Modi fasts: RTI activists move CIC against CMO.

Express news service:Saturday, December 31, 2011.

Ahmedabad : Two Vadodara-based RTI activists, Rohit Prajapati and Trupti Shah, have filed an appeal before the Chief Information Commissioner against the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in connection with their RTI application demanding details related to the expenses incurred on the Narendra Modi’s Sadbhavana fast programme from September 17-19.

In their appeal moved before the RTI Commissioner, the two have demanded that a fine of Rs 25,000 be imposed on the CMO for failing to provide the information and a direction to it to provide the same for free.

In their RTI application dated September 17, 2011, Prajapati and Shah had demanded a number of details relating to the expenditure incurred during Modi’s Sadbhavana fast programme. According to Shah, the CMO transferred the RTI application to the home department, which disposed of the application after providing partial information, saying other details would be available with other departments of the government and so it should be sought from the concerned departments.

Shah has said the CMO must know as to which details are available with which department and they ought to have either collected those details from those departments and given to them or could have directed them to specific departments.

Expert complains to PM on biotech bill.

Deccan Chronicle:Saturday, December 31, 2011.

Renowned biologist and former vice-chairman of the National Knowledge Commission, Dr Pushpa Bhargava, has written a strongly-worded letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against the proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill describing it as “unethical and unconstitutional and lacking in scientific sense”.

The bill, to have been placed in the Winter Session of Parliament, has stated that information declared by the BRAI as “confidential, commercial information” cannot come under the RTI Act.
Its definition of biotechnology excludes key areas such as immuno-technology, stem cells and nano-biotechnology which are all an integral part of modern biotechnology.
“Even more surprising, every university teaching these techniques will have to get BRAI permission for teaching them to undergraduate and postgraduate students,” Dr Bhargava pointed out.
No civil society participation has been proposed and the Biotechnolgoy Regulatory Appellate Tribunal will not accept complaints from the civil society even though they will be most affected by these products.
Worse, the bill was unconstitutional because although agriculture was a state subject, the bill will take away from the state government, the authority to take decisions on GM plant products.
Dr Bhargava highlighted how when Mr Jairam Ramesh was minister for environment and forests, 10 states had written to the Prime Minister that they will not allow their states to grow Bt brinjal.
The bill has made the convener of the selection committee for members of BRAI to be nominated from the Department of Biotechnology which is a vendor of genetic engineering. Nor did it make labeling of GM food products mandatory and offered no protection to farmers whose fields get contaminated with a GM product.

Manipulation charges against Kumble.

Hindustan Times:Saturday, December 31, 2011.

A Bangalore-based stockbroker has accused former international cricketer Anil Kumble and his wife, Chetana, of manipulating documents while applying for the passport of his daughter, the progeny of Chetana's earlier marriage to him.

In his complaint to the police, Kumar V Jagirdar said the child's passport had expired in 2009.

"I was baffled as to how a new passport was issued by the passport office when I was not involved in the application ... it is mandatory that both the natural parents have to jointly apply for the passport of the minor child. To know the truth, I applied to the Passport Authority under the RTI Act and secured the passport documents," he said in the complaint.

"On scrutiny it (was found) that though my name was shown as father in the signature column, someone else has signed as father. This signature is not mine but of Anil Kumble, who is the second husband of my former wife and has nothing to do with the guardianship of our child. I, as the biological father and natural guardian, continue to hold the guardianship rights of my minor daughter," he said.

"In April 2011, my former wife sought the release of our minor child's passport because she wanted to take her to the UK. Acceding to the request, the family court released the passport and granted her permission to take the child abroad for one month," he said.

When contacted, Anil Kumble said: "I don't know anything about this issue."

Police inspector Pramod said the case had been referred to the legal cell of the police commissioner's office, adding that Anil Kumble signed his own name and did not impersonate.

Additional commissioner of police T Sunil Kumar told HT the police had received a complaint on this.

Indira Awas whistle-blower shot dead: Note beside body in Latehar village claims PLFI role, police sceptical.

Calcutta Telegraph:Saturday, December 31, 2011.

