be reached at jkrtiact@gmail.com)

Childhood’s end in harsh city.

2012-02-12T09:12:00.002+05:30

Deccan Herald:Ashpreet Sethi:New Delhi:Sunday, February 12, 2012.

Battered, bitten and left with broken skull at the trauma centre of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, baby Falak and the teenager who brought her there after herself being sexually abused are only the latest faces of child abuse.

Activists say thousands of such cases go unreported every year in India. Even among the reported cases, only 34 per cent end up in conviction. And 11 children go missing in India every hour.
Many of the missing children could be end up being trafficked, forced to work in dangerous or tiring occupations, driven into sex trade or made to beg at traffic signals.
There has beeen little effort at keeping and sharing records of missing children across the states. Activists also complain about the lack of a `substantive' law against trafficking.
National Crime Record Bureau's 2010 report says kidnapping and abduction cases have gone up countrywide by 600 per cent since 1976. And, according to child right groups, police reports have been registered only in 15 per cent of missing children incidents in the Capital.
According to the data provided by government agencies, 1,17,480 children went missing in 392 districts in India between January 2008 to 2010. A Right to Information petition filed by child rights group Bachpan Bachao Aandolan (BBA) revealed that police reports were filed for 785 children who disappeared in Delhi last year. Atogether 24,744 children were officially reported missing from the major metropolitan citie. Delhi topped the list with 12 per cent of the total.
The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) says the government does not have any mechanism to map missing children in the country.
“We have seen children return to work even after a rescue as there is no committee which maintains a record of children who are trafficked and go missing. Most of these children are migrants and the government does not follow up with the families about their whereabouts after their rescue,” said DCPCR member Shashank Shekhar.
Child Labour:
Delhi's labour department runs nine family counselling centres, but Shekhar doesn't think much of them. “These centres are not able to provide counselling. They were allotted to different NGOs but I have not seen much progress as there is negligible counselling of children and parents,” he said.
Official estimates say more than 50,000 children are forced into bonded or domestic labour in Delhi. But activists estimate that more than two lakh children are engaged in such work, which violates their basic rights and deprives them of education and good health.
“More than half of these children are exposed to the worst forms of child labour. What is the government doing to prevent child abuse in Delhi? Nothing significant. For instance in baby Falak's case, the police was supposed to register a missing person's case for the 15-year-old girl but they did not,” says lawyer Bhuvan Ribhu
In a sample survey in Delhi of 1090 rescued child labourers in 2011, BBA found that 57 per cent worked for more than 12 hours a day, 43 per cent were not given any wages and six per cent were given wages which were below Rs 50 per day. At least 454 children worked as bonded labourers but FIRs were filed only for 50 of them.
Justice Altamas Kabir, Supreme Court judge and executive chairperson of National Legal Services Authority, says, “It is difficult to define the term `missing' children'. But it is not impossible. We have to look for a way to combine the duties of the legal and civil systems.” He added it was essential to spread the message that it is a crime to keep a minor as a domestic servant.
Activists claim that over 2,000 placement agencies engage in illegal activities in the city. They force minors to work as domestic help, placing them in situations where they are abused in some manner – physically, mentally or sexually.
“They are not given money, they are beaten up and even raped by placement agency owner and the household members,” said Dr Shobha Vijender, former Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member. She added that these agencies are involved in sex rackets which are difficult to detect as most of these places are not registered. The Supreme Court had asked the Delhi’s labour department in 2009 to register all placement agencies but only a few have been registered so far.
Child rights groups say there are close to two lakh children living on the streets of Delhi; out of them 50,000 children have no family.
“We get at least three new children every day at New Delhi railway station who have run away from home or are trafficked to Delhi. These children are then handed over to police who present them before the CWC,” said Poonam Sharma, member of Salaam Baalak Trust. Most street children either beg or sell small items such as pens, books, magazines and toys.
“Children mostly in 8-16 age group are found to be taking drugs in the form of solvents, inhalers, thinner, heroin and alcohol. They do not have money to eat or buy clothes so they depend on drugs to survive during extreme weather, and they sell drugs to earn money for survival,” said Rajiv Shaw, member of Sharan, an NGO.
According to a 2011 RTI filed by BBA, the labour department received Rs 11.5 crore in 2005 for rehabilitation of children who have been victims of any form of abuse. On June 9, the department had Rs three crore left as unused funds. Minimum wages:
“The law has made it mandatory for the government to recover minimum wages of every child rescued from the employer. Government statistics say that 1,465 children below the age of 14 were rescued since 2009. Ideally, the government should have recovered Rs 2 crore but till the end of 2011 they had recovered only Rs 20 lakh.
Our main agenda is to make the system work but that is highly unlikely if authorities do not co-operate,” said Ribhu. DCPCR believes that the existing child protection mechanism should be strengthened by creating a common platform for committees such as CWC, Special Juvenile Police Unit, district task force and the labour department, to ensure better results. “Rehabilitation of children should be included in schemes at the source state so that children do not return to Delhi as they are in need of care and protection,” said M.M. Vidyarthy, member DCPCR.

Prithviraj Chavan opens fire at Pawars, Vilasrao Deshmukh.

2012-02-12T09:03:00.000+05:30

DNA:Mumbai:Sunday, February 12, 2012.

He didn’t show it, but clearly Chief Minister (CM) Prithviraj Chavan was apologetic over his comment on the Shiv Sena (“Sena will be inconsequential after its debacle in Mumbai”) and tried to clear the air over the remarks which he claimed were wrongly interpreted. “What I wanted to say is that once we win in Mumbai, Sena’s power in the state will be diminished. I want to pitch this fight as NDA vs UPA. Sena rules Mumbai and draws its strength from the city that has a budget larger than 12 states in India,” the CM said during his interaction with editors in Pune on Friday.

Chavan surely must have read Saamna before entering the venue since Sena chief Bal Thackeray had gone ballistic in his party mouthpiece over his comment on Sena’s future. Thackeray called him inept and said he lacked self-respect. Chavan’s tame response did not befit his name - Prithviraj (one who rules the planet).

But the man didn’t hold his punches while taking potshots at his alliance party chief Sharad Pawar or his deputy Ajit Pawar.

“I understand some people want the Metro project in city to go underground, but the costs are going to be prohibitive - at least triple the current project cost. Let’s not discuss this at our level and let the experts - both technical and economic experts handle this issue. Eventually if the costs went beyond the reach of the user he will not use it and it will be a waste. I have seen several such projects going bust,” Chavan said.

Only days ago, Sharad Pawar had said that the Metro rail project in Pune should be underground so that the least inconvenience is caused to Puneites.

The next in the firing line was Pawar’s nephew and his own deputy, Ajit Pawar who is calling the shots in the Pune unit of the Nationalist Congress Party. “The Congress has never allied with communal forces at any level. Everyone knows about the Pune pattern and everyone knows about their commitment,” Chavan said. His target was clearly Ajit Pawar, who forced his party to enter into an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) so that he could retain power at the Pune Municipal Corporation.

Chavan didn’t restrict himself to his alliance partner and didn’t spare his own partyman and predecessor, Vilasrao Deshmukh, who has been rapped on his knuckles by the Bombay high court earlier this week for allotting 20 acres of land to Subhash Ghai’s film institute, Whistling Woods. All that Chavan was asked to do was clarify on his statement about the right to information (RTI) hampering governance. “I am not at all against the RTI Act. It was initiated at the behest of our party president, Sonia Gandhi and prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Several bureaucrats had warned us that it could be very difficult, but we stood by it. We wanted to bring in transparency in governance. We can no longer take a decision that won’t be in the public domain. It is because of the RTI that decisions taken 10-12 years ago are coming out of the closed files. I won’t comment on the high court decision yesterday, but it is a lesson for all of us,” Chavan said.

Much of the later discourse by Chavan was on his party’s city manifesto, where he tried to make the right noises about issues closer to Puneites’ hearts. He accepted that public transport was a big concern for the city and therefore wanted the Metro and water transport to be given highest priority.

“Rapid urbanisation is leading to decaying of cities and that has happened in Mumbai. We don’t want Pune’s quality of life to be affected. Commuting time to work defines how the city will be attracting workforce. Metro and water transport will help bring it down considerably,” Chavan said.

When it was pointed to him that the city rivers, where he plans to introduce water transport, don’t have water, he said his government was seized of the issue.

“We have sent a Rs819 crore plan for Pune rivers. It will work on not just Pune rivers, but the entire valley so that the quality of rivers will be improved. By the time it is executed, it will have increased to Rs2,000 crore,” he said.

Dumping grounds were on his radar next. Chavan said his party will bring in the latest technology that will ensure garbage was managed in a scientific manner.

“Abroad they are using garbage to generate power. Dumping grounds are designed in such a fashion that people living just 100 metres away are not bothered by stench,” he said.

Eventually, he echoed Sharad Pawar, who wanted undiluted power for the NCP.

“We rule Delhi, we rule Maharashtra... give power to the Congress in Pune is what we tell Punekars,” Chavan concluded.

Ratlam-Akola gauge conversion: Only one-third of the funds utilised

2012-02-12T08:58:00.000+05:30

Daily Bhaskar:Sunday, February 12, 2012.

Indore: Only about one third of the funds sanctioned by Union Railway Ministry for the ambitious Ratlam-Khandwa-Akola gauge conversion project have been utilised by the Western Railway till date.

In a reply to a query under RTI act, the railway authorities said that till Jan 13, 2012, the railway has spent only `54.80 crore on this project.

The gauge conversion of 685.75 km long Ratlam-Mhow-Khandwa-Akola was sanctioned in the year 2008-09 at an estimated cost of 1421.25 cr. In first two years of the project, ` 72 crore were sanctioned but only `65. 33 lakh were utilised by the western railways. Between 2010 and 2012, around `70 crore had been sanctioned while the amount utilised by the region’s railway authorities was `31.80 crore only. If the remaining funds are not utilised before this year’s railway budget is presented, they would simply lapse as per the rules.

Once the meter gauge line between Ratlam and Khandwa is converted into broad gauge, Indore will be connected directly to the southern part of the country on the railway map.

The gauge conversion will also reduce distance between Indore and Mumbai by 100 km on Khandwa-Bhusawal-Manmad-Mumbai route.

Gautum Kothari, President, Pithampur Audhoyogik Sangthan said that in the past four budgets, an amount of `142.95 crore had been sanctioned while only one third of this amount has been spent on the project so far. “The progress is very slow due to the lackadaisical attitude of the Railway authorities,” he added.

“Work on this line is going on. Sometimes we have to divert funds to other projects as per the requirement,” said Railway PRO, Ratlam division, Pradeep Sharma.

Contradictory information on GATE puts IIT Kharagpur in a dock.

2012-02-12T08:53:00.000+05:30

Hindustan Times:Chetan Chauhan:New Delhi:Sunday, February 12, 2012.

In an embarrassment, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur whether it admits students for masters in technology (M Tech) on basis of Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). The GATE brochure says that IITs admits students for M Tech on basis of the test score but the IIT, Kharagpur denied it in a reply to a RTI applicant.

The GATE test is conducted by IITs for post graduate admissions. On Sunday, thousands of students from across India will be appearing for the examination.

This contradictory position was brought before the information commission this week.

Rajiv Kumar, the RTI applicant, had sought information from IIT, Kharagpur regarding students called for interview on basis of GATE score in August 2010. The institute a month later, told him that no students in IITs were admitted on basis of the test score. The same was reiterated in a reply to first appeal filed by Kumar.

He then filed a complaint with the CIC claiming that the information provided was misleading and incorrect. He also attached a brochure of GATE examination stating that admissions in all IITs and Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, admit student for masters on basis of the test result.

Information Commissioner Deepak Sandhu asked the question raised by Kumar with public information officer of IIT, Kharagpur, A Patro, who claimed that the information was correct. He also told the commission that the information was provided to him by PKG Mohapatra, Dean, Post Graduate Studies, of the IIT.

Kumar, a professor at IIT, Kharagpur, termed the information as “patently incorrect” saying that the institute was admitting students on basis of the GATE score. He also said that it was another attempt by the IIT to block transparency in its admission system. Kumar’s petition in the Supreme Court had pushed the IITs to declare the score of its entrance examination for bachers in technology courses.

Sandhu asked Patro to reconfirm the information from the Dean and if it was correct, to state the same through an affidavit. Once that it done, the CIC will take a final view on the decision.

600 Energy meters not sent for lab testing, RTI.

2012-02-12T08:49:00.000+05:30

Punjab Newsline:Anshu Chhabra:Sunday, February 12, 2012.

LUDHIANA: The inhabitants in the city insisted a probe against Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL)’s laxness to send energy meters to the ME lab for testing. Keeping in mind the procedures as stipulated down by PSPCL, all the removed or replaced energy meters should have been sent to the ME lab within one week for testing.

According to the information obtained under the RTI Act, a complaint has been made to the CEO and Chairman of PSPCL against the lapses of 600 energy meters which had been removed from the premises of consumers but not sent in the lab for testing .In case of tampering or broken seals, the energy meters should be sent for lab testing in the presence of consumers within a week and incase of power theft penalty should be imposed on consumers depending upon the average consumption. According to the information provided by Deputy Chief Engineers, 236 defective meters under the APDRP scheme, 158 from Aggar Nagar, 49 from Janta Nagar and 180 defective energy meters from east circle have not been sent to the lab for testing.

The failure to submit energy meters is seen as an act of willful dereliction. It is suspected that the staff members might have been involved in some deals with the consumers for saving them from the penalty of electricity theft and causing huge loss of revenue to the PSPCL.

A probe against the officials involved who had caused the loss of revenue because of the negligence to change the energy meters and not keeping track of people involved in electricity theft in case of tampered energy meters.

E-governance step wins accolades.

2012-02-12T08:46:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Sunday, February 12, 2012.

BHUBANESWAR: The RTI central monitoring mechanism (www.rtiorissa.gov.in) implemented by information and public relations department of Odisha government won the silver medal in "best government portal" category in the national awards on e-governance for 2011-12.

The award, instituted by the Centre, was given at the national conference on e-governance in Bhubaneswar recently. Nikunja K Sundaray, principal secretary, information and public relations, received the award from Odisha governor M C Bhandare.

The selection for the award has gone through three rounds of screening process, including field visit and presentation before jury members at New Delhi. The award is given by the union department of administrative reforms and public grievances in association with department of information technology of the Centre every year to recognize and promote excellence in implementation of e-governance initiatives.

RTI activists to stage dharna on 11th.

2012-02-12T08:41:00.000+05:30

IBNLive.com:Sunday, February 12, 2012.

HYDERABAD: RTI activists across the state have called for a protest at the Dharna Chowk here on Saturday against the appointment of eight information commissioners to the AP Information Commission. Terming the appointment a farce, B Ramakrishna Raju, convenor of the United Forum for RTI Campaign, said that the forum members had met the governor on Thursday and presented the many flaws in the appointments during a 45minute meeting. "Since the file containing the nominees' list is yet to reach the governor with the signature of the opposition party leader, he listened to us patiently and promised to look into the issue. But to further drive home our point, we have planned the dharna on Saturday,'' he said.The youth wing of the forum is expected to lead the dharna, with the support to be provided by K Padmanabhaiah, former Union home secretary and K Madhava Rao, former chief secretary.Around 200 people, including RTI activists and civil society members are expected to converge at the venue for the dharna which will be held between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. It may be recalled that a selection panel, comprising chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu among others, had recently selected eight persons as the information commissioners.Noting that some of the selected persons had actively participated in politics, Padmanabhaiah said the selection of such persons is not correct as the RTI Act mandates that eminent persons in a variety of fields be picked for the statutory posts.

No RTI response, only strike threat.

2012-02-12T08:34:00.000+05:30

Mid-Day: Kranti Vibhute:Mumbai:Sunday, February 12, 2012.

Government-aided schools refuse to answer multiple RTI queries. Instead, they threaten to go on strike and manage to get the applicant arrested on extortion charges.

All children need to do to skip class on a chilly winter morning is to convince a neighbourhood uncle to file an RTI against their school asking them uncomfortable questions. It's just that simple, at least that's what came out of a meeting called by 15 schools in Malwani, Malad, on Saturday.
In the meeting, attended by 5,000 parents at MHADA grounds, school authorities said that Kiran Sindhi and Ali Asgar Mohammad Tehsildar, residents of Malwani filed numerous RTIs in the last three years with multiple queries regarding building inspections, school facilities, government grants, school certifications, fire safety norms, etc. The schools alleged that Asgar and Tehsildar's were trying to extort money from them if they were unable to answer the queries.
The schools threatened to remain closed on Monday in protest of the RTIs but the strike was called off after Ali Asgar Tehsildar was arrested on Friday on charges of extortion. Ramesh Indulkar, Principal of Ideal English High School and Chairperson of Malad Private School Association said, "We were harassed by two people Sindhi and Tehsildar for three years. Earlier, they asked for a bribe from one of our association member too. We decided to file a case against them and inform parents about how schools are being harassed."
We cancelled our decision of closing schools on Monday immediately after Malwani police arrested Tehsildar," Indulkar added. Tehsildar was given bail by Bandra court on Saturday.
Asgar and Tehsildar appealed to court as their RTIs filed before July 18, 2011, are still pending. Sindhi said, "We are just asking for information from the schools through the RTI. What wrong have we committed? We don't understand why schools have not responded. Moreover, one of the principals who attended the hearing on February 9 passed a communal slur against Tehsildar. They have registered a fake case of extortion against us."
"The principals are misleading parents who don't know how the schools are extorting money from them illegally," he claimed.
A parent, on condition of anonymity, said, "Most of the parents don't know what the issue between the schools and the residents who filed RTI entails. We even told the school that if the RTI applicants are have queries, the school should not hesitate in giving the information."

There is something rotten...;Nine men come together to question alleged irregularities in the UPSC examinations, but the commission refutes their claims.

2012-02-11T08:49:00.000+05:30

Mid-Day:Saturday,February 11, 2012.

Nine men from all across the country once dreamt of appearing for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination and serving the country by becoming IFS/IRS/IAS/IPS. None of them though, passed the examination.

Today, all of them are doing well in their respective fields. One of them is a soldier who was injured in the Kargil War; there are doctors, a stockbroker and builders.
All in all, they have chosen vastly different career paths. Yet, they all seem united by a common desire -- to expose the wrongs within the system. This has made all nine of them come together and form a Non Governmental Organization (NGO), 'Transparency Seekers for Accountability' (TSA) to expose the irregularities in the conduct of the UPSC examination.
The TSA has used the Right To Information (RTI) and now has Supreme Court's verdicts aiding in their effort to unearth alleged irregularities.
Interestingly, the UPSC is a constitutional body under the Department of Personnel and Training Department, one of the many portfolios directly under the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
Psychiatrist Dr Prashant Chakkarwar, a member from the NGO said, "Unlike Board and University examinations where a deprived student has right to see the answer sheets and marks given by the examiner can be challenged, the UPSC does not entertain such requests even under the Right To Information (RTI) citing the 'confidentiality' issue. The UPSC has rejected the RTI request even after directives (August 9, 2011) from the Supreme Court directing all examination bodies to provide photocopies of answer sheets of candidates under RTI and the same cannot be denied under section 8 of RTI."
He added, "Our aim is to bring transparency in the examination process of the UPSC and rightful candidates should not be deprived of their chance to make it amongst the final lists. We have come across a lot of irregularities and are victims who got crushed between the influential and the corrupt and in the process were deprived of our right to serve the nation."
'Bogus' roll numbers
According to Dr Chakkarwar, a can of worms first opened when Dr Ravi Jindal, an anaesthetist, who had appeared for the UPSC examination in 2005, was not selected.
Jindal, under the RTI had asked the UPSC to provide him the exact number of candidates who applied for this examination and last roll number allocated for the examinations held since 2003 to 2006.
The UPSC in their reply dated March 8, 2007 said that in 2003 the number of candidates were 3,16,495, but the roll number allocated were 3,16,587 i.e., 92 roll numbers were extra. Similarly in 2004, there were 439 extra roll numbers, while in 2005 there were 172 extra roll numbers. In 2006 there were 7,867 extra roll numbers.
Additional RTIs for the following years until 2010 showed that the numbers increased over the years, in 2009 the number of bogus candidates went up by 6,760, while in 2010 the number went up by 4,234.
When asked about the discrepancy, the UPSC replied that the extra roll numbers were due to a mix up of roll numbers of other examinations conducted by the body.
However, the doctor stated that this explanation is fraudulent, as the application forms of the Civil Service Examination are computer readable and there is no chance of any mix up.
Moderated marks
Dr Chakkarwar appeared for the UPSC examination in 2008. Unsatisfied with his marks, he had applied for photocopies of his answer sheets and asked whether the marks shown in the final result were the actual marks given to him by the examiner.
To his surprise UPSC replied to him in a letter dated November 27, 2011 that the marks shown in final results are not his actual/raw marks given by the examiner, but are the scaled/moderated marks. He continued his fight and approached Central Information Commission (CIC).
Other case studies
According to Dr Chakkarwar, there are several cases of irregularities . One Brijees Arzoo from Sasaram, Bihar, appeared for the Civil Services Examination in 2005. When his result was posted on the Internet, he was shown absent for the Urdu paper. He filed an RTI application, saying he was present. Within three days a new result was posted on the Internet showing Arzoo's marks in Urdu literature.
Manish Jain from Gujarat had appeared for the Civil Service Exam in 2001 in History and Geography. First, he was issued a mark sheet with Philosophy and Hindi literature. But when it was brought to the UPSC's notice, they issued another mark sheet showing History and Geography as his optionals.
Nitin Varma, from Jabalpur, MP, appeared for this examination in 2001. He was shown as 278 in the final list. Unhappy with his ranking Varma approached Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). On CAT's order, his answer sheets were re-evaluated and his rank was improved to 28.
Ratipal Saroj was the Section Officer in the UPSC. He had appeared for the Civil Service Examination in 1985.
Later, he colluded with other UPSC employees and changed his answer sheets with the ones of other high scoring candidates and stood third.
Other candidates had written a letter to the prime minister raising suspicions. A CBI inquiry was conducted and Saroj's fraud was exposed.
"The UPSC has been unable to provide explanations for the defects in the system. Rather it has claimed that the system is perfect and time-tested. If it is a time-tested system, can the UPSC explain why are they planning to change it now?" questioned Dr Chakkarwar.
He claimed, "Using this fraudulent system, the whole result is stage-managed to select few favoured candidates while maintaining a facade of honesty. The result is for everyone to see. We would probably not have needed a Lokpal, had the UPSC done its job with honesty."
The Other Side
R K Sinha Joint Secretary, UPSC, was away for a meeting and could not be contacted. In his absence, a senior UPSC official, who did not wish to be named, said, "UPSC is a neutral body and a constitutional agency, which facilitates the state and central government for hiring administrative officers in the rank of IFS/IRS/IAS/IPS/IFS, etc. Allegations levelled against the UPSC by a certain set of people are baseless and they are doing this to defame the UPSC. If they have issues with the UPSC's way of conducting examinations, they should approach the court and we will reply in the court."

No safe limit for trans fats.

2012-02-11T08:42:00.000+05:30

Hindustan Times:Saturday,February 11, 2012.

India’s food regulator has been asked to pay a compensation of Rs 2,000 to a RTI for failing to admit that the country does not have safety standards for trans fats in ghee and edible oil.
Right To Information activist KS Swami wanted to know whether the National Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has prescribed any safe percentage of trans fats in ghee and edible oil.
Some western nations such as Denmark have prescribed 2% of trans fats in products as a safe limit. A study conducted by Centre for Science and Environment had showed that most of trusted edible oil brands contain unhealthy levels of trans fat and it is 12 times higher than which is permissible in Netherlands in Vanaspati ghee.
Swami filed an RTI application in July 2011 asking the authority whether they have instructed the manufacturers of ghee and edible oils to exhibit the safe percentage of trans fats on the packets along with its actual percentage.
Instead of giving a direct reply to the questions, the authority provided a few paras of its labeling regulation which said to claim that a product was trans fats fee may be used only if it was less than 0.2 gram per serving of food.
Unhappy with the reply, Swami filed an appeal with CIC which found the authority deliberately avoiding admission of no safety standard for trans fats. “If the authority has taken no steps about specifying the safe level of trans fats percentages in ghee and edible oils they should at least admit this,” Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said in his order.
Noting that harassment of a common man was “socially abhorring” and “legally impermissible”, Gandhi said awarding a compensation (of Rs 2,000) to an individual satisfies him personally and helps in improving work culture.
The CIC has also issued a notice to authority’s public information officer of imposing penalty blaming him for not furnishing complete information.

Protect yourself first !

2012-02-11T08:36:00.003+05:30

The Asian Age:Saturday,February 11, 2012.

One of the biggest threats in the cyber world is hacking. The reasons behind these attacks range from control of power, monetary gains to doing it just for the kicks. Hack attacks are also not big enough reasons to raise an alarm but when government websites become victims of regular and incessant hacking it’s time to go into a huddle.

In a reply to an RTI petition, the National Information Centre, under the ministry of Communications and Information Technology, confessed this Thursday that nine government websites were hacked in the recent past.
The websites were lucky as hackers only seemed to be defacing home pages by posting objectionable content. This raises questions about the safety and security of other related government websites that even hold more sensitive information. India, after all, plans to build web censorship, alongside plans to create a database for its billions.
What is even more perplexing is the fact that this is not the government’s first time. In 2011, a total of 117 websites were hacked between January and June.
In October, a Pakistan-based hacker defaced eight Indian government websites and we couldn’t even stop the intrusion.
NIC’s reply also added: “A number of hacking attempts are made on daily basis on governments websites hosted on NICNET servers. It is not possible to accurately quantify these. The attempts are usually effectively blocked by security controls in place.”
However, the measure taken to prevent more of them just doesn’t seem enough. A case of misplaced priorities? Objectionable content on blogs are obviously less severe than the ones plastered on government websites, by foreign countries.
When you try breaking through big daddy’s cyber gates, consequences might be severe. But the fact that somebody did break in, is dangerous, embarrassing and calls for better security and fast !

Odisha RTI Initiative bags National e-Governance Award.

2012-02-11T08:32:00.000+05:30

Orissadiary.com:Saturday,February 11, 2012.

Report by OrissaDiary.com bureau; Bhubaneswar: The State Government’s initiative on e-Governance has brought laurels for the state with the RTI Central Monitoring Mechanism (www.rtiorissa.gov.in) implemented by Information and Public Relations Department, Govt. of Odisha securing the medal in 'Best Government Portal' category in the National Awards on e-Governance for 2011-12 instituted by the Union Government.

The RTI Central Monitoring Mechanism (RTI CMM) of the State Government has been declared the winner of silver award in the “Best Government Portal” category of National Award on e-Governance 2011-12. Sri Nikunja K. Sundaray, IAS Principal Secretary to Govt. of Information & Public Relations Department received the award from Governor of Odisha, His Excellency Muralidhar Chandrakant Bhandare along with Director and team members at the valedictory ceremony of two-day 15th National Conference on e-Governance at KIIT University, BBSR.

The selection for the award has gone through a 3-round of screening process including field visit and presentation before jury members at New Delhi. The award is given by the Union Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in association with Department of Information Technology, Government of India every year to recognize and promote excellence in implementation of e-governance initiatives.

Attending the valedictory function if 15th e-Governance conference at KIIT, his Excellency, GoO, Sri M. C Bhandare said, “e-governance would help in improving the quality of governance in the state”.

Notably, the State witnessed a series of changes in 2009 in view of implementation of Right to Information Act, 2005 when RTI Central Monitoring Mechanism (RTI-CMM) was launched. Since its implementation, the system has connected more than 4652 offices into this single network of RTI CMM. There has been a dedicated cell at the department for smooth operation and monitoring of the mechanism in the entire state. The system has been developed and being implemented by Content Service Provider (CSP) to RTI Portal, Luminous Infoways.

Naidu dissent on ICs leaves Kiran smiling.

2012-02-11T08:29:00.000+05:30

Deccan Chronicle:Saturday,February 11, 2012.

Leader of the Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu’s much hyped “dissent” over the appointment of Information Commissioners appears to be a classic case of much ado about nothing.

Contrary to his public posture that he is very opposed to the way the new Information Commissioners had been picked, Mr Naidu remained highly non-committal while recording his views on the issue in the note file concerned. “In view of the feedback and public perception on the proposed list of Information Commissioners, I suggest that a search committee should be formed to scrutinise the eligibility of the applicants as per the provisions of the RTI Act and place it before the next meeting of the high-level committee,” he scribbled in the note file, according to highly placed sources.

In fact, the Leader of Opposition made the job of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy easier by not putting spokes in the process. After seeing Mr Naidu's views, the government felt comfortable and decided to forward the note file to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan so that the appointment orders could be issued.

Though the Telugu Desam president wanted a search committee to scrutinise the applications as per the provisions of RTI Act, ironically, the Act itself prescribes the selection of the Information Commissioners by a high-level committee comprising the Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and a senior minister. “There is no provision for any search committee in the Act,” sources said, adding that Mr Naidu indeed undermined his own position as member of the high-level committee that is supposed to go through all the credentials of the applicants and chose the best among them.

Mr Naidu’s talk about a “next meeting” also surprised officials as there would not be any meeting once the new commissioners were shortlisted by the high-level committee. “He did not demand such a meeting in the January 31 meeting,” sources said.

CIC rap for Govt over trans-fat in food items.

2012-02-11T08:24:00.000+05:30

Daily Pioneer:Saturday,February 11, 2012.

The Chief Information Commissioner has criticised Union Health Ministry for its ambivalent approach on the issue of declaration of trans-fat content in edible items sold in the market.

RTI applicant KK Swami, who had sought information whether anything concrete had been done by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India on the trans-fat content isuue, was told by the Ministry that it had made it a requirement to declare the content on September 19, 2008.

“However, this letter (from the Ministry) acknowledges that since industry made various representations apprehending commercial implications in terms of their sale of products a corrigendum was issued on Feb 27, 2009 modifying this,” Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi pointed out in his order. When the matter came before the CIC.

He also noted that Prevention of Food Adulteration Department had informed the applicant Swami, in December 2009, that the safe limit specified for trans-fat in food products shall be clarified from Government of India and efforts are being made to get the food laboratory of this department accredited from NABL to have all these testing facilities in near future.

After another year, the Ministry informed him the process of framing regulation by Food Authority of India is on. With no clear reply from the Health Ministry, Swami reached the transparency panel.

Directing the Ministry to give a clear response on the subject before March 15, Gandhi said, “The appellant has been unnecessarily harassed in pursuing this matter. If there is complete neglect of care for citizens health this should at least come out when a citizen uses Right to Information”. The consumption of trans-fat which are commonly found in the edible oils and ghee are known for increasing the risk of coronary heart disease by raising levels of bad LDL cholesterol and lowering levels of ‘good’ HDL cholesterol.

Government employee shoots contractor.

2012-02-11T08:18:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Saturday,February 11, 2012.

Surendranagar: A state government employee at road and housing department office near collectorate here opened fire from his license revolver at a contractor on Thursday. The victim survived the attack with bullets in his leg and was shifted to an Ahmedabad hospital on Friday.

According to Surendranagar police, accused O P Meena, chief accountant with road and housing department, fired two rounds from his revolver at Dipak Aswani. Aswani was injured in his leg and was rushed to C U Shah Medical College, from where he was later shifted to Ahmedabad for treatment.

"Our preliminary investigation revealed that Aswani had apparently run into dispute with Meena over billing of his contractual work. Aswani had even threatened to file an RTI application, which incensed Meena, provoking him to launch the attack," a Surendranagar police official said. Police have arrested Meena and started investigation in the case.

3,500 RTI pages and counting.

2012-02-11T08:12:00.000+05:30

Indian Express:Rajkot, Fri Feb 10 2012,

Aslam Khokhar, whose monthly income from a paanshop and 15 bigha land in Kutiyana is less than Rs 10,000, has so far spent Rs 10,000 to file RTI applications in the last three years. He said the number of pages received as reply under the RTI is nearly 3,500.

Khokar, who has studied up to Class XI, daily spends three hours, 9 pm to 12 midnight, on studying these documents and other paper works. He said his friends and community members have extended financial support for the legal battle in the HC.

Khokhar, who had been receiving life threats after he unearthed the NREGS scam in 2010, has been provided police protection by the local administration for over a year now.

Paanwala who unearthed NREGS fraud now exposes pond scam in Porbandar.

2012-02-11T08:08:00.000+05:30

Indian Express: Hiral Dave : Rajkot, Fri Feb 10 2012,

Rajkot : The curiosity of Aslam Khokhar, a paanwala from Kutiyana, over an unfinished pond in his hometown in Porbandar district has blown the lid off an alleged Rs 36-crore scam in the state’s flagship irrigation scheme implemented by the Gujarat State Land Development Corporation (GSLDC).

According to Khokhar, who had unearthed an NREGS scam to the tune of nearly Rs 1 crore in 2010 while surfing Internet, the financial irregularities are reported to have taken place in the district between 2007 and 2010.

On paper, nearly Rs 36 crore were spent on construction of ponds at private farms (khet talavdi), villages (gam talavdi) and outskirts (sim talavdi) in some 70 villages of three talukas during the said period by GSLDC, a government undertaking formed to implement water and soil conservation projects. But departmental inquiry, following several complaints from villagers, revealed gross irregularities in the implementation of the project.

The inquiry revealed there was no record of contractors who received payments in crores, labourers engaged in the work and even machines like earthmovers, which, according to officials concerned, were used at project sites.

“I have obtained records of 100 earthmovers that, on paper, were shown as being used in the project. But replies to my RTI queries by the RTO revealed that in 90 cases, it was not an earthmover but some other vehicle, like motorbikes or scooters,” said Khokhar.

“Residents of all the villages in question agree that no work was done. But not all are ready to say it in affidavits as they are afraid. But some of them have filed affidavits with me,” he added.

In November last year, Indravadan Mehta, joint director (project preparations) GSLDC, had said in an affidavit to the Gujarat High Court that the suspected regional officials were likely to face action under the Code of Criminal Procedure. He had filed the affidavit in response to a public interest litigation by Khokhar.

The HC dismissed the case last week after the state government promised to take necessary action against the officials concerned.

The irregularities had surfaced for the first time when the department headquarters in Gandhinagar received six complaints from different villages between June and December 2008. Subsequently, an inquiry was ordered into a complaint by Kudwadar village sarpanch Nebha Chelar even as five other complainants withdrew their pleas for various reasons.

The GSLDC in its affidavit maintained that gross irregularities were found in the probe report and in 2009, chargesheet was filed against 11 employees, including assistant director (water conservation) I H Prajapati, regional observer M G Parmar, regional observer M S Chavda and others.

While the department formed another committee for further probe against these officials, reply to an RTI application filed by Khokar in 2009 revealed the scam was spread across the district.

Last April, Khokhar produced 3,500 pages of RTI replies from RTO and GSLDC as evidence before the Governor seeking action against officials concerned. At the same time, he filed a PIL in the HC alleging the department was trying to shield its officials by not taking further steps.

In the PIL, he had attached photographs of 20 sites where work was never done, and affidavits by 12 sarpanchs and villagers, testifying that no work was done at their respective villages.

A three-member inquiry team appointed by GSLDC in August 2011 under Rajkot deputy director (water conservation) P T Korvadia validated the evidence furnished by Khokhar and held officers responsible for gross negligence. The inquiry report submitted by the team in December revealed:

The RTO licence number of earthmovers shown at various places, against which payments to the tune of several crores were made, were that of motorbikes, scooters and tractors.

There is no record of the contractors, like identity and address proofs, who were awarded projects on paper.

Discrepancies in the list of contractors who were awarded work on paper and who actually undertook the project.

Nine govt websites defaced: NIC

2012-02-10T08:39:00.000+05:30

Oneindia:Friday, February 10, 2012.

New Delhi, Feb 9: Nine official websites including that of the Power Ministry, Maharashtra, Kerala and Uttarakhand Governments were defaced in the recent past, forcing the authorities to strengthen cyber security safeguards.
The websites www.kumbh2010haridwar.gov.in, www.ueppcb.uk.gov.in, www.gov.ua.nic.in/ujn, www.cdodoon.gov.in, www.arunachal.nic.in,www.bee-india.nic.in, www.civilsupplieskerala.gov.in, www.mpcb.gov.in and www.informatics.nic.in were defaced, the National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said in an RTI reply.
"A number of hacking attempts are made on daily basis on governments websites hosted on NICNET servers. It is not possible to accurately quantify these. The attempts are usually effectively blocked by security controls put in place," it said.
The Ministry was asked to give details of hacking attempts being made on the governments websites in the last ten years (2001-11) along with the names of Uniform Resource Locater (URL) of the portals and source of such attacks.
However, the NIC said that "no such compilation is available" on the URL or name of the portals which were victims of cyber attacks.
"Source of an attempt is mostly traced through Internet protocol (IP) numbers making these attacks. However, the IP number may not be correct country since usually attacker attempt to masquerade their origin," the NIC said in reply to an RTI query filed by PTI.

Central Information Commission asks Prime Minister's Office to retrieve emergency records.

2012-02-10T08:29:00.000+05:30

The Economic Times:Friday, February 10, 2012.

NEW DELHI: Surprised at "missing" records of correspondence between the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed relating to the 1975 Emergency proclamation, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to retrieve and preserve the relevant files.
The transparency panel also sought an enquiry by the PMO into how the records relating to "such an important event in the history of post-independent India" were untraceable.
In a reply to an RTI query, the PMO had claimed that despite its best efforts, the communication relating to proclamation of Emergency could not be traced in its records. When the matter reached the CIC, the PMO officials again reiterated the position stated in the RTI reply.
Chief information commissioner Satyananda Mishra observed that the untraceable Emergency files was "something surprising", even though he refrained from faulting the officials concerned.
"The records relating to such an important event in the history of post-independence India should be carefully preserved for future and cannot be allowed to get lost in the labyrinth of government offices," Mishra said in his order.
"We would like the competent authorities in the PMO to enquire into this matter and to ensure that these records are retrieved or traced, and should be preserved appropriately for the citizens to access," he added.

Additional chief secretary in fray for post of CIC.

2012-02-10T08:24:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Friday, February 10, 2012.

MUMBAI: Outgoing additional chief secretary (home) Umesh Chandra Sarangi is emerging as a strong contender for the post of chief information commissioner (CIC), which has been lying vacant for the last eight months. Pune information commissioner Vijay Kuvalekar, who was holding additional charge, retired on February 7.
Sarangi confirmed to TOI that he has applied for the post. An IAS officer of the 1977 batch, Sarangi will retire on February 29. As per the provisions of the RTI Act, CICs and other information commissioners are appointed by a committee comprising the chief minister, deputy chief minister and leader of the Opposition in the legislative assembly.
"We expect the committee will meet soon in view of vacancy of not only the CIC, but also three more information commissioners," a senior bureaucrat said on Thursday.
Besides Sarangi, general administration department secretary Nandkumar Jantre, former chief secretary J P Dange, additional chief secretary Anna Dani and retired bureaucrats M Ramesh Kumar, Bhupati Prasad Pandey and Leena Mehandale are also in the fray.
Former MMRDA commissioner Suresh Joshi was the first CIC. Along with him, former law secretary Vilas Patil, veteran journalist Vijay Kuvalekar, former urban development secretary Ramanand Tiwari and former additional chief secretary Navin Kumar were appointed as information commissioners. Following Joshi's retirement, there was a move to appoint a retired bureaucrat as CIC.
However, after Vilas Patil lodged a strong protest saying that while appointing a new CIC, the government should follow the principle of seniority, he was appointed CIC. Significantly, when Patil retired eight months ago, instead of appointing a regular CIC, the government entrusted additional charge to Kuvalekar, who has now retired.
The question is whether the government will follow the principle of seniority or appoint a CIC of its choice. "Under the RTI Act, there is no provision for appointing a CIC by seniority; it's the prerogative of the three-member committee. Let the committee take a decision," a bureaucrat said.

RCA, Rajasthan Royals owe police Rs 4.5 cr.

2012-02-10T08:19:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Friday, February 10, 2012.