Ranchi, Dec. 30: An RTI crusader, who exposed misappropriation of Indira Awas Yojana funds two months ago, was shot dead in a Latehar village last evening in a grim rerun of the fatal attack on MGNREGS activist Niyamat Ansari in the same rebel-hit district in March.

Though a hand-written note found beside 40-year-old Pradeep Prasad’s body in Salodi, 104km from the state capital, said the PLFI a breakaway CPI(Maoist) faction was responsible for the killing, police are yet to confirm Naxalite role in the incident.

According to Town police, who exercise jurisdiction over Salodi village, Prasad the Latehar block convener of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, a trade union outfit was returning to his native Mukka village on a motorbike around 6pm, when he was intercepted. His bullet-riddled body two wounds in the forehead and one in the chest was discovered around 8am today.

Latehar SP G. Kranti Kumar expressed his inability to name any individual or organisation behind the attack. “Though the PLFI has claimed responsibility for the murder in Salodi, we are yet to ascertain the genuineness of the note found beside the body. Anybody can write it to mislead the police. We are also trying to verify the motive behind the killing,” he said.

Local villagers said Prasad often invoked the RTI Act to highlight corruption in government departments and might have made several enemies in the process.

“In October, he had exposed embezzlement of funds meant for distribution among beneficiaries of Indira Awas Yojana in villages here, which led deputy commissioner Rahul Purwar to suspend a panchayat sevak, Ishidor Aiend,” a villager said.

On whether Prasad was the victim of a conspiracy hatched by unscrupulous government functionaries, the SP said: “We are yet to ascertain the exact motive behind the killing and are investigating the case from all angles.” He reiterated that the PLFI note could be a decoy to confuse police.

Surprisingly, DGP G.S. Rath said he was not aware of the incident in Latehar, but insisted that the PLFI was not active in that district.

“Latehar is the base of breakaway Maoist groups like the Jharkhand Janmukti Morcha and the Tritiya Prastuti Committee,” he added.

After Prasad’s body was recovered, angry residents blocked NH-75 near Latehar bus stand for two hours from 9am, demanding adequate compensation for the activist’s family. Prasad is survived by his wife and five children one son and four daughters.

The protest quelled after the district administration provided Rs 10,000 for last rites and assured Prasad’s kin of further financial assistance soon.

On March 2, Niyamat Ansari a trusted aide of economist and MGNREGS architect Jean Drèze was targeted by unscrupulous contractors, backed by Maoists, for exposing rampant corruption in the Centre’s flagship rural job scheme in a Latehar village.

While Ansari died after being beaten up brutally by a 12-member gang at Jerua, 130km from the state capital, his friend and colleague Bhukan Singh had a narrow escape because he wasn’t home when the rebel-backed group came hunting for him.

Both Ansari the block convener of Gram Swaraj Abhiyan and MGNREGS Sahayata Kendra and Singh had hit headlines on February 20, when they detected financial irregularities in two projects at Rankikala village in Manika block of the district and lodged an FIR against former BDO Kailash Sahu.

More than Rs 2 lakh were recovered from Sahu and his accomplices during raids that followed.

After much dilly-dallying, the Arjun Munda government sanctioned a CBI probe into Ansari’s killing in July. The central agency is yet to begin investigations.

RTI activists hold demo at Chadoora.

GreaterKashmir.com:Saturday, December 31, 2011.

Chadoora, Dec 30: Activists of J&K RTI Movement staged a protest in this central Kashmir town on Friday.
Protesters assembled in the town this afternoon and staged a sti-in against what they called “misgovernance, defunct anti-corruption agencies, non-availability of power, drinking water, rampant illegal constructions and other issues.”
Activists demanded strengthening of the State Accountability Commission and State Vigilance Organization. “The institutions have become defunct,” they alleged.
The Convener of JK RTI Movement Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat said, “The RTI activists have been exposing various corruption scams in JK but till date no action has been taken even in a single case.”

Information for all: Info commisisoner plans mass clearance of RTI appeals

DNA:Ashutosh Shukla:Saturday, December 31, 2011.