NEW DELHI: The Rajasthan Cricket Association and Indian Premier League team-- Rajasthan Royals owe nearly Rs 4.5 crore to the state police towards security arrangements during cricket matches.
An RTI reply from the Rajasthan Police states that dues towards Secretary, Rajasthan Cricket Association are Rs 3.98 crore while the IPL team owned by Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra owe Rs 50.99 lakh.
The reply provided to activist Subhash Agrawal said RCA owed Rs 1.14 crore for Champions Trophy matches in 2006, Rs 17.87 lakh for a one-day match between India and South Africa on February 21, 2010, Rs 83.60 lakh for IPL matches in 2010, Rs 2.22 lakh for a one-day match between India and New Zealand on December 1, 2010, and Rs 1.79 crore for IPL matches in 2011.
The reply said all dues towards Rajasthan Royals were for security arrangements of IPL teams during the 2011 series.
"The dues towards RCA and Rajasthan Royals is total Rs 4.49 crore excluding the interest," the reply from Rajasthan Police said.

Foreign students want slice of RTI pie.

2012-02-10T08:14:00.000+05:30

Deccan Herald:Friday, February 10, 2012.

Like Indians, they wish to use Right to Information law to get answers from Delhi University Foreign students at Delhi University feel that exclusion of foreigners from the Right to Information Act makes them helpless when they want to seek answers from DU authorities.
They think that an RTI application has a better chance of getting a meaningful reply – to issues ranging from tenure of a hostel warden to broken gym equipment – than a direct query to the administration. But unlike their Indian classmates, they don't have access to this tool.
According to deputy dean of foreign student affairs Veena Mishra, over 15,000 foreign students study in DU. In the last academic session, they came from 70 different countries, but most of them are from India's neighbourhood and Africa.
Discrepancies in facilitiesForeign students said they wish to get information through RTI on ‘discrepencies’ in hostel facilities, infrastructure of their departments and utilisation of the money they are paying as fees.“At the International hostel for men, the gym has two dumb bells, and two broken exercising cycles. The computers are so old that it takes an hour for them to start,'' said a student from Iraq.
“Then, the hostel's internet is extremely slow, while the hostel next to us has decent speed. According to hostel rules computers cannot be replaced before eight years. I want to file an RTI asking exactly how old these computers are and about the internet speed since that's the only way for us to keep in touch with our families,” he added.
The students are not allowed to get a different internet connection. Foreign students said Indian students are reluctant to file RTIs about 'serious concerns' as they don't want to get into trouble with University authorities.
“There is so much going on in my department. We pay good amount of money as our fees but the infrastructure of my department is crumbling. When I asked an Indian student to file an RTI on my behalf, he was scared as the person's name and address will be on the form. Students don't want to risk it when it comes to their future,” said Dai Sung Han from South Korea, pursuing his Masters in Buddhist Studies.
While there is no grievance redress cell for foreign students, Veena Mishra said every department has a counsellor and every hostel has officials to address their concerns.
“The students can directly approach us. If there are problems regarding college administration, we can help,'' she said.
There weren't many complaints and in no case was the matter so serious that the complainant's identity needed to be concealed.
But foreign students feel if they raise questions directly, the authorities might take offence and create problems for them in getting their degree.
“It is not that they don't listen to our problems and they do try to solve the minor issues. But we avoid discussing grave problems with them thinking that it may lead to trouble,” said an hosteller from France.
He said everyone knew that the warden and the provost have a tenure of only two years, but it gets extended by years.
“Why? Can we ask these questions to the administration directly?” he said.

Maheshwar not clean, alleges Kullu organisation.

2012-02-09T08:45:00.000+05:30

Chandigarh Newsline:Thursday, February 09, 2012.

Shimla: Maheswar Singh, who led an anti-corruption front against the state government and later formed the Himachal Lokhit Party, was on Wednesday accused of grabbling land at Dhalpur ground and possessing nearly 600 bighas of prime land, “illegally” regularised by the government during his tenure as an MP.

Rupi Dehat Sudhar Sangarsh Samiti, a Kullu-based voluntary organisation, asked the state government to act on recommendation of Kullu deputy commissioner and cancel “illegal” land allotments to Singh a scion of the erstwhile Kullu royal family.

Om Prakash Sharma, the president of the body and also a member of Kullu Zila Parishad, said he had been leading the fight against the Kullu royal family since 1984. “I have faced setbacks and even been victimised, at the behest of Maheshwar Singh. But I have refused to give up my struggle. I have nothing personal against Maheshwar but my organisation feels morally committed to bring the facts before the public,” he said, while admitting that his loyalties lie with the Congress.

Flanked by other members of the body, Sharma displayed revenue documents and information obtained under the RTI on Singh’s properties, alleged land encroachment and hefty remunerations that he had received from the government as the chief “kardar” of Lord Raghunathji a deity worshipped in Kullu.

Concrete jungle to take over Dadri lake.

2012-02-09T08:41:00.000+05:30

India Today:Thursday, February 09, 2012.

A signboard of construction firm Ansal API inside the Bil Akbarpur wetlands. Look at the picture on the top. Does it strike as incongruous? The board of a prominent builder craning its 'head' out of a pond. Well, they are the new owners of the Bil Akbarpur wetlands in Greater Noida, evicting the rightful owners - the rare Bristled Grassbird, which flocks to the Dadri bird habitat nestled in the wetland.

A signboard of construction firm Ansal API inside the Bil Akbarpur wetlands

This, in short, is the story of the ecologically rich and fragile wetlands of Greater Noida. In just under two years, the number of wetlands has decreased from 19 to six, filled up and sold to realtors illegally.

In an RTI reply to environmentalist Anand Arya on July 6, 2009, the district forest department had admitted Bil Akbarpur was a wetland, placing it on top of the list of the 19 wetlands scattered over Dadri, Dankore and Jewar.

The rare Bristled Grassbird

But in a reply to environmentalist Vikrant Togad last year, the government put the figure at a mere six. So far as Bil Akbarpur is concerned, it said that it was a small water body that is mistaken for a wetland. "It can't be true. How can the same department state two different figures in the space of two years?" Togad asked.

"This proves that encroachment on the wetlands, as we assume from the government's own answer, has taken place and the administration was a partner in the crime," he said.

While the state government claims there is nothing illegal in the sale of land to Ansal API, environmentalists claim otherwise.

The environment ministry has issued a notice to Ansal API, asking it to immediately halt work on the Bil Akbarpur wetlands. An investigation has also been launched into the issue.

The real estate developer is, however, continuing with its construction work at the site.

"The government has sought a reply on a complaint filed by Togad about the construction being carried out by Ansal API at Bil Akbarpur. We have sent a report, apprising them that the developer has filled up the place with earth," district forest officer B. Prabhakar said.

In defence, Arvind Mishra, additional GM (Ansal API), who looks after the Hi-Tech city project in the Bil Akbarpur area, said: "There is just a twohectare pond, which we have demarcated and informed the public about in line with our agreement with the government to protect the water bodies. We have purchased the entire land directly from farmers.

"A bird sanctuary cannot exist in a two-hectare area. Still, if anybody has objections, we are ready to leave that patch. Furthermore, the land in question is not a wetland but just a waterlogged patch filled with water for only three months a year. Farmers sow this land the rest of the season," he said.

Asked what the forest department would do in the wake of the environment ministry's notice to the Ansals, Prabhakar said: "We have no role in it. It is between the central government and the builder."

The Bil Akbarpur area, also known as the Dadri wetlands, is home to 220 species of birds.

Apart from these birds, environmentalists have also photographed the rare Bristled Grassbird there.

"This is the best bird habitat near the national Capital. The greed of the administration and the gross neglect of this natural treasure by the state government have ruined a beautiful habitat," Togad said.

Environmentalists have spotted Sarus (Uttar Pradesh's state bird), Blue Throat (a rare bird from Alaska) and waterfowls such as Malard, Pintale, Shovelers, Garganey, Pochards, Wigeons and Waders at Bil Akbarpur.

Chautala reimbursed Rs 595, Congress leader over Rs 5 lakh.

2012-02-09T08:33:00.000+05:30

Expressindia.com:Thursday, February 09, 2012.

Chandigarh: Going by the Haryana Assembly records, it seems former chief minister and Leader of Opposition Om Prakash Chautala is the fittest of them all, as he has been reimbursed for his medical expenses of Rs 595 only. He is followed by state Congress chief Phool Chand Mullana who has received medical reimbursement of Rs 1,500 only.

While ailing Congress leader and former education minister Lachhman Das Arora has received medical reimbursement of Rs 5,50,673 against 46 bills, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been reimbursed for his medical expenses of Rs 3,668 between 2005 and 2011.

Information provided in response to an RTI application filed by Sanjiv Sharma to the Assembly shows that ministers and chief parliamentary secretaries have claimed medical reimbursement ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 5 lakh for a period from 2005 to 2011.

Former deputy chief minister Chander Mohan, who converted to Islam as Chand Mohammad and married and then divorced Anuradha Bali alias Fiza Mohammad, claimed medical reimbursement of Rs 25,000 for himself and Rs 61,855 for his son.

Power Minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav claimed Rs 1,88,465 against 16 medical bills covering his wife, son and himself.

Finance Minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha received medical reimbursement of Rs 1,39,478 against 14 bills pertaining to his wife and himself.

Former transport minister Om Prakash Jain claimed reimbursement of medical expenses of Rs 2,18,993 against 18 bills related to him and his wife.

Similarly, former urban and local bodies minister A C Chaudhary took Rs 73,983 against medical expenditure of him and his wife.

Rajya Sabha MP Birender Singh billed Assembly a sum of Rs 62,608 against his and his wife’s medical expenses, and his bills ranged from Rs 450 to Rs 32,160.

Prominent among others who availed medical reimbursement are Randeep Singh Surjewala (Rs 33,810), Meena Rani (Rs 29,249) and the late Kartar Devi (Rs 5,04,986).

Tribunal fines, issues notice to police commissioner.

2012-02-09T08:30:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Thursday, February 09, 2012.

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) on Tuesday ordered high-profile Pune police commissioner Meeran Borwankar to pay a Rs 25,000 fine within a week, and also initiated contempt proceedings against her for failure to implement the tribunal's directive to consider promoting a head constable to the post of assistant sub-inspector of police. This is the first time in the recent past that the MAT has taken a highranking IPS official to task.

It has ordered Borwankar to deposit the Rs 25,000 fine from her own funds within a week. It has also issued a showcause notice to the commissioner for "contempt of court for wilfully disobeying their order, which was given on November 23, 2011". "We direct the Pune police commissioner to immediately comply with our order... (she) shall also deposit a sum of Rs 25,000 in this court towards compensatory costs," MAT chairman Dr S Radhakrishnan and vice-chairman A P Sinha observed in the two-page order.

Last year, while disposing of an application filed by head constable Laxman Rathod on November 23, the MAT had asked the Pune police commissioner and the member secretary of the Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee to consider promoting him to ASI and not deny him the promotion solely on the grounds of non-availability of the caste validity certificate.

It is "astounding" that despite the judgment of the HC and the ad-interim relief of our tribunal-the Pune police commissioner and the member secretary were directed to consider Rathod's case for promotion-no steps were taken by the police commissioner to date, said the order.

Rathod, who joined the Pune police as constable in 1981, has been knocking at the doors of justice after he was denied a promotion on several occasions. In August 2010, the Pune commissioner had submitted Rathod's application for a caste validity certificate to the committee, which failed to take cognisance of it. On September 2, 2011, he was informed by Borwankar-in a circular issued by the general administration department-that unless he produced the certificate, he could not be considered for a promotion. Rathod invoked the RTI Act to find out why he had been overlooked.

ASSOCIATION FOR PROTECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS STRONGLY CONDEMNS JMI.

2012-02-09T08:25:00.000+05:30

Radiance Viewsweekly:Thursday, February 09, 2012.

Association for Protection of Civil Rights strongly condemns Jamia Millia Islamia for sending a legal notice of defamation worth Rs. 50 lakh to a noted RTI activist and terms it as harassment attempt to the activist who happens to be its own student.

As Afroz Alam Sahil is constantly questioning Jamia’s administration through RTI so this is an open attempt to suppress the voice of dissent as well as freedom of speech. For the last six months, he had started a campaign to ensure democratic rights for students of JMI where election of Students Union is not allowed since 2006. There are many issues which include corruption, fellowships, hostel allotment, health services and security for women students which he raised by hisRTIapplications, campaigning letters, handbills and letters to professors and faculty members.

Sahil has contributed a lot through his RTI activism to expose irregularities and corruption in public institutions. That in the Batla House “Encounter” post-mortem report was out by his RTI, is a glaring example of his activism. The APCR demands that Jamia administration should withdraw its legal notice with immediate effect to ensure freedom of speech and to encourage its own outstanding student. Instead of sending legal notice, the Jamia should clarify the issues raised by Sahil.

SIC orders protection to battered whistle-blower.

2012-02-09T08:21:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Thursday, February 09, 2012.

PATNA: Though battered and bruised, and crying in pain and anguish, Dhananjay Kumar Jha, a whistle-blower of Vaishali district, remains undaunted. In fact, the murderous attack on him last month has strengthened his resolve to expose the misdeeds of officials and public representatives relating to alleged embezzlement of funds meant for public welfare works.
Jha, also an RTI activist, has already exposed many scams in different schemes at panchayat level. On his complaint, the mukhiya of Goraul-Bhagwanpur, Shiv Shankar Rai, was not only jailed, but also ousted from the post and debarred from contesting elections. He claims to have highlighted embezzlement of funds in schemes like sinking of hand pumps, installation of solar lights and implementation of MNREGA, which was admitted even by officials.
As a result, for people involved in corruption, he became a thorn in the flesh. Last month, a murderous assault was made on him and the assailants also beat up his octogenarian father Bajrang Jha and damaged his eye. "The attack was made by PDS dealer Parasnath and his relatives. The dealer indulges in illegal practices like hoarding and black marketing of essential commodities through fake coupons in connivance with a senior local official," Jha alleged in his FIR lodged with Goraul police station on January 14.
The 30-year-old whistle-blower now claims to be facing threats of abduction of his minor children and his other family members too are not venturing out due to threat to their lives. "My children have stopped going to school," he said. My complaints regarding hoarding and black marketing of PDS items didn't bear fruit due to involvement of some local officials, he alleges.
He, finally, took up his case to the State Information Commission (SIC). On Wednesday, while hearing his case, information commissioner Farzand Ahmed issued directive to the Vaishali DM to get the allegations against the PDS dealer probed and ensure security of the whistle-blower. The SIC also ordered the Goraul BDO, who was present during the hearing and admitted black marketing of kerosene and other essential commodities by the PDS dealer, to coordinate with the local police and arrange for the security of Jha's family.

SSC, HSC students can use RTI to see answer sheets.

2012-02-09T08:17:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Thursday, February 09, 2012.

The state education board is set to usher in a more transparent evaluation system: starting this year, students sitting for the Class X state board exam and the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) will be able to get a copy of their corrected answer booklets under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. In the past, the state board did not entertain RTI applications from students who wished to see their evaluated papers, but will now have to do so in accordance with an August 2011 SC ruling. Education officials said a circular has been sent to all city SSC schools and junior colleges directing faculty to ensure that students are aware of this new feature. The state board is yet to inform students of the procedure and deadlines.
"Students have every right to know where they went wrong and how they were marked. The SC order was announced a couple of months ago and we have decided to implement it this year itself," said Ravindra Bhise, divisional secretary of the state board. This new rule will also bring in a measure of accountability. The circular said that if the board finds fault in the marking process of a paper, which a student has submitted for revaluation, the examiner and moderator of that paper will be held responsible.
In August 2011, the SC had announced that "any student aggrieved by the marks awarded to him/her in the exams can now make an application and have a look at how the marks have been awarded". Principals believe that other boards, too, should adopt this rule. "Though we haven't been notified by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, the ICSE board being a national board comes under the purview of the RTI Act. Our students should be able to avail of this feature," said Carl Laurie, principal of Christ Church School.
This is a year of many firsts for the state board, which has announced that the final Science practicals for SSC students can be evaluated by the school itself. With a change in the Science and Math curriculum, the evaluation process for these subjects has also changed. SSC students will appear for a 60-mark theory (Science) paper at the examination centre. The remaining 40 marks are divided into 20-mark practicals and a 20-mark objective-type question paper, which will be conducted and evaluated by the school itself.
"As the internal marking for the rest of the subjects is handled by the school, we decided that even the Science practicals for Class X students can be held without the need for an external examiner," said an official from the state board, Pune. "We aim to ensure that students get through the examination season with as little tension as possible. We are doing everything in our capacity to help our students," added Bhise. HSC exams will begin on February 21, while the SSC examination will start on March 1.

BEST ‘adjusts’ govt’s unpaid power bills.

2012-02-09T08:14:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Thursday, February 09, 2012.

MUMBAI: Ever faced a power cut because you failed to pay the electric bill on time? The answer is obvious for the common man. But government departments, which owe crores to the city's power supplying agency, continue to enjoy free power.
The city's public hospitals, MLA hostels and courts emerged as the largest defaulters. Put together, hundreds of public offices owe the BEST Rs 31 crore. But it continues to supply power to the powerful Mantralaya, Arthur Road Jail and MMRDA, all of which have been using electricity worth millions without paying a penny for it.
Data procured by RTI activist Chetan Kothari found that hospitals owe the BEST the most-Rs 4.68 crore, followed by the various offices of the public works department (PWD)-Rs 3.67 crore and the city's courts which have an outstanding bill of Rs 1.99 crore.
The data pertains to the current outstanding amount of various agencies till November 2011. We selected some of the outstanding amounts which have crossed the Rs 10-lakh mark. If calculated, smaller amounts in an unending list of pending dues, the outstanding amounts given above may shoot up further.
Kothari said the BEST should not have two sets of rules, one for the general public and another for government offices. "The number of unpaid bills has piled up over the years precisely because the BEST has been so callous about their recovery drive," he added.
On its part, the BEST isn't worried about these arrears. Reason: it's all within the large syndicate called the government. In fact, the BEST has come up with its own ingenuous mechanism of striking out the government arrears. Sources said they do an internal adjustment in their account books about the pending amounts within government establishments. "In return for the arrears, we have not paid transport tax to the government, which is about Rs 50 crore. It's an adjustment within the government departments," said a senior official.
BEST general manager Omprakash Gupta also endorsed the fact that these pending amounts and subsidies to hospitals are adjusted among the government departments. "It's understood that a government hospital carrying out a surgery at just Rs 200 is in public interest; services like these need subsidies," he said when asked about the largest pending dues with hospitals.
But IIT-Bombay's professor Girish Kumar, from the electrical engineering department, termed such an arrangement vicious. He wondered why the government was not paying its electricity dues. "More surprisingly, why is the BEST is sitting tight? Which undertaking would like to lose over Rs 31 crore?" he asked.
Economists said that such large payment defaults lead an undertaking to the path of lossmaking, before they are eventually shut down.
Senior power expert Ashok Pendse said these adjustments are never shown in the account books and against this deficit, the money is borrowed from different institutions. "Consumers have to pay the interest of these amounts. There are incidents when the government instead of paying subsidy to MSEDCL for agriculture and to power loom consumers, hiked state electricity duty to adjust the accounts. This affects power purchase, supply services and ultimately leads to either high tariff or load-shedding," he said.
Surendra Kumar, IG prison and in-charge of Arthur Road Jail, said there are internal disputes about the areas and their billing which has resulted in accumulation. "But we will surely look into it and resolve the issue," said Kumar when asked why the jail has not paid the dues.
PWD authorities, who are supposed to look after payment of power bills for the MLA hostel and Mantralaya, were not reachable for comments.

MNREGA scam: 65-year-old RTI activist attacked in Rajasthan.

2012-02-09T08:09:00.000+05:30

IBNLive.com:Thursday, February 09, 2012.

Jaipur: On February 2, even as Sonia Gandhi was speaking out against corruption in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, a 65-year-old RTI applicant from Bikaner in Rajasthan was brutally attacked after he tried to expose corruption in the MNREGA work. The ex-Sarpanch was allegedly beaten up by supporters of the current Sarpanch.

Dudhram had complained to the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) about the allocation of Rs 4 crore for clearing sand. Dudhram was allegedly attacked by relatives of the present Sarpanch in the Somalsar village.

"We were raising a valid point against corruption. We complained to the collector and to the ACB. A team was sent from Jaipur which triggered this. They decided they would beat me up if I did not go quiet on it. They may've attacked me but others will stand up against it," Dhudaram said.

Dudhram is now in the ICU at a Jaipur hospital with multiple fractures. Despite an FIR against 10 accused, no arrests have been made so far. Social activists are now demanding an audit to expose corruption in the area.

"Here are people trying to get social sector programmes to work and here is the system that's not responding. And allowing thing to come to a point where if anyone raises their voice they will be beaten up," Social activist Nikhil Dey said.

Dhudaram's is far from being the first case of an RTI applicant being attacked in Rajasthan. Last year RTI activist Manglaram from Barmer suffered the same fate. Despite the rhetoric against corruption, the government seems to be failing to protect whistle blowers.

Experts: Shehla was shot dead.

2012-02-09T07:58:00.000+05:30

Deccan Chronicle:Thursday, February 09, 2012.

As the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) roped in forensic experts at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) it is now confirmed that RTI activist Shehla Masood was murdered in Bhopal. The forensic experts, who visited the crime site and studied the autopsy report, have come to the conclusion that she was shot dead.
“We studied the pattern of the injury, the fire arm used and the autopsy report. The features of the wound-the depth and its direction helped us conclude that she was actually murdered,” said a senior doctor.
A team of forensic experts from the AIIMS had visited Bhopal in January to gather and collaborate clues in connection with the murder of RTI activist Shehla Masood. Led by Dr T.D. Dogra, head of forensic sciences department at AIIMS, the experts had visited the spot where the activist had died. The CBI roped the AIIMS experts as the stories of “self inflicted” gun shot by Masood had also doing rounds.
The experts, however, ruled it out, maintaining that, “The findings are different in cases of self-inflicted gun shot, which do not apply here. We took into consideration the angle of the injury. In case she had shot herself the gun powder would have trickled on her hand. However, in this case gun powder was not found, the non recovery of weapon all showed that she was murdered.” the experts in AIIMS have already submitted their report to the probe agency.

MLC behind varsity seat con.

2012-02-08T08:18:00.000+05:30

Deccan Chronicle:Wednesday, February 08, 2012.

This is yet another example of how people’s representatives misuse their office to protect the interests of private entities at the cost of public interest. Documents accessed through the Right to Information (RTI) show that it was none other than Member of the Legislative Council and vice president of the NRI Forum Karnataka, Capt Ganesh Karnik, who was general manager of NITTE Education Trust till 2006, who had stopped the State government from claiming the mandatory 25 per cent of medical seats in the Mangalore-based NITTE and Yenepoya universities for the academic year 2010-11. Due to the lobbying of Capt Karnik, CET (common entrance test) students from the State have lost 150 MBBS seats and around 30 post-graduate medical seats in these medical colleges in the last three years.

According to the MoU entered into with the State government, the two deemed universities are supposed to surrender 25 per cent of their total intake to the government CET every year. But in 2009, CET students allotted seats in these universities were forced to knock on the doors of the High Court to get admission. The universities denied them admission saying the government has no control over them. So, since the academic year 2010-11, the government is not claiming its share of seats. According to the documents assessed through RTI, both the universities were excluded from the CET seat matrix.

According to the documents, just before finalising the medical seat matrix for the year 2010-11, Capt Karnik wrote two letters to the then medical education minister Ramachandra Gowda urging him to adopt the same yardstick for NITTE University as it followed in the case of other deemed universities of the State, and thus indirectly opposed its claiming seats from the university.

In the absence of MoUs with other deemed universities, the State does not claim any seats in these institutions. It can claim seats from NITTE and Yenepoya because of the MoU, but under pressure from Capt Karnik, the government excluded both varsities from CET seat matrix.

According to the documents, then medical education secretary Mr Umesh had strongly recommended that the State enact separate legislation to ensure minimum seats for poor, meritorious students even in the deemed universities. But the government buckled under the pressure. Speaking to this newspaper, an officer of the medical education department said that if Capt Karnik was really concerned about poor students, he would have pressed the government to claim seats from all deemed universities. Instead, he forced the government to exclude these two universities from the ambit of the seat matrix.

23 mobile towers erected without GLADA clearance.

2012-02-08T08:14:00.000+05:30

Indian Express:Wednesday, February 08, 2012.

Ludhiana : In an RTI query sought by the Council of RTI activists, it was found that a total of 23 mobile towers of various companies have been erected in various parts of the city without seeking any prior permission from the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA).

The objection has been raised in the external and internal audit report for 2010-11. Due to this, the department suffered a loss of about Rs 23 lakh as fees, apart from Rs 50,000 as annual renewal fees for each tower.

The audit report adds that many towers have been erected for more than 10 years at many places and 10 towers are in residential areas, which is against the rules. According to GLADA rules, towers cannot be erected in residential areas.

“The installation of towers and the role of officials need to be probed and action should be taken against the guilty. Why did the officers not take any action against the mobile companies for not seeking permission from them before erecting the huge towers on private buildings?” said RTI activist Arvind Sharma.

The towers have been erected on commercial and residential buildings at Dhandari Kalan, Dugri (Phase 3), Sector 32A, Dugri (Phase 1) and a few other places. So far, GLADA officials have not responded to the explanation sought by the audit officer, revealed sources.

HC reserves verdict on plea making ACRs public under RTI.

2012-02-08T08:11:00.000+05:30

IBNLive.com:Wednesday, February 08, 2012.

New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) The Delhi High Court today reserved its verdict on a plea seeking to declare that the performance appraisal reports of a public servant were not exempted under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and they can be shared under the transparency law. "The judgement is reserved," a bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said. The court was hearing an appeal of RTI activist R K Jain against the order of a single judge which held the annual performance appraisal reports (APARs), previously known as ACRs, of a public servant were "personal information" under the RTI and hence, exempted from disclosure unless it was established a "larger public interest" warranted disclosure. Prashant Bhushan, counsel for Jain, said "only those information, which relate to personal information 'which has no relation to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of privacy of the individual', is exempted from disclosure. "And the information pertaining to performance of the public duty of a public servant cannot to be exempted from disclosure under the RTI Act", he argued. Manisha Dhir, counsel for the Centre, however, opposed the plea saying ACRs were exempted from disclosure as they relate to personal information of the public servant concerned. The petition has sought setting aside of the order of the single judge and issuance of a direction to the Centre to disclose alleged "adverse" remarks in Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of Jyoti Balasundaram, a member of Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) in 2000-01. It has also sought a judicial declaration that ACRs were not exempted from disclosure under the RTI Act.

RTI activists livid with Kiran Reddy's replies.

2012-02-08T08:09:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Wednesday, February 08, 2012.

HYDERABAD: Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy told a group of RTI activists who met him on Tuesday that he wouldn't reconsider the appointment of information commissioners. An 11-member team, comprising civil society activists and retired civil servants, were told in no uncertain terms by the CM that there would be no changes.
What left the activists flummoxed was his reply. The CM, when questioned about the appointment of politicians as information commissioners, apparently he said that none of them would venture into politics in the future.
"This is nothing but trivialising the RTI Act," rued K Padmanabhaiah, former Union home secretary noting how the Act was originally framed to keep the commission off the political influence. He added, "The CM said that he had sought legal opinion on the candidates and been told that there was nothing illegal. His explanation is not satisfactory."
Ramakrishna Raju, another civil society activist who was part of the delegation, said the CM interpreted the RTI Act in a way that suited him. "He conveyed to us that he had done social justice by appointing candidates from lower sections. Are these posts created to be filled for social justice," Raju asked.
Similar questions were raised by V B J Chelikani Rao, a social activist who too was part of the team. Unhappy with the CM's reaction to the team's concerns, Rao said, "He even tried hard to assure us that the commissioners would fare well in their duties, once appointed."
Livid with the CM for not entertaining their request for reconsidering candidates, the team has now sought an appointment with the leader of opposition N Chandrababu Naidu and governor ESL Narasimhan to put forth their case. The members said that they were also considering legal action on the matter.
When questioned about the appointment of politicians as information commissioners, the CM reportedly said that none of them would venture into politics in the future

CBI looking into MEA complaint on gifts scam.

2012-02-08T08:07:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Wednesday, February 08, 2012.

NEW DELHI: The CBI is examining a complaint from the ministry of external affairs that gifts bought by the ministry to be given to foreign dignitaries were allegedly purchased at inflated costs by circumventing rules. Agency sources said they were examining the complaint. "We have not registered any preliminary enquiry (PE) or a regular case (RC) in the matter yet," a CBI officer said.
The MEA had sent the request to CBI for a probe as its preliminary investigation revealed that the gifts to be given by foreign minister S M Krishna to foreign dignitaries were purchased at inflated costs and were of inferior quality.
The rules state that such gifts could only be purchased from state emporiums to promote indigenous art forms. However, Assam and Madhya Pradesh emporiums had informed the ministry that they had signed memorandums of understanding with some private players for the supply of artifacts, MEA said in an RTI response.
In its reply to activist Subhash Agrawal, the MEA said, "Preliminary investigation conducted by the ministry could not establish prima facie any clear involvement or complicity of the concerned officials of this ministry. The CBI has, therefore, been requested to undertake a detailed investigation into the matter. Action against those found guilty is contemplated only after the completion of the CBI inquiry."
The ministry said that during its preliminary investigation, it was found that gifts were purchased at much higher prices than their actual cost. The scam came to light after reports that several gifts, which were purchased for foreign dignitaries during Krishna's visit to Malaysia and Myanmar, were of inferior quality and purchased at a higher price.

Information Commission urges SC to keep record of judges’ medical bills.

2012-02-08T08:04:00.000+05:30

Deccan Herald:Wednesday, February 08, 2012.

The Central Information Commission has again asked the Supreme Court to ensure that medical bills of serving and retired judges are duly maintained and provided to RTI applicants after the Apex court did not decide on sharing the details despite the panel’s order in 2010.
Responding to activist Subhash Agrawal, the Supreme Court had said it does not keep records of medical reimbursement of judges and, hence, they could not be furnished to him.
In August 2010, the CIC had directed the Supreme Court to make arrangements to maintain details of medical reimbursement made to judges. They should, it had said, be maintained in digital format so that their retrieval and disclosure could be easier.
However, the Supreme Court did not furnish details, saying a stay has been issued by the Delhi High Court on the disclosure of information of similar nature in a separate case and, therefore, such records could not be made public.
Agrawal again moved the CIC, saying details of medical reimbursement have not been provided to him.

In his verdict last week, Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra directed the Apex court to place the order before the Secretary General of the Supreme Court to decide on maintenance of these records.

Disclose CVC report on Lalli: CIC to Govt

2012-02-07T08:48:00.000+05:30

The Economic Times:Tuesday, February 07, 2012.

NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission has directed the government to make public the report of the CVC on the working of the Prasar Bharti which reportedly indicted its former CEO B S Lalli.
The report which gave details of alleged irregularities in awarding telecast rights, financial mismanagement among others was withheld by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting saying the disclosure would impede the process of investigation.
The case relates to an RTI applicant Aseem Takyar who had sought to know from the Ministry the reports of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) against the then Prasar Bharti Lalli.
The Ministry said, "information sought vide your application relates to the matter which is under investigation and furnishing of information would impede the process of investigation and hence the information was denied under Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act".
The section allows withholding of information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders by a government department.
Rejecting the arguments of the Ministry, Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said, "The Respondent (Ministry) has not given any justification or reasoning how disclosing the information would impede the process of investigation."
"Denial of a citizen's fundamental right must be justified and the mere act of continuing an investigation cannot be used to deny citizens' rights. In view of this, the Commission does not accept the denial of information under Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act," Gandhi said ordering the Ministry to disclose the information before February 28.

Sent: RTIs to 7 national law schools for accounts, reports, pay scales & more.

2012-02-07T08:44:00.000+05:30

Legally India:Tuesday, February 07, 2012.

Legally India has today filed right to information (RTI) requests with India’s seven oldest national law schools, seeking full financial accounts, council meeting minutes and other information.

Today RTIs were submitted via email to the public information officers (PIOs) at NLSIU Bangalore, Nalsar Hyderabad, NUJS Kolkata, NLIU Bhopal, NLU Jodhpur, GNLU Gandhinagar and HNLU Raipur, which were founded between 1987 and 2003 and were the seven most popular colleges in the preferences of Common Law Admissions Test (CLAT) takers in 2011.

Couriered hardcopies of the application with enclosed payment of Rs 150 each will be dispatched tomorrow.

Each RTI requests details on and copies of “any investigations, inquiries or reports conducted or prepared at the college in the last 10 years under the university’s governing statute, or at the behest of the university’s chancellor, any judge, or any statutorily appointed body”.

For the past five years, the RTIs also request:

full sets of financial accounts of the colleges,

copies of correspondence between the college and the chancellor,

a list of contracts of the college with outside contractors,

funds allocated to each student committee,

pay scales of teaching staff and minutes of meetings relating to it, and

dossiers of faculty and staff of the university.

Legally India specifically asked for a copy of the NLSIU report of May 2009 created by the School Review Commission headed by Justice KT Thomas, and reported by the Times of India in January 2011 as evidencing decreasing standards and an increase in drug use amongst students.

No enquiries for judicial reports were made of Nalsar, which last week provided a full copy of its first judicial inquiry.

The youngest colleges proved to have been the most transparent and RTI-application-friendly so far.

GNLU and HNLU have both published comprehensive information in their RTI compendia, including the latest income and expenditure statements, a detailed list of faculty and more [download GNLU compendium / HNLU RTI compendium]. HNLU went even further and provided additional details on expenses, allocation of funds to committees and more.

NLU Jodhpur’s publicly available RTI information was the weakest, with the RTI contact details buried in the “Administration” section of its website while not providing any email address.

The four other law schools all made it reasonably easy to find RTI sections via their websites, although they did not publish reports as detailed as GNLU and HNLU.

Legally India will regularly publish updates on responses received, or not, and hopes to make all information supplied publicly available.

If this pilot project is successful, Legally India will make similar applications to younger national law schools and other non-national government colleges.

Pvt hospitals still closed for poor patients: RTI reply

2012-02-07T08:39:00.000+05:30

Indian Express:Tuesday, February 07, 2012.

New Delhi : Nearly four years after the High Court mandated reservation of 10 per cent beds and 25 per cent out-patient facilities for the poor in private hospitals in Delhi, only some have complied with the order.

As per figures provided by Delhi government in an RTI response to Newsline, none of the major hospitals were able to treat the mandated number of patients. The government received 91 complaints about refusal of treatment last year.

Hospitals against whom complaints have been filed include Max Hospital in Saket and Patparganj (8 complaints), Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (5 complaints), Dharamshila

Cancer Hospital (3 complaints) Sir Gangaram Hospital (4 complaints), Batra Hospital (4 complaints), Rockland Hospital (3 complaints), Fortis Escorts Hospital (2 complaints) and Jaipur Golden Hospital (3 complaints).

Seven of these complaints were lodged by government hospitals after patients referred by them were turned away. The Delhi State Cancer Institute, East Delhi, in its reply, said three poor patients referred in 2009 to Dharamshila Cancer Hospital were asked to pay bills ranging from Rs 24,159 to Rs 10 lakh.

Other hospitals to file complaints were the GTB Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital against Max and Batra Hospital, Madan Mohan Malaviya Hospital against Rockland Hospital and VIMHANS, and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital against Action Balaji, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre and Rockland Hospital.

Health Minister Dr A K Walia said the government was “strictly monitoring” performances of private hospitals. A Health department official said: “Complaints were filed and notices have been issued.”

“Many private hospitals are turning away patients. We plan to issue contempt notices against them,” said advocate Ashok Aggarwal, a member of the committee monitoring treatment of economically weaker section (EWS) patients in private hospitals.

On admission of EWS patients from 2007 to the first quarter of 2011, the Dharamshila Cancer Hospital failed to provide even 1 per cent of its total bed strength to poor patients.

At Rockland Hospital, 2010 saw the highest number of admissions in the EWS category 0.12 per cent of the total in-patients. At Max Hospital, Saket, 1.46 per cent of the total admissions in 2007 were EWS patients. Fortis Escorts Hospital also reported its best figures in 2007 with 2.71 per cent of its total admissions constituting poor patients. The figures declined to 0.22 per cent in 2010.

Primus Super Specialty Hospital was another with a dismal record it admitted just eight EWS patients in 2008, two in 2009, 24 in 2010 and six in the first quarter of 2011. The out-patient department also saw a steady decline in the number of poor patients. From 4 per cent in 2007, it dropped to 1.66 per cent in 2010.

At Max Hospital, Saket, OPD attendance of EWS patients dropped from 15.49 per cent in 2009 to 10.10 per cent in 2010.

Referrals of poor patients from arterial government hospitals was also very low. Among Central government hospitals, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital gave five referrals while Safdarjung Hospital gave two and

AIIMS 47 between January 2007 and September 2011. Two patients were referred from Lok Nayak and GTB Hospitals.Among MCD hospitals, Hindu Rao Hospital with 107 referrals between 2008 and 2010 treated EWS patients.

No nod, yet Monsanto tried GM maize: RTI

2012-02-07T08:35:00.000+05:30

Hindustan Times:Tuesday, February 07, 2012.

US biotech firm Monsanto had put a variety of genetically modified maize on trial without permission and India's biotech regulatory panel overlooked the violation, according to facts accessed under RTI, a leading anti-GM body has said.
Such violations could queer the pitch for the biotech giant and sharpen criticism that it pays scant regards to rules, even though Indian farmers have widely taken to its variety of BT cotton, which has helped raise yields by 31%.

An RTI query revealed that Monsanto planted herbicide-tolerant maize, called "NK603", illegally inside the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, even though approval was granted only for HT/Bt maize, which is a hybrid of two Bt genes, "MON89034" and herbicide tolerant line "NK603". Monsanto did not respond to queries from the HT.

The violation was detected during routine monitoring by the Directorate of Maize Research, tasked with supervising level-II trials of GM maize in the country, the Coalition for a GM-Free India said.

In his field report of May 5, 2011, the designated supervisor noted: "Before planting NK603 event treatment in future, permission from competent authority may be obtained."

"Monsanto's illegal planting was known to the regulator, Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) as the information was obtained through RTI from it, but it chose not to look into the matter pro-actively," alleged Kavitha Kuruganti, a member of the anti-GM coalition.

No memorial for Ambedkar 56 years after his death; Memorials have been dedicated to 14 national leaders, says government in RTI reply.

2012-02-07T08:33:00.000+05:30

The Hindu:Tuesday, February 07, 2012.

Documents obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act indicate that he is the only national leader who does not have a memorial.

Chandrakant Bhandhare, a government employee and Ambedkarite, who filed an RTI on February 23, 2011, had asked the Urban Development Ministry, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), and the Ministry of Home Affairs for details on the policy of granting land for Rajghat and memorials of national leaders in New Delhi and other areas in the country.

“Why is there no memorial 56 years after Dr. Ambedkar's death? Isn't he a national leader? When I asked for information, I got a list of 14 national leaders who have memorials. There is no mention of Babasaheb in that list,” Mr. Bhandhare told The Hindu.

He asked if Dr. Ambedkar, who was posthumously conferred the Bharat Ratna in 1990, was considered a national leader and if the government had any plans of allocating land for a national memorial of the Rajghat type for him in New Delhi and Mumbai.

The CPWD said that Dr. Ambedkar was a national leader, but did not say anything on building a memorial for him.

In a reply dated April 5, 2011, it gave the names and location of memorials dedicated to 14 national leaders Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Charan Singh, Zail Singh, Jagjivan Ram, Devi Lal, K.R. Narayanan, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the former Prime Minister, Chandra Shekhar and the former President, Shankar Dayal Sharma.

The Urban Development Ministry gave a vague reply with only details of Rajghat to which 89 acres was allotted in 1978, and about some land allotted for Indira Gandhi's memorial. The Ministry of Home Affairs said it had no information on the matter.

In 2002, the then Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, headed a committee which decided on a four-phase development of a memorial for Dr. Ambedkar. But matters came to standstill after that.

Republican Party of India (RPI) activists have been demanding a memorial for Dr. Ambedkar and last year things picked up momentum with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party trying to outdo each other with their fervour for a memorial.

The demand became vociferous from all parties before elections to the local bodies got under way in December. In the winter session of the Legislature, both Houses, which witnessed a ruckus over this issue, decided that the entire Indu Mills land must be given up for the memorial.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had promised the entire 12.5 acres of Indu Mills land for a memorial for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in Dadar. In December 2011, the Prime Minister approved in principle the demand. An all-party delegation led by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan met him in this connection.