The New Year will be bringing good news for RTI applicants in Mumbai. With the rising number of second appeals and the complaints that have reached 22,127 in Maharashtra as on November, the state information commission has decided to have mass clearance of appeals.

Second appeals are applications filed with the information commission when an applicant does not receive information or gets inadequate information from the public information officer (PIO) and the first appellate authority (FAA).

To the content of applicants who have been waiting the longest, appeals filed in 2008 will be taken up first. According to the acting state chief information commissioner, Vijay Kuvalekar, "Around 600 appeals will be heard chronologically from 2008 onwards. We intend to clear them on January 4, 5 and 6. The idea to take up this program was to clear the appeals and complaints. Every month with increasing awareness 2,500 appeals are filed. Due to less number of commissioners, and three doubling up for the vacant posts, the appeals are only increasing. It was with this reason we thought of having the mass clearance. Even if 40% are disposed off, it will give relief to applicants."

The program will be conducted under the name of 'Special Appeal Disposal Program'. Hearings will be held at different timings at the hall in RA Poddar, Medical College on Dr. Annie Beasant Road, Worli.

As per the program, the applicant and PIO will be made to sit across each other and they will decide on the information that is needed. If the matter is resolved, the commissioner will dispose of the appeal. If not, a form will then be filled by applicant and PIO and applicant will seek punishment for the PIO.

At present, Mumbai headquarters account for most number of second appeals with 4,661 appeals. This is followed by 3,694 appeals in the Pune region, which belongs to Kuvalekar.

Why such high frequency? In his defence, Kuvalekar states, "Around 1,000 appeals got added to the Pune division when the papers were sorted out for the second appeal hearing." According to Kuvalekar, when initiative for mass clearance started, to ensure that it is chronologically done, the commission surfed through the stack of papers that are there. "A thousand cases got added in that. Due to constantly moving from Pune to Mumbai for the past four months, hearing has suffered and has lead to addition of the pendency," added Kuvalekar.

While Kuvalekar may be doing his bit to clear the pendency, there are some against it. Krishnaraj Rao, an activist said, "The RTI Act does not give any provisions for a commissioner to have such a hearing." To this Kuvalekar states that he has legal opinion from the advocate general of Maharashtra. Rao, however, differs on the opinion. "It cannot still give him the power as the commissioner derives all his powers from the Act," he said.

While mass hearing may be a one-time phenomenon, the RTI Act and people seem to be on the losing side. As per Kuvalekar's own admission, if the post of information commissioners and other staff are not filled, the commission will fail. At present there is a vacancy for 50 officers in the department, the most crucial being that of stenos who type the orders.

Stenos who are crucial for typing out the order are half in strength as compared to the sanctioned post. "Post santioned are two for headquarters and state but only one steno is working at each place. Despite hearing, around 60 orders are needed to be sent as they are not typed. And once they are not sent, we cannot count them as disposed," said Kuvalekar. According to Kuvalekar, the need now is of twice the sanctioned post. "As the Act is becoming popular, more and more people are filing applications and now the need is of four stenos," said Kuvalekar.

Activists have slammed the Maharashtra Chief Minister for not filling up the posts of commissioner and steno. "The chief minister is to be blamed for the death of the RTI Act. There was no reason why they did not go ahead with the precedence of making the senior most commissioner the state chief," said Bhaskar Prabhu, another RTI activist.

Another set of activist are planning to move court against the commissioner's vacancies. "We are gathering details and as soon as the petition is ready, we will most likely be filing a case in January," said Narayan Varma of PCGT, an organization that works to facilitate use of RTI Act.

“Voluntary Disclosures” of Information guarantees transparency.

Bhadas Online:Friday, December 30, 2011.

In a first-ever move to ensure transparency in the functioning of government from state secretariat to Panchayat levels the Bihar State Information Commission on Tuesday called upon the State Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary of Panchayati Raj Department to enforce the system of “voluntary disclosures” under the Right to Information Act-2005.