The Indu Mills is located near Chaityabhoomi at Shivaji Park, where the Buddhist Society of India has dedicated a memorial to Dr. Ambedkar, visited by lakhs of his followers every year.

A secretary-level committee will decide the formalities of the handover of the land, possessed by the National Textile Corporation. The land was to be handed over by January 31..

Misuse of RTI Act delays justice: Information commissioner

2012-02-07T08:29:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Tuesday, February 07, 2012.

PUNE: An unholy alliance of corrupt people in the society and a number of government officials are misusing the Right to Information (RTI) Act and thereby delaying justice to the common man, state information commissioner Vijay Kuvalekar said on Monday

Kuvalekar, who retires on Tuesday, was addressing a press conference on completion of five years in office. He had taken charge as commissioner of the Pune division on February 8, 2007. He said there are instances where people have filed a large number of RTI applications, thus slowing down the information-providing process and inconveniencing citizens whose queries are genuine.

"There are people who have filed 150 applications at one time. Such activities are growing and this by itself is a very serious matter. The mindset of the society and that of these people needs to change to curb such activities," Kuvalekar added.

Speaking about the functioning of the system, he said, "I found senior officials reluctant to respond effectively to the RTI Act, the reason is their unwillingness to change the status quo. Officials who have joined office recently have realised that if they implement the RTI effectively, it eases their workload and reduces pressure while taking policy decisions. These officials are pro-RTI and its effective use for efficient governance."

But the office of the information commissioner itself is similar to any other government office, Kuvalekar said. "There is a shortage of staff and instead of equipping the RTI office with more stenographers, there are more clerk-level officials. I have already moved a proposal to change the staffing pattern of the office to ensure its speedy functioning. The state government's nod is awaited," he said. "RTI activism has so far remained limited to the urban areas with a focus on civic issues. The economically weaker sections in society are still unaware of the gravity and power of the RTI Act." and how it could be helpful for them. The government has allocated some funds, which are utilised by various non-governmental organisations for spreading awareness about the Act, but the economically weaker section is yet to use it effectively, he added.

Meanwhile, before Kuvalekar took charge, there were 2,800 appeals pending with the office. Till January 31, 2012, Kuvalekar's office admitted 16,593 appeals and disposed 12,608 of them. It also received 835 complaints of which 686 were cleared. There are 113 people who have a record of filing more than five appeals at one time, he added.

RTI reveals violent state.

2012-02-07T08:26:00.000+05:30

Indian Express:Tuesday, February 07, 2012.

Kolkata : Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may claim that peace prevails everywhere in West Bengal since her party came to power in the state, but police records say a different story altogether.

The state, according to the police records, has witnessed 642 political clashes, including those of student politics, across the districts in the first five months and eighteen days after Banerjee assumed power.

A total of 926 political workers that include 128 students were injured in these clashes while 27 people reportedly died in these clashes. On an average, West Bengal has recorded more than 100 clashes every month, the report said.

The figures were given by the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) to a resident of Singur, Shyamal Mitra, who had sought information under Right To Information Act, about political clashes that took place between May 13 2011 (the day when Banerjee took over as the chief minister of West Bengal) and October 31.

Responding to the RTI application, SCRB informed Mitra that a total of 586 political and 56 student clashes have been reported to it by all districts, including four railway police districts during the period.

The report that also dismisses Banerjee's claim that more Trinamool supporters than belonging to other parties were killed in the political clashes. The RTI reply states that five Trinamool supporters lost their lives while CPM lost 10 of its workers. Two Congress workers and ten other activists - whose political affiliation were not mentioned in the report – were killed.

The report states that a total 798 political activists (not students) were injured, of them 446 belong to Trinamool, 274 to CPM, 37 to Congress and 41 to other parties including RSP, Forward Bloc, SP and BJP.

A total of 56 student clashes have been reported to SCRB during the same period. In all 128 students were injured. Of them, 56 belong to Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, 35 to CPM's SFI, 26 to Congress' CP and 11 to other students' outfits like DSO and MDSA. there was no report of any death in student clashes.

The districts that have witnessed most of these political clashes are West Midnapore (141), Bankura (59), Burdwan (78), Hooghly (57), Cooch Behar (45), East Midnapore (31),North Dinajpur (35) and Howrah (31).

Most casualties were reported from Bankura (6), followed by Burdwan (5), Hooghly (5) and Murshidabad (4). Other districts that reported political deaths include Birbhum and West Midnapore two each, and North Dinajpur and Purulia one each. One political murder was reported from Darjeeling.

Regarding students' clash, the report revealed that most reports came from Murshidabad (18) followed by Jaipaiguri (11), West Midnapore (9) and Cooch Behar (5).

“From the report, it is quite clear that the chief minister has failed to control political clash in states. She also made a false claim that more Trinamool workers than activists of the other parties were killed in political clashes,” Mitra, a functionary of the Confederation of State Government Employees, affiliated to INTUC, said.

Hike in maintenance cost angers traders.

2012-02-07T08:24:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Tuesday, February 07, 2012.

GURGAON: The HSIIDC has introduced a threefold hike in the annual maintenance charges to be paid by the industrialists of IMT Manesar.This year the corporation is demanding around Rs16 per square metre for maintenance from every plot owner - quite a leap from last year's Rs 6.97 per square metre or from the 2010 rates which were merely Rs3 per sq mt.
This inflationary trend hasn't gone down well with the local industrial community, which is now demanding the expenditure detail from the HSIIDC. "We want to understand how they could suddenly hike the rates by such a margin," said an industrialist in IMT sector 3. HSIIDC charges maintenance for the basic upkeep of the area every year, and the plot owners are asked to pay up retroactively, at the beginning of the new year. Industrialists only get to know the new rates when they receive their annual maintenance bill. "They don't announce anything as such. There is no understanding previously, in terms of what the maintenance work they are going to do. We just get the bills and are asked to pay up," said another industrialist. Industry representatives have said that they will be meeting the HSIIDC head in Manesar on Tuesday.
"We have written to the HSIIDC twice now, asking for the details of expenditure, and we haven't got any response," said Manmohan Gaind of the Manesar Industrial Welfare Association. The local associations are also pushing for taking away the maintenance work from the corporation's ambit, for better clarity in terms of funds. "Under the Bhagidari system, the industrial association should get the responsibility to carry out all the maintenance work. We don't want the HSIIDC to be doing it," added Gaind. After Tuesday's meeting, the industry bodies might also take the RTI route to ensure that last year's spending has been legitimate.
The trouble, according to some, is HSIIDC's retroactive mode of spending, which creates all the confusion. Collecting funds beforehand, and spending on development and maintenance accordingly would have made more sense. According to HSIIDC's IMT Manesar DGM, Divya Kamal, the reason for this year's hike has to do with the extended road-work which was done throughout the industrial area .

A year after probe started, no arrests or chargesheet yet.

2012-02-06T09:47:00.000+05:30

Expressindia.com:Monday, February 06, 2012.

Mumbai: One year since the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), after being rapped by the Bombay High Court, registered an FIR against 14 people in the multi-crore Adarsh co-operative housing society scam on January 29, the agency has recorded statements of over a 100 witnesses, interrogated the accused, and has compiled evidence running into several thousand pages. However, while no accused has been arrested yet, a chargesheet also appears to be several months away.

Although the agency maintains it has been on the right track and has shown enough progress in the investigations, there has not been any arrest in the case. “We have questioned all the 14 accused and several other witnesses have been examined. As the scam involves multiple departments and irregularities shown on their part in dealing with the files, it is a painstaking job for us,” said a senior CBI officer. Asked about the progress in the case, CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said, “Investigation is nearing completion. There is no delay on our part.”

According to the FIR, former chief minister Ashok Chavan, during his tenure as Revenue Minister (2001-03), entered into a criminal conspiracy along with the society’s chief promoter R S Thakur, retired Army officials R S Thakur, M M Wanchoo, senior IAS officer Jairaj Phatak and former MLC Kaniyalal Gidwani by proposing to pass a letter recommending inclusion of civilians in the Adarsh society, which was initially meant for Kargil war widows and victims. This inclusion was ensured by allegedly bypassing several rules.

The FIR states that the accused of criminal conspiracy, “the public servants concerned abused their official position, manipulated and fabricated the records to achieve their objective of getting the land allotted in favour of Adarsh society in an illegal manner and also got various clearances from the municipal authorities and other state government authorities in an illegal manner”. However, a year later, the agency claims there is not enough evidence to arrest any one yet. “We will do it when the need arises. The need has not arisen yet,” said one of the senior CBI officers handling the investigations.

The CBI, which was handed over the probe by the Defence Ministry, named besides Chavan two other Union Ministers in the FIR Sushil Kumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh who allegedly ensured that the society’s proposal was passed. Although Shinde has been questioned by the CBI, the interim progress report filed before the HC gives him a clean chit, claiming no culpability could be made out against him.

“It is unfortunate that even today no administrative action has been taken against any accused. Chavan was sacked, just as an attempt to save face. But since then, neither the state government nor the Centre have done anything,” said activist Simpreet Singh, one of the petitioners who through a series of RTI applications brought out several irregularities in this 31-storey building in Cuffe Parade.

The CBI also began parallel investigations into the documents that went missing from the UD Department. Four pages relating to the reduction of the width of Capt Prakash Pethe Marg, the allotment of additional building rights and environmental clearances were found missing from the UDD office in October 2010. On November 1, 2010, the pages reappeared but without the note sheet.

While the CBI arrested three junior-level employees in May, last year they were released on bail as the agency failed to file a chargesheet within the mandatory 60 days. The agency since then has told the HC twice that it will soon file a chargesheet but sources say the case has shown very little progress.

“We’ve been finding it difficult to attribute roles to each accused. They shifted files but it is yet to be ascertained if they really had an idea of what those files were,” said a CBI source. All accused UDD desk officer Gurudatt Wajpe, assistant town planner N N Narvekar and Waman Rawool, the then clerk to UDD principal secretary have been suspended since then. “It has been over six months and we are still awaiting a chargesheet,” said Narvekar’s lawyer Satyavrat Joshi.

There were four instances of documents going missing and one case of a hard drive going missing. The UDD, the Union ministry of Environment and Forests, the local Army headquarters and the state town planning department all saw papers vanish. While the CBI arrested three junior-level employees in the UDD case, the other cases are not being investigated.

Foresters to meet Jayanthi Natarajan with gripes against Forest Rights Act.

2012-02-06T09:42:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Monday, February 06, 2012.

NEW DELHI: Senior forest officials are slated to meet environment and forests minister Jayanthi Natarajan to yet again raise complaints against the Forest Rights Act.
Even as they are set to raise issues on implementation of the Act, the Forest Advisory Committee, stacked with senior forest officials and three non-government experts on board, has given the nod to several projects without adhering to the ministry's directive that keeps the clearance process in alignment with the Act.
The Act is meant to hand back forestlands to traditional dwellers but its implementation has been patchy at best with the greatest resistance coming from the forest bureaucracy. Forest officials at the Centre too have at various points opposed full implementation of the Act.
During previous environment minister Jairam Ramesh's tenure too, they had recommended that the directive requiring them to secure village level clearance for diversion of forests be taken back. Their recommendation was rejected by the minister and later a group of ministers too dealt with a similar proposal from the Planning Commission but decided against diluting the directive based on the recommendations of the tribal affairs ministry as well as Natarajan.
But the records of the Forest Advisory Committee - which gives the clearances - show that the group has not been collecting the required documents from the state government and instead giving the go-ahead to projects using forest land purely on the basis of assurances from the state.
In November-December alone, projects adding up to 2,548.54 hectares were sanctioned by the FAC with no mention of the evidence required under the environment ministry's directive.
In one case, the records of FAC noted that 108.78 hectares of reserved forest were sanctioned for mining for Singareni Collieries Company Ltd in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh even though the rights of forest dwellers had been acknowledged on record.
The ministry, in response to an RTI query earlier, had admitted that it did not even keep the evidence required under the ministry's directive with it.
The Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council too had pointed out that diversion of forest lands should not be undertaken in violation of the government's directive and that reports should be put in public domain to monitor violations of the directive. But this too has not been done so far.

Green crusader proves his mettle.

2012-02-06T09:37:00.000+05:30

The Asian Age:Monday, February 06, 2012.

The star guests were fitness icon Arnold Schwarzenegger and actor Abhishek Bachchan at the Green Globe Foundation Awards. But the person who won applause for his green feats was 24-year-old Rahul Saini, a Master of Economics student from Punjab University.
Rahul won the “Green Globe for outstanding contribution by Yuva” award. While Rahul has always been interested in protecting the environment, his real work began only after he completed his graduation in Business Administration from Mumbai. He moved to Chandigarh (which is closer to his home in Patiala) to pursue his Masters. “I’ve been an active debater in college. The logical next step for me was to take debating to court. When I moved to Punjab, I saw no better option than becoming an RTI activist. Being interested in protecting the environment, I started collecting data and statistics about environment-related issues in Punjab and questioned the state government about the steps being taken to curb these problems,” says Rahul.
The real breakthrough for him came when he filed a Public Interest Litigation against the Punjab State Pollution Control Board (PSPCB) last year. The litigation was based on PSPCB’s data that the pollution level in Punjab is 400 to 500 times above the permissible limit. “I wanted to know the steps taken to control pollution. The litigation went on for almost a year and in the end we won. The Human Rights Commission accepted all our requests and asked the Board to regularly submit details about the work they do,” says Rahul.
In a few months, Rahul will complete his Masters but he says he won’t stop his work for the environment.
In fact, he is working with a team in the United States on a machine that would help get rid of the fodder left over after harvesting paddy plants. “To get rid of it, hectares of land in Punjab are burnt. It leads to enormous pollution. This machine would be really helpful,” he says.

Air India ignores crew alcohol rule abroad.

2012-02-06T09:25:00.000+05:30

Business Standard:Monday, February 06, 2012.

Since last year, despite a rule mandating a pre-light breath analyser check every 15 days for alcohol in the body, government-owned Air India has almost stopped these for pilots and other crew at foreign airports.

Not coincidentally, not a single AI pilot has been caught drunk on duty at a foreign airport since 2008. But one of the airline's senior captains was at Chennai airport on Friday. So have others in India.

In January 2011, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) amended its rules on pre-flight medical checks. The rules require airlines to conduct these before all domestic flights and after every 15 days at foreign airports. Information accessed under the Right to Information Act shows AI has been flouting DGCA's rule. Aviation experts see this non-adherence as a serious safety violation.

Within India, AI’s staff doctors carry out the check at major airports. In other airports, it has hired private doctors to do so. However, it has neither hired doctors abroad and nor is it sending its own doctors to foreign airports to conduct these checks.

The data shows a pre-flight medical was carried out at several airports abroad in 2008-2010. At that time, it was not mandatory for airlines do one every fortnight. But, surprisingly, after DGCA amended the rules, AI did the checks just twice. In 2011, its doctors did the breath analyser check at Dubai in January and June, according to AI’s response to a RTI query. It flies to Europe, America, Canada, China and Japan, apart from various cities in the Gulf. The rules say it should have conducted the checks in all these countries after every 15 days.

An AI spokesperson did not respond to an email query on the subject. Nor did the Indian Pilots Guild, the union representing its pilots. According to airline sources, the cost of hiring private doctors in the US and Canada is prohibitive. “Some doctors quoted a $250-500 charge per flight,'' a source said. When a staff doctor goes abroad, the airline pays a daily allowance and spends on the accommodation and local travel.

In fact, AI and all other private airlines opposed introduction of the clause regarding mandatory medical checks at foreign airports, citing the cost factor. They’d all noted that at various foreign airports, security personnel do the breath analyser check, while DGCA says only an MBBS degree holder should do the check.

Pilots agree the presence of alcohol in the blood can impair judgement and reactions. The consequences can be disastrous. The DGCA rule states that alcohol in even small quantities jeopardises flight safety on several counts and is likely to affect an aviator well into the hangover period.

Aviation safety expert Mohan Ranganathan says the DGCA is equally to blame. “The DGCA is lenient to the airlines. It is not strict in enforcing rules. In the UK, a pilot is arrested if alcohol beyond a certain limit is found in the blood,'' he said. In India, a pilot’s licence is suspended for three months if he/she fails the check for the first time and cancelled for five years after a second violation. Ranganthan also notes that in India, pilots caught more than once for being drunk had simply switched airlines in the past.

DGCA Bharat Bhushan says he’s asked AI to get its act together. “I am aware of the problem. I have told Air India it will have do medical checks as prescribed in the rules,'' he said.

A senior AI commander said “None of the airlines are carrying out pre-flight medical checks abroad every 15 days. This is not possible because of the cost involved.'' He said AI had asked for a dispensation from DGCA in the matter. Kingfisher Airlines did not respond, while a Jet Airways spokesperson said it was carrying out checks twice each month as mandated by the regulator.

Residents' woe: Give us some sunshine.

2012-02-06T09:10:00.000+05:30

Mid-Day:Monday, February 06, 2012.

Windows of an Andheri society building are blocked by advertisement hoardings located in neighbouring building compound; residents decry loss of light.

Several of the 230 residents of a six-storeyed building in Oshiwara, Andheri (west) haven't seen the sun in over a year. The reason -- a humongous hoarding, 60 feet tall, is currently blocking their windows. Before this hoarding went up, other hoardings had kept the sunshine from streaming into their homes since the beginning of 2011.

These hoardings are located inside the compound of neighbouring building, Legend Cooperative Housing Society.
"Till the end of last year, our neighbouring building, had a single 40x20 sq feet hoarding," said Panini Vakil, a resident of Woodland Society, whose windows are being blocked.
Earlier this year, another 40x20 sq ft hoarding was erected near the existing one, Woodland residents said.
"We had complained to the BMC (about the earlier hoarding), however an RTI response that we had filed to know more about the matter revealed that the permissions had been given on the condition that there should be no complaint from any of the residents in the neighbourhood," (Sunday Mid Day has a copy of the RTI response.)
Instead of having their problems redressed, Woodland residents found their problems had increased when another hoarding came up in January.
"Currently, nearly 80 per cent of our six-storeyed society is blocked by hoardings and deprives residents of basic sunlight and ventilation," said resident Moushir Masalawala.
When the second hoarding was erected, another RTI application was filed, informed Masalawala. "The BMC response states that permission has been granted only to repair the existing hoarding," he said. (Sunday Mid Day has a copy of the second RTI response as well.)
"All our complaints to the local civic authorities and BMC helpline number, have been unanswered, in spite of the fact that we have produced photographic evidence and RTI replies, to substantiate our grievance. The least they can do is arrange for a site visit to verify the facts," complained Rajender Singh Anand, Building secretary.
Suresh Hegde, secretary of Legend CHS, in whose compound the hoardings have been erected, refuted the claims made by the residents of Woodland Society. He said their complaints are motivated by a grudge -- he alleged that the Woodland society residents are missing out on prime advertising location because of his hoardings.
"Our hoarding is far away from Woodland society, so it cannot obstruct any view or sunlight. We have obtained requisite permissions legally and the objections amount to infringement of our society's rights," Hegde added.
When contacted, Assistant Commissioner K West ward, Swati Prabhawalkar stated that the issue came under the licensing department and did not fall under her perview.
She gave the name of her Senior Inspector licensing called Dhuri, who could not be contacted, despite repeated attempts.

NREGS needs more transparency, says Aruna Roy.

2012-02-05T08:40:00.000+05:30

The Economic Times:Sunday, February 05, 2012.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Noted activist Aruna Roy said many states are reluctant to constitute an independent social audit, which would ensure transparency in implementation, to monitor works under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
"A number of states are reluctant to set up an independent social audit to monitor works under NREGS. Setting up of such a system will ensure transparency and check corruption in implementation of works under NREGS to a great extent," she told a press conference here.
Roy pointed out that a Rs 100 crore fraud in the scheme had been exposed in Andhra Pradesh, where the state government had constituted an independent social audit process.
She said there is good awareness about NREGS among people in the country, but it has still not become a "demand-based employment programme" as envisaged under the Act.
Roy, leader of the Mazdoor Kishan Shakti Sangathan, said a campaign with a slogan of 'Demand for work' would soon be launched all over the country.
Expressing concern over increasing incidents of RTI activists getting killed in the country, she demanded that the government take steps to prevent such incidents and provide protection to whistle-blowers.

SIC orders actionagainst SDO.

2012-02-05T08:33:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Sunday, February 05, 2012.

PATNA: Taking strong exception to the repeated failure of the SDO, Jagdishpur, in Bhojpur district, who also happens to be the public information officer (PIO), to appear before the State Information Commission (SIC), the commission has not only slapped a fine on him but also asked Bhojpur DM to hold an inquiry into the conduct of the official and mention this misconduct in his annual confidential report.

"The SIC treats Jagdishpur SDO's repeated absence from the hearings for more than a year as a cognizable offence," said information commissioner Farzand Ahmed. He said showcause notice was being served on him, asking why proceeding should not be initiated against him under Section 166 of the IPC for disobeying law, which provides one-year imprisonment or fine, or both.

Information seeker Santosh Kumar Ojha of Bihia, Bhojpur, had sought some information under RTI from the SDO-cum-PIO in December 2009, which he is yet to get. In course of second appeal, the SIC called the PIO but he informed through a letter on November 18, 2010, that the records for the required information were being located. After that he neither appeared before the SIC nor sent any representation. As the case continued to linger, the SIC on August 24, 2011 imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the SDO and asked why a case be not filed against him. Ahmed, in his latest order, has asked the Bhojpur DM to ensure that the fine is deposited in the treasury by March 7, the next date of hearing.

Ahmed said, "I have directed the Bhojpur DM to institute a case against the SDO under Section 20(2) of the RTI Act, and also initiate departmental proceedings against him and refer this case to the secretary, general administration department, for action." The DM has further been asked to ensure the SDO's presence during the next hearing.

Info panel to hold public hearings to clear RTI pleas.

2012-02-05T08:27:00.000+05:30

Indian Express:KapilDave:Sunday, February 05, 2012.

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat Information Commission plans to hold Lok Darbars (special public gatherings) in all the districts of the state for speedy disposal of pending appeals under Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Sources said RTI applicants and concerned public information officers (PIO) would be called at such gatherings in an attempt to resolve the issue on the same day.

Maharashtra has considerably reduced its backlog of RTI appeals this way, they said.

“We are finalising our plan for Lok Darbars in all the districts and will announce it shortly,” state’s Chief Information Commissioner D Rajagopalan said.

At present, the state has only three information commissioners, less than what some states with smaller population have. Arunachal Pradesh (with a population of 10 lakh) has 5 ICs, Karnataka (5.2 crore) and

Jharkhand (2.6 crore) have seven ICs each, while Punjab (2.4crore) has 6 ICs.

As for the staff strength, 10 out of 44 sanctioned posts are vacant, and most are appointed through contracts and using outside agencies.

So far, 22,082 appeals and complaints have been received by the commission since the RTI came into being in 2005. While 13,078 cases were disposed of, 9,004 cases remain were pending as on December 31, 2011, which means a 40 per cent pendency rate.

CIC seeks system for quick response to RTI pleas on MCD website.

2012-02-05T08:23:00.000+05:30

Hindustan Times:Sunday, February 05, 2012.

Filing an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act on the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's (MCD) portal may not end your woes. It's been more than a month and in some case even more that applicants have not received a response from the civic body. As a result, many have to run from pillar to post to get a reply.
To ensure transparency, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's (MCD) commissioner to put in place a system, whereby online applications received under the RTI Act are responded as per law.
The CIC observations and directives came while hearing the case of one RL Makhija of Delhi. Neither his original online application to the public information officer (PIO), nor the order by the first appellate authority (FAA) was received by the officials concerned.

The MCD was the first agency in the Capital that started accepting RTI applications online in 2011.

Government tries to shield nuclear-safety law from RTI ambit.

2012-02-05T08:20:00.000+05:30

India Today:Sunday, February 05, 2012.

The government appears to be taking the backdoor route to dilute the Right to Information (RTI) Act. It has quietly included provisions to amend the RTI Act under the proposed nuclear safety law.

If these amendments are allowed, not only will it become to get information on nuclear safety, other government agencies may also follow suit to escape the RTI Act ambit.

"The RTI Act over-rides all laws. To counter this, new laws are coming out with specific clauses," Shekhar Singh of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information said.

One of the proposed amendments to the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill, 2011, seeks to add regulatory bodies which are to be set up under it in the second schedule of the RTI Act. This will exempt them from the purview of the RTI Act like intelligence and security organisations.

Experts said the amendment is an attempt to compromise with transparency on nuclear safety. "How can the government place organisations which are yet to be set up under this schedule?" said Venkatesh Nayak, programme coordinator with Access to Information Programme of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

‘Stop constructions under CRZ’

2012-02-04T08:18:00.000+05:30

Deccan Chronicle:Saturday, February 04, 2012.

Former bureaucrat and the convenor of Forum for Better Visakha, Mr E.A.S. Sarma, demanded on Friday that authorities of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) immediately take measures to stop construction activity taken up in the prohibited area under the CRZ. “Construction activity has been undertaken within the prohibited area. Several mangroves have been uprooted, mudflats have been irreversibly disturbed. This constitutes an offence under the CRZ notification,” observed Mr Sarma and added that according to information obtained by him in an earlier occasion under the RTI from the VPT office, the entire port area was co-vered under CRZ II and 40 acres were within CRZ I. In the CRZ I area, there are mangroves and mud flats which, as per the CRZ notification of 2011, should not be disturbed under any circumstance. He added that the port was not only required to protect the mangroves but also leave a safe buffer. “Even if you have leased out the land, you have the primary responsibility of protecting the mangroves. VPT authorities should immediately take steps to stop these works, failing which we will be constrained to file a case under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and CRZ Notification of 2011,” he pointed.

NSE in the dock for tax evasion.

2012-02-04T08:13:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Saturday, February 04, 2012.

KOCHI: The Directorate-General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) has registered a case against the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) for evading taxes to the tune of Rs 10 crore.

The DGCEI's office at Kochi booked NSE for violating service tax rules by not paying up taxes for fees collected from candidates who took the NCFM (National Stock Exchange's Certification in Financial Markets) exam.

NCFM certification is meant for those opting for careers as derivative brokers, dealers or salespersons. While NSE collects Rs 1,500 in fees from the students, the process of conducting the exam is outsourced to its subsidiary NSE.IT.

A complaint from Glancy Xavior, a freelance trainer in the financial services industry, had drawn DGCEI into investigating the matter. When contacted, NSE responded that it is only conducting tests, and "no coaching or training is being provided, so service tax is not leviable. There is no evasion of service tax. Whatever information was sought has been given."

"But as they (NSE) were providing postal training to those who registered for the exam, it falls under the circular no 59/2003, issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs," Xavior said. He filed RTI queries to bring out the fact that NSE was not paying tax for fees it collected during 2008-11. On the other hand, NSE's compatriot Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was paying taxes during the same period on fees it had collected for its online examinations.

In 2010-11, the BSE Training Institute paid Rs 36.43 lakh as service tax, while in 2008-09, it paid Rs 72.55 lakh. Xavior believes that NSE should emulate this by paying up 10.3% tax on the roughly Rs 25 crore it collects every year from candidates sitting for the NCFM exam.

Appoint district-level RTI officers.

2012-02-04T08:08:00.000+05:30

IBNLive.com:Saturday, February 04, 2012.

HYDERABAD: With the state government appointing eight new Information Commissioners, the call has now grown loud for appointing district-level RTI officers. This will enable people from far flung districts to make full use of the RTI Act without worrying about travelling to Hyderabad to file appeals with the Information Commission, said Dilip Kahasty, Manakosam RTI Society.

V Srinivasa Rao, general secretary of the society also took the opportunity to applaud the appointments of the eight ICs, but threw in a word of caution that filling the posts with persons having political background would do little good.

RTI man gets a taste of cops’ strong arm.

2012-02-04T08:05:00.000+05:30

IndianExpress:KapilDave:Saturday, February 04, 2012.

A man from Vasna who had filed an application under the Right to Information Act seeking to know why police stations in the city did not display essential information for the benefit of RTI applicants has alleged police are using intimidatory tactics, summoning him for hearings at short notices and making him sit with criminals.

Manish Benani, who owns a small printing press, had requested former police commissioner of Ahmedabad Sudhir Sinha in September last year to take appropriate action about non-implementation of mandatory display of general information regarding RTI queries, such as names and contact details of public information officers, the appellate authority and the like.

Sinha, who has since retired, ordered all the 37 police stations in the city to follow the mandatory practice under the RTI Act, but to no avail. Benani filed another application on November 24, 2011, seeking to know the status of implementation of the commissioner’s order of September 5.

“In response, police stations and other offices sent me a one-page letter saying they have prepared a booklet of information. But boards displaying these information are mandatory as per the RTI Act,” he said.

On January 29 this year, some officials from the Ahmedabad police Crime Branch landed at Benani’s home. Since he was not there, they asked his family members to send him to the crime branch office immediately.

“They came around 11.15 am and told my family I should reach the crime branch office by 12 noon the same day. I visited their office the next day to meet ACP Mayur Chavda, but I was not allowed to meet him. I insisted on meeting police station officer to give my submission but they instead asked me to sit and wait at a place where chained criminals were sitting,” Benani said.

“When I insisted on giving a written submission, they said they were not bound to take my application and instead asked my caste, business and purpose for seeking information. They even refused to give me an acknowledgment that my application had been received,” he said.

When contacted, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Mohan Jha said he was not aware of the case details.

APIC nominations in governors court.

2012-02-03T09:53:00.000+05:30

IBNLive.com:Friday, February 03, 2012.

HYDERABAD: Irked by the way in which information commissioners have been appointed to the AP Information Commission (APIC) in “violation of guidelines,” Right to Information (RTI) activists are planning to take legal recourse for remedy.

V V Rao, convenor of the Social Audit Council on Information Rights, said his organisation will go to court if governor E S L Narasimhan approves the names referred to him by the government. The question remains whether the guv will do so at all. Sources said he has not yet seen the file. On an earlier occasion, Narasimhan had shot down a recommendation from the government to appoint a former information commissioner to the AP Administrative Tribunal citing nonadherence to rules. RTI activists are demanding to know the procedure adopted in selecting the nominees.

Asks Rao: “We need quality persons in the State Information Commission.

How else can the 10,000 pending cases be disposed of?” Section 15.6 of the RTI Act 2005 states: ‘’The State Chief Information Commissioner or a State Information Commissioner shall not be a Member of Parliament or Member of the Legislature of any state or union territory or hold any office of profit or be connected with any political party or carrying on any business or pursuing any profession.” But four of the information commissioners appointed have a political background.

One of them, M Vijaya Nirmala contested and lost the Nuzvid Assembly seat in Krishna district on a PRP ticket in 2009. She is also related to Avanti Srinivasa Rao, PRP MLA from Bheemunipatnam. Her party boss Chiranjeevi is said to have been keen that she be appointed as information commissioner. Similarly, Tantia Kumari, daughter of the late Koneru Ranga Rao, has been active in Congress, having been a ZPTC member and a ticket-seeker in the 2009 election. Then there is Imtiaz Ahmed who has been accommodated in the commission on the basis of being a retired civil judge.

But after demitting office in 2004, he joined the TDP and contested an election against chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy in 2004 and 2009 and lost both times. He recently joined the Congress and has been rewarded with the post of information commissioner. Nalgonda lawyer V Venkateswarlu has been described as a social activist but the fact remains that he has an NSUI and Youth Congress background. Then there are two retired and one serving civil services officers who have been taken as information commissioners though appointment of such officers might lead to conflict of interest when anyone seeks information from a department that they had headed.

Madhukar Raj, an Indian Forest Service officer, worked as principal chief conservator of forests while S Prabjakar Reddy, an IPS officer, worked as the Cyberabad Police Commissioner. M Ratan, who is now director-general, vigilance & enforcement, is due to retire in April.

RTI activist C J Karira said there has been no transparency in the appointments.

Nor will they lead to timely disposal of cases. “What is the point of selecting those who have a political background or bureaucrats? There’s surely going to be a conflict of interest and destroy the purpose of the Act”, he said. Karira added that appointment of political persons and IPS officers was in direct contradiction to Section 15.5 and 15.6 of the RTI Act. “Even the appointment of social worker V Venkateswarlu is surprising since none of the activist groups we are in touch with have even heard of him.” Y P Ramakrishna, president of It’s Time to Make a Difference, says: “Fourteen eminent applicants, who were well versed with RTI and had no political leanings, had applied for the post of ICs.

But none of them was considered. Instead women like Lamu Tantiya Kumari, whose son is being accused of playing a part in the Ayesha murder case, and Prabhakar Reddy, a former police Commissioner of Cyberabad who during his tenure failed to reply to even one RTI query directed at his office have been appointed.

We demand to know the criteria by which the present lot were selected.” Chief information commissioner Jannat Hussain, however, welcomed the appointments and hoped that it would help improve transparency and speedy disposal of cases pending at the State Information Commission. “We wish to reduce the waiting period from two years to three months within the next six months, once the new IC’s take charge.”

Answersheet no confidential information: Punjab CIC

2012-02-03T09:49:00.000+05:30

Expressindia:Friday, February 03, 2012.

Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), Punjab, R I Singh has held that the answersheet of a student cannot be considered 'confidential information' after the declaration of results, and a student is entitled to a certified copy of his answersheet.

The order was passed by the CIC following a complaint by Kamal Kishore Arora, father of Gaurav, against Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar. Interestingly, by filing an RTI application to the varsity to see the answersheet, Arora was able to bypass the fee of Rs 10,000 charged by GNDU to show the answersheet to a student.

In the order, the CIC held that Arora was not liable to pay this fee as he had sought the information under the RTI Act. He had sought certified copies of the answersheets of Gaurav in an exam conducted during the second semester of MA (English) in May 2011. GNDU informed Arora that as per varsity rules, the examinee could see his answersheets within three weeks of declaration of results by depositing a fee of Rs 10,000.

The CIC said as per the RTI Act, no time limit had been prescribed and no fee was to be charged, and the provisions of the RTI Act overrode any other rules and regulations, or a statute.

GNDU also took the plea that it could not give Gaurav's answersheets to his father, as it was "personal information of a third party". GNDU admitted that even though "the third party" is the son of the information seeker, the varsity was not bound to give the answersheet to him.

Delhi Journal: How the RTI Act Makes Us All ‘Babus’.

2012-02-03T09:46:00.000+05:30

Wall Street Journal:Friday, February 03, 2012.

If you miss the days of pen pals and rue the fact that you never get any letters any more, there’s a simple solution: File a Right-to-Information request with the Delhi Development Authority, or another municipal agency in the capital that has anything to do with land.

The volume of return mail you’ll get will make it worth your while to invest in a good, old-fashioned letter-opener.

My main experience of using the RTI came while seeking information from the DDA and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for a story about housing in the city. Now that much time has passed, I am able to remember it somewhat fondly as a rather wonderful example of the almost artistic fashion in which government agencies can follow the letter literally rather than the spirit of the law.

Because it can be quite difficult to get timely interviews with officials in municipal agencies, particularly when you make it clear that you plan to quote them by name and record the interview, using the RTI Act seemed like the way to go. Once it was in writing, it would be harder to dispute later.

So in 2009, I filed a bunch of requests relating to land acquisition, the price of land and slum evictions with the DDA, which is the city’s largest land-owning agency and one of its biggest builders of housing. I also filed requests with the MCD, which handles much of the city’s day-to-day services, and has a special wing devoted to slums.

Since the best chance of getting a speedy response is to direct your letter to the right department, you need to spend time deciphering these agencies’ internal hierarchies and acronyms. This is about as much fun as being hit repeatedly on the head with a sandbag. For the DDA, for example, you’ll find a list of public information officers under the “About Us” section on its website. These days, there are no less than 76 information officers, with obscure titles like “dy director LAB” or “dy director LSB” that are of little use to most people trying to figure out where a letter should go. The MCD’s list of information officers, meanwhile, spans three pages under 49 different headings.

I did my best, at times with additional guidance from DDA staff who said they could figure out where my letters should go. But judging by what happened next, they were as baffled as I was when it came to knowing how the agency worked, and who handled what.

I had, at worst, expected dead silence in response. Instead, I found myself embroiled in correspondence that seemed destined to continue for years. Many read like this September 2009 letter, sent in response to a July 2009 information request:

“Please refer to your letter No. F.8(815)09/RTI/LM/WZ/359 dated 15.7.09 vide which para No. 13 has been forwarded to AO Land Costing Deptt. for furnishing the reply directly to the applicant. In this connection it is intimated that such like information as asked for in para No. 13 is not maintained and therefore is not available in the Land Costing Wing.”

Understanding that required developed code-cracking skills. Here, “LM” refers to Land Management, the branch where I must have originally sent the request, and “WZ” stands for West Zone.” I’m guessing “F.8″ is Folio 8, the number given to my letter, 815 might be the date by which I was owed a reply and 09 is the year. As for “359,” I still don’t know.

Many other letters were merely to inform me that, yet again, I had sent my request to the wrong branch of the DDA and they were forwarding it to another department that was likely, eventually, to tell me something similar. Take this one, sent to me in July 2009 in response to a June 3 request.

“On the basis of report of revenue staff, the parawise reply is given as under:

1. This matter does not pertain to this office. It pertains to Zorth Zone.”

2. -do- [ditto]

3. -do-.” And so on.

In one case, an official ended his letter to the person to whom he had forwarded my request in an alarmingly open-ended fashion:

“In case, it does not fall under your jurisdiction, it may please be further transferred to Public Authority to which the subject matter is more closely connected, directly.”

After a while, I started to think of my letters as the refugees of the correspondence world, wandering from one desk to another, in search of a home. It’s possible, of course, that the confusion about where these information requests should go wasn’t purely the result of stalling tactics. According to a post on the website of the transparency group Accountability Initiative, “the most surprising thing about applications to the DDA is that its pretty evident that a lot of DDA officials are using the RTI to settle intra/inter-departmental issues and raising questions about the general functioning of the DDA.”

The DDA didn’t respond to requests for comment.

My experience submitting RTI requests to the MCD was relatively painless and quite speedy, to my surprise. But other people report having the sort of tooth-pulling time that I came to associate with the DDA. Suresh C. Gupta, a former employee at the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, blogs at Infopower about his experiences with the RTI Act. In an interview this week, he said he was pleased to find out that he could submit his request to the MCD online. But his pleasure soon vanished.

“You pay your 10 rupees [20 cents] with credit card… and it goes to 24 or 25 departments,” he said. “So all the 20 or 25 departments are responding. They drive the applicant crazy. They all send letters saying ‘This has nothing to do with our department.’”

In one case, he got a slightly more informative letter from an official at the MCD when he reached the appeals stage (when your query hasn’t been answered in 30 days, you can file a first appeal; when the first appeal receives no response in 30 days, you file a second appeal). The official told Mr. Gupta that he had never received the initial query because no computer had yet been installed in his office. The first appeal letter, which was internally forwarded, was the first he had heard of Mr. Gupta’s request.

Yogender Singh Mann, the spokesman for the MCD, told India Real Time that queries pertaining to just one department were “catered to quite quickly.”

The agency received about 75,000 RTI requests in 2011, of which 90% “were satisfied” while 10% went into the appeals process, Mr. Mann said.

RTI requests that spanned departments were more likely to get bogged down, he added.

“The MCD is a huge organization, which covers 1,397 square kilometers. There are more than 50 departments,” he said. “No one can give the information of another department.”

Over time, and after an appeal on occasion, I did get a lot of the information I was seeking. In some cases, I was asked to come in to pick up photocopies or look through documents at particular offices, but these were rarely the departments I would have first thought of contacting.

So in the end, was it worth using the RTI route with these agencies? Absolutely.

Here’s the post-mortem on the DDA experience. I began with five RTI requests that asked a little over 40 questions in total. I later filed another request with some other questions relating to the Commonwealth Games Village bid.

In return, I received about 40 pieces of correspondence over a period of six months. Where they forwarded my requests to the government of Delhi or other departments, I got a few more letters.

In all, these letters provided concrete information for about half my questions. Many of the responses were provided by one stellar DDA office that answered the questions clearly and with very helpful detail, but I won’t name the branch since I’m not entirely certain whether this shout-out will bring the department censure or praise.