The Information Commission said: “Voluntary disclosures and their regular updating on the web and internet is the best way to help information-seekers in getting the information they need in a hassle free manner without affecting the day to day functioning of the government offices and officials. This would strengthen roots of good governance and help banish corruption through transparency”.

This was stated by Farzand Ahmed, journalist turned Information Commissioner in an order relating to functioning of three-tier Panchayati Raj system in Khageria district.

Using Commission’s power under section 25 [5] of RTI Act, Ahmed recommended to the head of the state bureaucracy to issue a directive to all development-related government departments to put all information in public domain. He pointed out that Section 4 [1] [i] makes it mandatory for every ‘Public Authority’ to ‘maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and the form which facilitates the right to information under this Act and ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerized are, within a reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerized and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated’.

Bihar state Information Commission has already established itself as the Number One in the country through innovative implementation of RTI Act. Implementation of this recommendation to the Chief Secretary would not only add another feather to its cap but would also go a long way to stop intimidation to Information-seekers and delays, said BSIC sources.

Ahmed made this suggestion in the wake of a case from Khageria. Petitioner Manoj Kumar Mishra, a resident of Gogri in Khageria had sought information regarding general body meetings of Panchayats in different years, decisions regarding development schemes and implementation between 1995-2009. He wanted all these information to be supported with documents and audit reports.

When the petitioner did not get satisfactory information, Information Commissioner Ahmed asked the District Magistrate of Khageria to set up a high-level inquiry Committee with the petitioner as a member. Though the DM quickly informed the Commission about setting up of the committee including Deputy Development Commissioners and BDOs of Blocks concerned as well as the petitioner as a member, he indicated that it might take time as there were other pressing works to do too by the officials.

The DM also referred to some Supreme Court rulings in which it was stated that in course of collection of information day to day work should not suffer.

The Information Commissioner in his order told the District Magistrate that his reply indicated his sincerity as well as his Hamlet-like dilemma to do or not do. He also used a line from Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s famous couplet [Aur bhie ghum hain zamane mein mohabbat ke siwa] to indicate confusion and reminded the District Chief that despite everything Right to Information is the basic right of every citizen and information sought by him must get priority over other things.

He said DM’s sincerity in setting up the committee must be appreciated. But at same time he [DM] must also prove his sincerity by getting the matter investigated. “Such an inquiry may expose huge corruption”.

The Information Commissioner gave the DM three months time for the inquiry to be completed and asked him to send a copy of the report to the Commission too.

नए साल में लगेगी मुंबई की पहली RTI 'लोक अदालत'.

नवभारत टाइम्स:आनंद मिश्र:मुंबई:Friday, December 30, 2011.

महाराष्ट्र में आरटीआई के तहत दायर की गईं 25 हजार अपील लंबित पड़ी हैं। इनके निपटारे के लिए लोक अदालत की तर्ज पर 'डिस्पोजल मेला' आयोजित किया जा रहा है। नए साल यानी जनवरी के पहले सप्ताह में आयोजित होने वाला अपनी तरह का यह पहला आयोजन है। इसका आयोजन राज्य के कार्यवाहक मुख्य सूचना आयुक्त विजय कुवलेकर के निर्देश पर हो रहा है।
'डिस्पोजल मेला' में आरटीआई के अपीलकर्ताओं और संबंधित विभाग के जनसूचना अधिकारियों को आमने-सामने बुलाकर उनके बीच सीधा संवाद स्थापित करने का एक मंच प्रदान किया जाएगा।
गौरतलब है कि महाराष्ट्र में फिलहाल 6 इन्फॉर्मेशन कमिश्नर हैं और इन सभी के पास लगभग 25,000 अपील के केस लंबित पड़े हैं। जिनके निपटारे का बोझ बढ़ता जा रहा है। आरटीआई याचिकाकर्ताओं की सूचना के मुताबिक राज्य भर में हर महीने लंबित अपीलों की तादाद 2,000 के आसपास बढ़ती जा रही है। इस वजह से अपीलों की सुनवाई का इंतजार और लंबा होता जा रहा है।
RTI कानून नहीं देता इसकी इजाजत:
आरटीआई ऐक्ट 2005 इस तरह के डिस्पोजल मेले की इजाजत नहीं देता। आरटीआई ऐक्ट के सेक्शन 8 और 9 में कहा गया है कि मांगी गई सूचना को या तो दिया जाए या फिर उसे नकारा जाए। इसमें समझौते का कोई स्थान ही नहीं है। अगर मुख्य सूचना आयुक्त के पास सेकंड अपील फाइल की गई है तो वे सुनवाई कर मामले के निपटारे के लिए बाध्य हैं। इस बारे में एनबीटी ने राज्य के मुख्य सूचना आयुक्त विजय कुवलेकर से संपर्क करने की कोशिश की लेकिन संपर्क नहीं हो सका। उनके ऑफिस से बताया गया कि वे पुणे में हैं।