The sometimes circuitous route my letters traveled also ended up providing helpful information unexpectedly, often revealing the total lack of coordination between agencies and branches. In one case, two different departments responded to the same query about the documentation required for an evicted slum family to get compensation. One branch said the family must provide an original ration card an exceedingly precious document that provides proof of address and entitles families to subsidized food which they would then cancel to prevent “misuse.” But another branch said it only required a photocopy of one of a series of government-issued ID cards, so families in that area needn’t hand over or lose their precious ration cards. The possibility that the DDA would have different paperwork requirements in different parts of the city to obtain the same housing benefit wouldn’t have occurred to me, and probably wouldn’t have emerged in an interview.

But along the way, I noticed a disturbing side-effect of this battle of wits. In an effort to pre-empt the way in which a bureaucrat might interpret, mis-interpret, or wiggle out of responding fully, I began trying to frame my questions in a way that I hoped would close off all avenues of evasion. Instead of a straightforward query, my questions began sprawling into a confusing series of clauses and sub-clauses (something like “If the answer to Question 1, part (a) subsection (iii) is “not available” please explain in detail why not,” etc.) that any babu, as bureaucrats are colloquially called, would be exceedingly proud of having composed.

I suspect that other frequent users of the RTI Act have done the same, attempting to mind-meld with the faceless file-pusher who might end up handling one’s request. In the quest for transparency, perhaps we must all become bureaucrats now.

Now, get copies of your answer scripts for Rs. 400.

2012-02-03T09:38:00.000+05:30

Daily Bhaskar:Friday, February 03, 2012.

Pune: In a move to make the education system more transparent, the Maharashtra State Council of Examinations (MSCE) has decided to provide photocopies of the answer scripts of its various exams to students at a fee of Rs400.

It will be the first time that the selection board answer sheets will be made available to candidates.

The MSCE has notified the state chief information commissioner (CIC), Vijay Kuvalekar, about its decision.

The MSCE is entrusted with the duty of conducting various examinations of the school education department, including professional and departmental examinations across the state.

However, unlike the Maharashtra State Board of Vocational Education (MSBVE) and the University of Pune (UoP), the council did not provide photocopies of the answer scripts to students even after the orders from the Supreme Court and Kuvalekar to do so under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

In a letter submitted to the CIC in December, the MSCE declared that it would provide answer scripts’ photocopies to candidates at Rs400 per copy.

MSCE commissioner, Mahavir Mane, told DNA said that the upcoming entrance examinations for the diploma of education (DED) in April-May would be the first exam for which the photocopies of answer scripts would be given to candidates. “The nitty-gritty of the procedure is being worked out, but we have decided to provide the photocopies of answer sheets for both objective and theoretical examinations conducted by us,” he said.

He also said that the MSCE had plans of uploading the answer sheets on its website.
In August last, the apex court had ruled that students can obtain the copies of their answer sheets under the RTI Act. Kuvalekar in 2009 had also ruled that students should be given copies of their answer sheets for the secondary school certificate (SSC) and higher secondary certificate (HSC) examinations conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE).

However, the board had challenged the CIC decision in the Bombay high court, and a verdict is awaited.

Activists demand CBI probe into power project; Narmada Bachao Andolan says purchase of power from Maheshwar Hydro-Electric project would cost Rs 10 per unit.

2012-02-03T09:28:00.000+05:30

Tehelka:Soumik Mukherjee:Friday, February 03, 2012.

The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the purchase of power by the Madhya Pradesh government from the controversial Maheshwar Hydro-Electric project after a recent Right to Information Act (RTI) application revealed that the rate would be as high as Rs 10 per unit.

According to the RTI, filed by NBA, the price per unit is much higher compared with the tariff of two other upcoming hydro-electric projects in the state purchase from Essar Power and Torrent Power will cost Rs 2.45 and Rs 3.31 respectively. Buying power at Rs 10 per unit will cost the state an additional 21,000 crore annually.

The Maheshwar project, a venture of the S Kumars group, is one of the largest ongoing dam projects on river Narmada. Sixty-one villages having 10,000 families would be submerged due to the project, NBA member Chittaroopa Palit alleged at a press conference here on Thursday.

Another NBA member Alok Agarwal demanded that the project should be scrapped right away after the reply to the RTI application. “There should be an independent CBI probe into the issue, including all politicians and bureaucrats involved in the project,” said Agarwal.

Being a hydro-electric project, 80 per cent of electricity is generated in monsoon. According to Agarwal, the project is irrelevant in terms of the state’s electricity requirement since 40 per cent of the power is used in irrigating agricultural fields, there is no need for irrigation in monsoon. “Why should the government pay extra amount of public money for power which is not required?” he asked.

The Maheshwar project has been the subject of a decade-old agitation. The project, which was given a go-ahead by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, was halted on grounds of poor rehabilitation process for the 10,000 displaced families.

However, the then-Minister of Environment Jairam Ramesh gave it green signal referring to discussions between Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and former CM Digvijay Singh. Citing the correspondence between Chauhan and Singh, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan accused the latter of corruption. Calling the Supreme Court order on 2G historical, Bhushan alleged that Singh was more corrupt than Home Minister P Chidambaram. Bhushan, who is also a senior member of Team Anna and India Against Corruption campaign, added that only a strong Lokpal could curb such “cases of irregularities and corruption”.

Soumik Mukherjee is a Photo Correspondent with Tehelka. soumik@tehelka.com

Governor unhappy with CM’s choice.

2012-02-03T08:18:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Friday, February 03, 2012.

HYDERABAD: Governor ESL Narasimhan has withheld his assent on the files pertaining to the appointment of eight information commissioners as the Congress high command has advised him to do so, highly-placed sources said.
Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy had, in the presence of deputy chief minister Damodar Raja Narasimha and opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu, two days ago cleared the names of Imtiyaz Ahmed (retired district judge), M Ratan (serving IPS officer), M Prabhakar Reddy (former Cyberabad police commissioner), L Tantia Kumari, M Vijaya Nirmala, Varre Venkeshwarlu (social workers), P Vijaya Babu (senior journalist) and C Madhukar Raj (former forest service officer) for appointment to these posts.
Even as the Congress high command expressed its displeasure over the choice of nominees, RTI activists threatened an agitation over what they describe as political appointments.
The Congress high command has reportedly summoned the CM to New Delhi to explain the rationale behind accommodating candidates of opposition leader Naidu and Congress leader Chiranjeevi without keeping in mind the interests of the RTI act.
Sources said that AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel spoke to the CM and informed him that 'Madam' was not happy with the controversy. Such being the case, a top Congress high command functionary telephoned the Governor and requested him to put on hold his approval to the appointments.
As per Section 15.6 of the RTI Act, 2005: "The State Chief Information Commissioner or a State Information Commissioner shall not be a member of Parliament or member of the legislature of any state or union territory or hold any office of profit or be connected with any political party or be carrying on any business or pursuing any profession."
But four of those selected by the committee either have political affiliations or pursue some profession or hold an office of profit.
Muttamsetti Vijaya Nirmala owns a private educational institute and ran as the Praja Rajyam candidate in the 2009 elections from Nuzivudu constituency. Another nominee, Lam Tantia Kumari, is a Congress ZPTC in Krishna district and contested on a Congress ticket in 2009. Her family found itself in trouble following the Ayesh Begum murder in 2008.
Varre Venkateshwarlu is an active Congress politician and presently holds a PCC post. Although he was selected in the social work category, he is more well-known as a Congress face.
Imtiyaz Ahmad had contested against Kiran Kumar Reddy on a TDP ticket from Pileru. He later joined Congress and has now been rewarded with the information commissioner's post.
As regards M Ratan, he is a serving additional director general who has not resigned his post.
He has to submit his resignation which has to be approved by the government.
His wife, too, is an IAS officer and that might lead to a conflict of interest with his role as information commissioner. After going through all the information, the Governor expressed his displeasure and is learnt to have decided against giving his assent to the appointments. But he is waiting to see how the CM defends the nominees before the Congress high command. According to sources close to him, he is all set to return the file with his observations in a couple of days.

Law Min to challenge CIC order on disclosure of SG advice.

2012-02-03T08:13:00.000+05:30

Business Standard:Friday, February 03, 2012.

The Law Ministry has decided to challenge the Central Information Commission order directing it to disclose the advice of the then Solicitor General Goolam E Vahanvati to former Telecom Minister A Raja on spectrum allocation to telecom companies.

The Commission had rejected the argument of the Law Ministry that advice was given in fiduciary capacity and cannot be disclosed under exemption clauses of the RTI Act.

In a recent communication, the Law Ministry has informed RTI applicant Subhash Agrawal that "it has been decided by the competent authority to file an appeal before the Delhi High Court against the CIC order under reference."

The information sought by activist Agrawal was refused by the Department of Legal Affairs citing exemption clause of "fiduciary relationship" under the Right to Information Act.

Raja had allegedly cited the discussion with Vahanvati to press his point before the Prime Minister to go ahead with spectrum allocation as against the advice of the Prime Minister asking him to wait for some days before taking any action on the issue.
Raja, on December 26, 2007, had written to the Prime Minister saying, "I have already consulted the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Solicitor General of India G E Vahanvati and they have advised me that as a preemptive and proactive measure, I can go ahead with the allocation of 2G spectrum space immediately."
The then Telecom Minister, who has been arrested by the CBI in connection with the 2G spectrum scam, had written the letter in response to Prime Minister's communique to him asking him to wait for some days before taking any action on spectrum allocation.

RTI query on endosulfan rejected.

2012-02-03T08:08:00.000+05:30

IBNLive.com:Friday, February 03, 2012.

KASARGOD: The Public Information Officer of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), Thiruvananthapuram, has rejected a petition filed under the RTI Act for information on the soil samples collected from the district to analyse endosulfan residues.

The Public Information Officer gave a terse reply to S Ganesan, an RTI activist from Secundarabad, who wanted to know the scientific parameters used in analysing the endosulfan residues in the soil collected from the areas where the pesticide was sprayed.

The reply to the RTI query was: “I am to inform you that the information requested by you is not available in the office”. The information sought under the RTI Act included details of confirmatory test, details of residue analysis and information regarding the chromatograms. Though 15 questions were asked, the PIO replied that no information was available at his office. The RTI activist said in his appeal to K Thulaseedharan Nair, the appellate authority, that the reply was perfunctory and violated the provisions of the RTI Act. A copy of the letter was also sent to Dr V N Rajasekharan Pillai, executive vice-president of the KSCSTE. “The very purpose of the RTI Act is to enable a citizen to have access to information under the control of the public authority. According to the RTI Act, the information meant any material stored in any form including the data stored in electronic equipment. The state government had given `10 lakh to the KSCSTE to conduct the study,” he said.

He said in his appeal that the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management is one of the seven Research and Development Centres of the KSCSTE. The residue analysis of endosulfan was carried out by the CWRDM. The Public Information Officer of the KSCSTE should have collected the information from the CWRDM, he said. The activist also questioned the identification of samples which was done with the help of NGOs, panchayat officials and Health officials. He said it was not a standard practice since the help of soil experts was not sought by the KSCSTE. The RTI activist also complained that the website of the KSCSTE does not carry any information under section 4 of RTI Act.

RTI activists slam nominations of info commissioners.

2012-02-03T08:03:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Friday, February 03, 2012.

The government's move to project itself as champion of RTI Act by appointing an unexpected eight information commissioners has backfired with protests against the appointments gaining momentum on Thursday. More than 50 civil society organizations joined hands on this issue.
The members of the organizations as well as individual RTI activists are now up in arms and are calling the appointments illegal.
"It is a blatant violation of the RTI Act as most of the candidates selected for the key roles have direct political affiliation," said Chelikani Rao of Federation of AP Senior Citizens Organizations (FAPSCO). He also expressed his unhappiness over the manner in which the selection process was done.
Activists are planning to intensify protests by involving organizations from across the state if the government does not agree to their demand that the appointments be reconsidered.
Activists are mainly against the appointment of five commissioners -- L Tantia Kumari, M Vijaya Nirmala, V Venkateswarlu, M Ratan and Imtiyaz Ahmad whose background violates the spirit of the RTI Act.
"It is surprising that even leader of the opposition N Chandrababu Naidu has endorsed the appointments. It is nothing but sharing of spoils by political parties," Chelikani Rao said.
M Padmanabha Reddy, secretary, Forum For Good Governance, said the appointment of M Ratan, an IPS officer who is still serving in the vigilance and enforcement department, is a clear violation as under the Act anyone holding an office of profit cannot be considered for such a role.
Activists now plan to meet the chief minister and the governor in this regard to put pressure on them to revise the list and threaten to launch protests, and even plan legal action if the government fails to relent.
S Srinivass Reddy of APSA (Association of Promotion of Social Activities) said, "We are garnering support from across the state and are expecting 150 more civil society organizations to join the cause. We will take this campaign to the public and also involve them."
Activists plan to run signature campaigns, satyagraha movements, protest meets, cultural protests and have also decided not to cooperate with the newly-appointed commissioners by not attending any future meetings of the commission.
V Lakshmana Reddy of Jana Chaitanya Vedika further informed that they were planning to knock on the doors of Central Information Commission, Delhi on the matter and also meet national-level representatives of political parties to get their support.

Now, your MLA’s report card up for display.

2012-02-02T09:09:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Thursday, February 02, 2012.

New Delhi: If you want to know what your area MLA is doing with the development funds, you can now access his report card in the neighbourhood itself.
Following a CIC order issued last year, close to 671 boards have been put up across 70 assembly constituencies, displaying how each MLA spent the local area development fund in the past two financial years. The large boards, listing details of expenditure of every project undertaken using the funds, have been installed at prominent locations in the constituencies, such as the offices of deputy commissioners of the district and government hospitals. A public notice regarding this will be issued soon.
"A sign board of appropriate dimension shall be installed, mentioning the details of expenditure of the current year and that of the previous year of the MLA under the local area development fund of each constituency," information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi had said in an order dated February 10, 2011. Though the government was supposed to put up the boards by March 15 and submit a compliance report by March 25 last year, the state has managed to complete the work only now.
The display of information will now be a permanent feature. The department of urban development is compiling all this information in a booklet, which will be available for a nominal price at government offices such as the Delhi secretariat and MCD offices.
Chief minister Sheila Dikshit's report card is on display at the Cooperative Societies office at Parliament Street. Boards displaying projects undertaken by urban development minister A K Walia and education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely have been installed at the office of the deputy commissioner for east district. Pusa Labour office displays the fund utilization of labour minister Ramakant Goswami who represents Rajender Nagar. SG Hospital displays the work done by PWD minister Raj Kumar Chauhan who represents Mangolpuri. Information on work done by Ballimaran MLA and Delhi's power minister Haroon Yusuf is on display at GN Eye Hospital. The CIC order came in response to a complaint filed under the RTI Act by one Anjali Bhardwaj and 317 citizens from Sheikh Sarai.

CIC asks I&B to provide details of Kalanithi Maran's shares in Sun Direct.

2012-02-02T08:59:00.000+05:30

Indiantelevision.com:Thursday, February 02, 2012.

NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has been asked by the Central Information Commission to provide details of the shareholding by Kalanithi Maran in the direct-to-home (DTH) platform, Sun Direct.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had earlier registered a case against Kalanidhi Maran, his younger brother and former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran regarding Aircel-Maxis deal with linkage to investment in Sun Direct.
The CIC overruled the objection of the I&B ministry and Sun Direct that the information sought was commercial in nature and exempted from disclosure under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. The Ministry has to give the information by 25 February.

The DTH platform’s counsel sought to plead that any information regarding shareholding pattern is in the nature of commercial confidence-protected under section 8 (1) (d) of the RTI Act and disclosure of the same will harm the commercial interest of the third party.’
Earlier, the Ministry’s Public Information Officer K S Rejimon had refused to provide the information saying the company had not given consent. Vinod K Jose, a resident of Jhandewalan, had sought information on the shareholding pattern in Sun Direct and percentage shares held by Maran.
Information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said the information sought cannot be treated as confidential as it is accessible to public through Registrar of Companies website by making a payment. "This Bench is of the view that disclosure of merely the shareholding pattern of Sun Direct TV cannot put it at a disadvantage from its competitors," he said.

CIC also observed that the information related to mere matter of business and pertaining to, or engaged in, commerce can be treated as commercial. The details of the shareholding pattern are not in the nature of commercial confidence. In any case. The Commission felt that it had not been apprised how disclosure of such information would harm Sun Direct.
The Commission also overruled the company’s objection that the information was personal in nature saying the information already provided to a public authority cannot fall in the domain of unwarranted invasion of privacy.

Maken to BCCI: Why fear Sports Bill ?

2012-02-02T08:50:00.000+05:30

ESPN Starsports:Thursday, February 02, 2012.

If the BCCI is actually transparent in their functioning then they should not fear the proposed Sports Bill, says India's Sports Minister Ajay Maken.

"The BCCI has sent a 26-27 page letter to the ministry saying why they (the officials) were opposed to the (proposed) Sports Bill. I don't understand why the BCCI, if they are not scared of RTI or transparency, are not prepared to come under it," said Maken during his speech at the Indian Merchants Chamber-organised seminar 'Fusion 2012' on sports, media and entertainment.
Maken, who was the chief guest, said that transparency was the main focus of the proposed bill -- which has been opposed tooth and nail by not only the BCCI but also the Indian Olympic Association.
"Transparency is the main thing in the Sports Bill. RTI will bring the much-needed transparency. BCCI gets exemption (from the Government) in many ways like tax, use of police services.
"IPL (the Indian Premier League), which is a form of entertainment, does not attract entertainment tax in many states," he pointed out.
Speaking on the sidelines later, Maken came out in support of the under-fire Indian cricket team and pointed out that the same squad had won the World Cup leading to celebrations all over the country less than a year ago.
"Our players do well at times and perform badly on others. When they do badly, we should not forget their good performances. Less than a year ago, they had won the World Cup and the entire nation celebrated," Maken noted.
Maken said one of the ministry's main targets in the run-up to the London Olympic Games, was to see that the number of athletes who qualify exceeded the number who made the grade in Beijing four years ago.
"A total of 732 core probables had been selected towards qualification some time back. At the last Olympics in Beijing, 57 persons qualified. Our aim is to better that number," Maken said.
"We have spent Rs 111 crore so far including Rs 55 crore to give foreign exposure (to the sportspersons). We are ready to give more help (to them to qualify)," the Sports Minister said.
Asked about the continuing stand-off between Hockey India, the body which has been recognised by the International Hockey Federation, and the age-old Indian Hockey Federation, Maken said these two rivals have to sort out their differences once the Olympic qualifiers (in Delhi later this month) get over.
"HI and IHF should sort out the matter after the Olympic qualifiers," he said.
Among the panel speakers at the seminar were former hockey internationals Mir Ranjan Negi and Sybil D'Mello.
Negi laid the blame squarely on the country's sports administrators for the poor show by Indian sportspersons in the international arena.

Chembur has highest number of quacks in city: BMC records.

2012-02-02T08:46:00.000+05:30

Hindustan Times:Thursday, February 02, 2012.

Thanks to civic apathy, 43 quacks continue to run dispensaries in the city. While Chembur’s M-East ward tops the list with 14 fake doctors, P-North in Malad stands second with 13 quacks, reveal the health department records of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).“Going by the statistics, it is clear that the corporation neglects the suburban wards with large number of slums. Though the medical certificates of 10 doctors from Chembur (East) suspected to be fake have been sent for verification, the matter is hardly followed up,” said Anil Galgali, an RTI activist, who accessed the data under the RTI Act.

A police complaint has been filed against all alleged quacks from the P-North ward. “The corporation doesn’t care about citizens’ health. Strict action should be initiated against quacks and civic authorities for dereliction of duty,” said Rajkumar Sharma, a social activist from Chembur (East).

A senior health department officer said, “Most of these dispensaries are not functioning now. We have sent certificates of suspected fake doctors to the respective councils for verification. If the councils confirm that they are fake, we file a police complaint at the local police station against the quack.”

The corporation sends the certificates for verification to five registered councils of allopathy, ayurveda, homeopathy, naturopathy and unani, wherein the course, degree and registration number is verified.

Lawyers, Civil Society for awareness campaign.

2012-02-02T08:43:00.000+05:30

GreaterKashmir.com:Thursday, February 02, 2012.

Srinagar, Feb 1: A proposal to introduce a new Police legislation in Jammu and Kashmir in the upcoming Budget Session has drawn attention of civil society and law experts, who are demanding media awareness campaign on the draft bill before it is tabled in the assembly for its far-reaching publicity.
Talking to Greater Kashmir the members of civil society and legal practitioners said the ‘conventional way’ to publicize the draft bill won’t make any sense. “There must be media awareness campaign to inform different stakeholders including common masses about various aspects of the draft bill so that the legislation is made people friendly,” they said.
“It will tend to give police more powers, reduce the accountability and dilute the effectiveness if proper consultations were not made in a matter of such wide public importance,” said Navaz Kotwal, a Programme Coordinator at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), a premiere non-governmental organization promoting the Right to Information Act and advocating police reforms in India.
She believed that the new law would be flawed if proper consultations were not made.
The legal experts of the valley believe that if the government is genuinely asking for the public response then the proposed reforms in the Police Act should be notified through electronic and print media.
Senior advocate Zafar Shah said the involvement of public is important to make law on the sensitive issue. “In the process of consultations, the proposed reforms should be notified through print and electronic media besides uploading it on the Police website to get the maximum response from the public,” he said.
“After receiving public responses through a proper authority, the expert committees should consider these responses to hold face to face meetings with any persons they wish to in order to understand the response properly. They can then submit the recommendations based on public response to the government to be incorporated in the reform bill. That would make the process genuine,” Shah added.
This is notable that despite the lapse of five years since the Supreme Court issued directives in 2007 with regard to police reforms, many states kept on lingering the proposed reforms. As far as JK government’s compliance in this connection is concerned, more pressure has started building on it following five month long 2010 summer unrest in the Valley. Even the Kashmir interlocutors constituted by the Centre has strongly recommended for the police reforms.
An RTI activist and a member of civil society Raja Muzaffar Bhat said it is also a statutory requirement under the new RTI law which mandates that the government to publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing decisions which affect the public.
“The way the draft bill for the Jammu and Kashmir RTI Act was made public before making it a law should be applied to the police act also. The public debate is important on the issue to take the public recourse in consideration,” he said.
According to documents available with GK, the need for police reforms in India is long recognized. “Way back in 1979, the National Police Commission (NPC) was set up to report on policing and give recommendations for reform. The Commission produced eight reports, dozens of topic specific recommendations and also a Model Police Act,” reads a document titled “Seven Steps to Police Reform” prepared by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), a new Delhi-based non-governmental organization.
The directives, according to experts, provide practical mechanisms to kick-start reforms. “They make up a scheme which if implemented holistically will correct the common ills that create poor police performance and unaccountable law enforcement today,” the CHRI document reads. “The scheme puts in place mechanisms to better ensure that the police have functional responsibility while remaining under the supervision of the political executive; political control of police by the political executive is conditioned and kept within its legitimate bonds; internal management systems are fair and transparent; police efficiencies are increased in terms of their core functions and most importantly, public complaints are addressed and police accountability enhanced.”
Minister of State for Home Nasir Aslam Wani said the draft bill would be put on government and police websites to receive public response. “However, we welcome suggestions from various quarters regarding the public debate to make the Police Act refurbished,” he said.

Government making RTI Act weak: PDP

2012-02-02T08:40:00.000+05:30

GreaterKashmir.com:Thursday, February 02, 2012.

Srinagar, Feb 1: Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today accused the Jammu and Kashmir government of institutional incompetence which is slowly rendering the Right to Information Act a "toothless tiger" in the state.
"The manner in which hurdles are deliberately being created to avoid effective RTI implementation apparently points to only conclusion that the government and its administration are hell bent on avoiding answers as it fears that Genie may come out of the bottle," the PDP general secretary Muhammad Dilawar Mir said in a statement here.
He alleged the National Conference-led coalition government has even found innovative ways and ideas to circumvent the Act, by either making absurd excuses or make its process tedious.
Mir claimed that right from the beginning, the Act and its process has been subjected to brazen commercialization and despite Chief Information Commissioner's recommendation and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's hollow assurance vis-a-vis slashing of RTI application fee and photostat charges, nothing has been done so far.
"Creating bottlenecks in RTI process underlines determination of the government to ensure that no institution comes to fore which has the potential to eliminate corruption, irregularities and unaccountability in the government," the PDP leader said.
Dilawar said the people are losing faith in the present government vis-a-vis RTI, and they want results rather than being bombarded with rhetoric all the time.
"Disregarding the Act by not furnishing the requisite information and failure to evoke any response to letters of SIC, is a glaring example of how the government is pushing the Act to a permanent impotency," he alleged.

Free facilities to former governor questioned.

2012-02-02T08:38:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Thursday, February 02, 2012.

JAIPUR: The state government has received a representation from two Jaipur residents questioning the free facilities being provided to former Rajasthan and Gujarat governor Anshuman Singh.

The representation made by journalist Milap Chand Dandia and advocate Vimal Chaudhary states that even though there existed no legal provision for it, the government was allowing Singh to avail free facilities and that too at a par with an incumbent governor.

"Since 2004, the government has spent around Rs 4 crore on providing a free house, electricity, water, vehicle, driver and armed security to the former governor," Dandia said, quoting information obtained by him under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Dandia had earlier filed a public interest litigation (PIL) on the issue before the high court, which last month directed him to first approach the state government for a remedy. A division bench headed by chief justice Arun Kumar Mishra had then ordered that the petitioner could file a fresh petition if the government failed to address the issue.

The representation submitted to chief secretary Salauddin Ahmed states that neither the Governors (Emoluments) Allowances and Privilege Act, 1982, nor the Rules of 1987 framed in accordance with this Act allow any pension benefits to former governors. "Still the government is granting free facilities to Singh. This is arbitrary and illegal," said advocate Chaudhary.

It was mentioned that the state general administration department had estimated a cost of Rs 1.20 lakh per month on the facilities proposed to be provided to Singh in 2004. "The truth is that just the salaries of the static security guards provided to Singh come to Rs 1.07 lakh per month," Dandia said.

As per information gathered by the duo under the RTI Act, the government made an estimated annual expenditure of Rs 12.84 lakh on the static security guards, Rs 8.64 lakh on the escort vehicle and personal security guard, Rs 13.44 lakh on chauffeur-driven car and its fuel, Rs 6 lakh as house rent, Rs 3 lakh on electricity and water, Rs 80,000 on furniture, Rs 85,842 on the house's repairs and Rs 7.20 lakh on maintenance of the house provided to Singh in the past over seven years.

"This is probably the only case in the country wherein free facilities are being given to a former governor," Dandia said.

25% saplings planted along roads die.

2012-02-02T08:13:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Thursday, February 02, 2012.

NAGPUR: The reply to a Right To Information (RTI) application filed by Abhay Kolarkar has revealed that around 25% saplings planted along the roads by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) have died. Out of the 2,070 saplings planted in the last two years, 576 are dead, says the RTI reply.

"During my regular walks around the area I noticed many plants were damaged or dead. That is when I decided to file an RTI to take stock of the situation," said Kolarkar, a Deendayal Nagar resident. The reply stated that the saplings are planted without any tree guards and is not very clear about the expenses incurred in the plantation process.

NB Shrikhande, superintendent of NMC's garden department, said not putting a tree guard was an experiment by the municipal corporation. "The saplings planted by us are more than 10ft high and hence don't need protection. The cost of a tree guard ranges from Rs 700 to 1,400 depending on whether it is made of bamboo or steel. This money can be used instead to buy more saplings," he said.

"They are saying that the plants are big enough to survive without any guards, but the plants they have planted are of low quality," said Kolarkar.

Kaustav Chatterjee of Green Vigil, an environmental NGO, said that a sapling had very thin chance of surviving without protection. "It is useless. There are a number of grazing cattle in the city and I am sure that the mortality of the saplings is much more than the 25% they are reporting," he said.

According to Shrikhande the main reason for such high number of failed plantings was not grazing but the theft of bamboo sticks used to support the saplings. "People steal these sticks and the plants become limp and eventually die," he said.

He also said that as this experiment to save money was not yielding expected results, they are now planning to undertake plantation drives on play grounds and approach the locals to help take care of the plants.

NMC is also yet to issue work orders to start work for freeing the roots of trees which are choked due to cementing or tarring around the trunk. The issue is pending for months with TOI having reported on it twice in the past. Standing committee chairman Sandeep Joshi had said that he had already allotted money for the work.

"There are some technical difficulties in the proposal to be passed. We will do the work, but it will take some time," is all that Shrikhande says.

RTI finds TN biodiversity board defunct.

2012-02-02T08:09:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Thursday, February 02, 2012.

COIMBATORE: In a GO dated September 30, 2008, the state government notified the formation of Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Board. But a recent Right To Information (RTI) application has revealed that barely four years later, the board is nearly defunct after having just identified one biodiversity heritage site, Senthiraikillai in Cuddalore district.
The RTI application, according to K Mohan Raj, who filed it, also found that the biodiversity board "does not exist and hence is non-functional". The fund allocations are also meagre and the commitment to establish a fully functional State Biodiversity Board is missing.
The RTI applicant also said that the state should appoint a full time chairman and secretary as per the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
Every local body including 12,620 village panchayats in Tamil Nadu should establish biodiversity management committees (BMC), but only six BMCs are functional. These are Vadamadurai in Theni district, Thiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur, Thiruvarankulam in Pudukottai, Athoor in Dindugul, Kolli hills in Namakkal and Mandapam - Ramanathapuram.

Isro to release Devas deal probe reports.

2012-02-01T09:55:00.000+05:30

Deccan Herald:Wednesday, February 01, 2012.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Department of Space have initiated the process of getting necessary clearance to make public the two reports on the $300 million Antrix-Devas deal.

The statement issued by ISRO chairman Radhakrishnan through ISRO’s public relations office (PRO) was his first remark since the row over the government blacklisting his predecessor and three other scientists unfolded last week.
The PRO, in a note said: “Dr K Radhakrishnan, chairman, Isro and secretary, Department of Space stated that the department is in the process of getting necessary clearances for releasing the Reports of the two Committees viz (a) the High Powered Review Committee set up on February 10, 2011 (with B K Chaturvedi and Professor Roddam Narasimha as members), and (b) the High Level Team set up on May 31, 2011 (chaired by Pratyush Sinha) to examine various aspects of the Antrix-Devas Agreement of January 2005.”
ISRO’s reaction comes after the scientific community pressured government to review its decision and follows Nair’s move to secure the reports through RTI.
Nair has also sought details about the various processes and decision makers that were instrumental in issuing the blanket order banning him and three other scientists from re-employment in any government institution.
Reacting to Radhakrishnan’s statement, Nair told Deccan Herald, “...The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Let us see how it all pans out. I have anyway sought this information besides details on the ‘punitive action approval cycle’.” He however expressed confidence that “truth will prevail.”

What a waste of open space.

2012-02-01T09:47:00.000+05:30

Hindustan Times:Wednesday, February 01, 2012.

It has undisputedly the most number of open spaces and green areas in the island city, but the tragedy is that most of these plots in the F-north ward are in a bad shape as they lie neglected.
In all, the ward has 46 open spaces – 31 plots reserved as recreational gardens, 11 plots as playgrounds and four as gardens. In the past five years, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has spent lakhs of the taxpayers’ money developing many of these open spaces, but owing to the lack of regular maintenance and supervision, the gardens are in a poor state.

Consider this. Two years after the BMC started the restoration of Five Gardens, a heritage property, it has spent Rs one crore, but only two of the five gardens have had a makeover.

Data obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by residents shows that the BMC allocated Rs 50,000 for each lamppost, while the cost of a bench has been pegged at Rs 30,000. In the absence of a security guard, some of the lamps have been vandalised and robbed. “The kind of blind expenditure by the BMC is ridiculous,” said Nikhil Desai, a resident of Matunga. “The heritage committee had to intervene in order to stop the BMC from reducing the green space through concretisation.”

Even as the BMC spends an absurd amount of money and time on the Five Gardens, the huge Hoopers’ garden, near JB Vachha school close to Five Gardens, once the haven for basketball enthusiasts, lies unmaintained.

The BN Vaidya Udyan in Hindu Colony was developed just three years ago, but the trees have all dried up, the ground is unlevelled and the boundary wall is broken. “The BMC has lots of money to spend, but it cannot maintain the garden by appointing a gardener and a security guard. In three years, this garden has deteriorated to a point that it can’t be used,” said Sudarshan Bhatt, a Hindu Colony resident.

Residents said the BMC should learn from L&T, which maintains the Maheshwari Udyan. The garden, a slice of which was taken away to lay pillars for the Dadar-Matunga flyover, has won the award for being the best-maintained garden in the city for nine consecutive years now. “A lush green lawn, well-maintained trees, walking tracks, a few safe rides for children and a working fountain are the basic things needed in garden. Why can’t the BMC do it? ” said Desai.

The state of the garden in the Sion fort precinct is as bad as all the others. The garden was handed over to the BMC in the mid-1990s for maintenance, but the BMC’s apathy and neglect prompted the Archaeological Survey of India to take it back three years ago. No effort has been made to maintain the garden after that.

The civic body installed a new fountain at Nappu garden, near Matunga station, recently, but within a year the fountain stopped working. The ward office claims it does not have the manpower to maintain fountains.

Raghunath Thavai, a Congress corporator, said: “The residents’ complaints are valid. Even after repeatedly telling the ward staff to post security guards in the gardens, they have not done anything.

The cloak over information just got bigger.

2012-02-01T09:44:00.000+05:30

Hindustan Times:Wednesday, February 01, 2012.

Two years after India passed the Right to Information Act in 2005 neighbouring Nepal also adopted a similar law “to make the functions of the state open and transparent in accordance with the democratic system” and to allow every citizen access to information held in public bodies.

Despite the hiccups and drawbacks, the Act has proved a milestone in making public information that had been kept buried inside government files and led to a number of exposes in India. However, the scenario has not been same in Nepal.

Take for instance the case of an NGO exposing firms evading tax to the tune of millions of rupees by forging VAT bills. It took the organization more than six months and seven attempts at getting the document that caused a flutter last year.

At a time when the Right to Information Act is yet to be fully implemented and exercised, the Maoist-led government recently directed all public offices not to disclose 140 kinds of information classified by a committee headed by the Chief Secretary.

No one seems to have an idea of the full list of items that have been included in the directive, but the move has created fresh problems for the Baburam Bhattarai government with various groups including journalists and lawyers resorting to protests seeking its removal.

According to the RTI Act only those information which “seriously jeopardizes” sovereignty, integrity, national security, public peace, stability and international relations should not be disseminated. Anything that directly effects investigation, inquiry and prosecution of a crime can also be kept away from the public.

Issues that affect economy, trade, monetary interest, intellectual property, banking, trade privacy, communal harmony and anything that interferes with individual privacy as well as security of body, life, health and property of a person can also be kept secret.

The Act however adds that the public body shall not refrain from the responsibility of dissemination of even these kinds of information without providing “appropriate and adequate reason not to flow the information.”

But in its recent move the government included new items like issues under consideration in the cabinet, recommendations of the Constituent Assembly, names of ambassadors approved by the cabinet and proposals sent by the parliament to the President.

Information regarding airports, radio and television stations, customs check posts, telecom, power houses, irrigation, canals, bridges, storage of petroleum products and design of dry ports have also been included in the list of things that would be kept secret.

Understandably there were reactions. The Nepal Bar Association flayed the move and two PILs have been filed in Supreme Court. They want a stay on the government’s decision as it is against provisions of the interim constitution and the RTI Act.

Journalists who would be affected by the decision have resorted to protests. A group of them in Dhankuta were prevented by security personnel from attending a programme Bhattarai was to address. They were wearing black arm bands to protest the government move.

On Monday, a students’ organization staged a protest in Kathmandu. The Federation of Nepali Journalists, the biggest organization of journalists in the country, has also announced demonstration across the country demanding revocation of the move.

Already facing a barrage of problems, Bhattarai who completed five months in office this month tried to deflect this one by stating that the decision was taken by the Chief Secretary as per provisions of the interim constitution and the government had no role in it.

In today’s world information is power. Many have benefited from it in countries where it is easily accessible and suffered where there is a cloak of secrecy covering it. The struggle to reap the positives just got a tad difficult in Nepal.

Chemist made to pay 3 lakh.

2012-02-01T09:39:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Wednesday, February 01, 2012.

BANGALORE: A 31-year-old techie working with a multinational corporation got an unregistered chemist in Banashankari to cough up a Rs 3-lakh fine to the commercial taxes department. All through a Rs 10 Right to Information application form.
Amit Deshpande stumbled upon the racket after he saw that the bills, given to a family member who purchased medicines from the chemist, didn't have a Taxpayers' Identification Number (TIN). There were even Scheduled H drugs given without a doctor's prescription . Drugs which cannot be sold over the counter were freely available.
"In October 2011, I wrote a letter to the proprietor questioning him about these things, but he never responded. I filed an RTI application with the commissioner of commercial taxes to find out whether he was a registered dealer. Based on that, commercial tax officers conducted an inspection of the chemist's shop and found he was an unregistered dealer," Amit told TOI.
Amit recently got a 'Thank You' letter from the office of additional commissioner of commercial taxes (enforcement) for being a whistleblower.
"During out inspection, we noticed that the chemist was not registered. All purchase bills for 2009-10 , 2010-11 and 2011-12 have been taken. The dealer has accepted the discrepancies and agreed to discharge the tax liability. The total tax liability is Rs 3 lakh," said MS Sathyaprakash , assistant commissioner of commercial taxes, south zone, Bangalore.
The dealer paid the tax due and was also made to procure a Value Added Tax Registration Certificate.

T. Nagar not fire safe: CMDA

2012-02-01T09:36:00.000+05:30

Deccan Chronicle:Wednesday, February 01, 2012.

The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) on Tuesday informed the Madras high court that no fire safety measures were in place on Ranganathan Street and Usman Road area of T. Nagar, where several commercial buildings were situated.

R. Venkatesan, member secretary of CMDA, said the department of fire and rescue services had conducted an inspection for fire and life safety measures of commercial buildings at Ranganathan Street and Usman Road, according to the instructions of a monitoring committee, and pointed out several potential causes of a fire in that area.

The reasons included narrow, congested roads and heavy traffic leading to restricted approach and access to the vulnerable spot, which would \affect the timely response, as well as building violations, which would severely affect the movement, maneuvering and access of fire fighting vehicles to the building and thus severely restrict the capabilities of the fire and rescue services department.

The other building violations take the form of additional floors, thereby increasing the fire load, lack of escape staircases/ blocked or locked escapes and exists, which pose serious threat for effective evacuation at times of emergency. Besides, in most multi-storeyed and special commercial buildings, the statutory requirement of water storage for exclusive fire fighting was either inadequate or absent and this was coupled with the absence of fixed fire fighting installations.

“Thus from the above reasons, it is clear evident that no fire safety measures are available in Ranganathan Street and Usman Road area of T. Nagar,” he said. With regard to locking and sealing, Venkatesan said most of the buildings covered in the T. Nagar Survey Report were commercial establishments run by a single firm.

The notice was issued on all owners of the building and it was the duty of the owners to inform their tenants, he said in his counter filed to a batch of petitions relating to unauthorised constructions in T. Nagar.

Buildings violate norms, High Court told

The CMDA on Tuesday informed the Madras high court that a few illegal buildings on Ranganathan Street and Usman Road in T. Nagar have not complied with fire safety norms.

The fire department had also in its findings pinned down several commercial buildings for not complying with fire safety norms in T. Nagar. Residents of T. Nagar, who had obtained documents through RTI exposing the violation of fire safety norms in the locality, have alleged that no firms had cared to reply to the show-cause notices sent by the fire department.

“Almost all the buildings in the narrow Ranganathan Street and several commercial buildings dotting Usman Road have not complied with fire safety rules,” said V.S. Jayaraman, secretary, Motilal Street Residents Welfare Association, T. Nagar, he said.

The RTI reply that their association obtained from the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) department last year revealed that commercial establishments on Ranganathan Street in T. Nagar had not complied with building norms, including fire safety measures.

“TNFRS, in its reply, said that a safety audit conducted by the department in 2009 found that 90 per cent of the buildings had violated norms, after which they decided to inspect all the buildings that were in violation of fire and life safety system,” he said.

The department added that not even a single firm had replied to the show-cause notices issued by them.

“The department said the traders/builders were not spending a few lakh rupees for creating fire safe environment in T. Nagar and Ranganathan Street in particular,” Jayaraman pointed out. “These establishments should take care of the customers as well as the welfare of the public who residing nearby their shops,” he said.