Soon, drive to clear RTI backlog.

The Times of India:Friday, December 30, 2011.

MUMBAI: A new initiative aims to drastically cut down the pile of pending Right To Information (RTI) applications. A mass disposal RTI drive, on the lines of fast-track courts, will be held next month.
The acting chief state information commissioner, Vijay Kuvalekar, will have something like an RTI court bringing together the information seekers and public information officers of various public authorities to settle differences. Only matters that would hit a roadblock will be heard by him, said sources.
Kuvalekar, in his career, and also currently as the state information commissioner in Pune, has been regularly holding such drives to reduce the pending appeals. The exercise can be compared with a grand fair, said information seekers who have earlier participated in such campaigns.
For RTI applicants of the city, this is the first time they would participate in such a drive. Ever since Kuvalekar's office suggested the idea, it has created a buzz among applicants, mostly the RTI activists' community, all of whom have been waiting for long for their appeals to come up for hearing.
Most applicants, even those principally against the idea, are likely to sign up for the drive. The decision stems from a popular maxim that information delayed is information denied. This, especially in Maharashtra where the number of pending appeals have mounted to about 20,000 and the wait to procure information, is running close to 18 months.
Krishnaraj Rao, an RTI activist, said he was "cautiously optimistic" about such an initiative. "The sheer idea of carrying out such an arbitration exercise is wrong; we are going outside the purview of the RTI Act. But given the rising number of pending appeals, one feels this is just one of the ways out." The last state chief information commissioner left office on July 24. Since then, this office has been unoccupied, the appeals only escalating by the day.

MCI to make assessment reports of medical colleges public.

IndiaEduNews.net:Friday, December 30, 2011.

New Delhi: The Medical Council of India (MCI) on Thursday has been directed by the Central Information Commission to post assessment reports of medical colleges inspected by it on its website by July 30 each year.
The orders for transparency came after receiving complain from a resident of Delhi that the nation's medical education regulator has failed to place such information on its website as obligatory under section 4 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Information Commissioner, Shailesh Gandhi also told the MCI to disclose whether the application of a medical college for recognition has been accepted or rejected by posting the details on website.
According to Gandhi, voluntary disclosure of information by government departments will also lead to reduction in number of RTI applications being filed.
Meanwhile, MCI said the information Commission that colleges were inspected every five years and the assessment reports comprises issues related to occupancy and quality in linked hospitals.
MCI also indicated the problem related to displaying of assessment report in its entirety, saying it could require thousands of pages.

Hyped ‘desi Bt’ cotton has Monsanto gene, govt stops production.

Indian Express:Thursday, December 29, 2011.

New Delhi : India's claim of having developed its own Bt cotton (genetically modified) variety has taken an embarrassing turn with an RTI inquiry by two scientists revealing how the University of Agriculture Sciences (UAS) at Dharwad went ahead brushing aside all precautions to produce an indigenous variety working on a gene originally patented by Monsanto.

Finding this out, in 2009, the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) had even decided to stop the sale of Bikaneri Narma Bt Cotton touted as an “completely indigenous Bt variety”  and halt its sale in the domestic market. Bikaneri Narma was released for farmers as BN Bt by Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) in 2009. It was called an indigenous Bt “variety”  as distinct from the Monsanto hybrid where farmers have to buy fresh seeds each season. Farmers could re-use BN Bt for many years.

Yesterday, at a special ICAR meeting, a decision was reportedly taken to stop production of Bn Bt. When contacted, ICAR’s DDG S K Dutta, who stopped commercial sale of Bn Bt in 2009, declined to comment.

Records obtained by scientists Mansoor and Surendra under RTI and accessed by The Indian Express, show that elements of Monsanto’s Cry1Ac gene was detected in the BN Bt varieties developed by UAS. A probe has been ordered by the Karnataka government and by the vice-chancellor of UAS.

It was in 2005 that UAS’s principal scientist I S Kategari had claimed to have successfully introduced the gene in Bikaneri Narma, claiming that it was the “truncated” Cry1Ac gene. Records show that at a meeting on May 21, 2008, ICAR deputy director-general P L Gautam said that the presence of elements of Monsanto’s gene wasn’t an issue and cleared its commercialisation. Incidentally, Ananda Kumar, of the New Delhi-based National Research Centre for Plant Biotechnology, had said that there could have been contamination with elements of the Monsanto gene but added that his tests had not found any presence of these elements.

Several jolts, few moments of glory for RTI in 2011.

Moneylife:Thursday, December 29, 2011.

During 2011, the Right to Information exposed mega scams, at the same time there were fatal attacks on RTI activists and attempted dilution on RTI Act by politicians. While the movement received several jolts, there were few moments of glory too thanks to individual efforts to doggedly seek information against odds.
RTI GRIEF OF THE YEAR – activists brutally killed
16th August -Shehla Masood: Bhopal based firebrand RTI activist Shehla Masood was shot dead in front of her house on 16th August while on her way to support Anna Hazare’s fast in her city. Shehla had asked uncomfortable questions under RTI regarding illegal diamond mining by UK-based multi-national company, Rio Tinto in the sensitive Panna Tiger Reserve. Initially, the police tried to put forth the theory of suicide to defend the crooks but later with media heat, the case was transferred to CBI. No headway as yet!
5th November - Nadeem Sayyed: Ahmedabad-based RTI activist Nadeem Sayyed was brutally killed on 5th November in broad daylight. A crucial witness to the Naroda Patiya case wherein 95 persons were killed during the Godhra riots, Nadeem had filed several RTI applications pertaining to Godhra cases and developmental works in Gujarat. A fortnight later, seven people were arrested, one of who is a history-sheeter. The police are still investigating the case.
9th December – Ram Vilas Singh: Bihar-based activist Ram Vilas Singh, a resident of Bhabhangama village in Lakhisarai district, was shot dead. He relentlessly pursued seeking information on matters related to hoarding, black marketeering and government schemes in his village. Initially, the police tried to make it into a case of political rivalry but thanks to uproar by RTI activists across the country and the media, it is now investigating into the ulterior motive of silencing the whistle blower.
RTI EXPLOSION OF THE YEAR: Unearthing of mega scams.
The Adarsh Housing scam of Mumbai, the 2G Scam and the Common Wealth Games (CWG) Scam exploded into colossal scandals that took the nation by storm, thanks to revelations under the RTI. Out of turn allotments of flats to politicians, bureaucrats and armed forces personnel in the Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai, otherwise reserved for widows of the Kargil War and gross building law violations finally led to the resignation of the then Chief Minister Ashok Chavan. In the CWG scam case where Rs70,000 crore odd have been siphoned off, much of the details were procured through RTI. This led to the CWG boss in India and Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi being put behind bars. The prolific use of RTI in the case of the Rs1.70 lakh crore 2G scam brought out the chain-link of corruption in the UPA government between top ministers and bureaucrats, not sparing even home minister P Chidambaram. Former telecom minister A Raja was sent to Tihar Jail and until recently DMK MP Kanimozi too served a jail sentence.
RTI VILLIANS OF THE YEAR: Politicians try to belittle RTI Act, get snubbed.
When P Chidambaram, the Union Home Minster, came under the scanner in the 2G Scam thanks to documents procured under RTI, politicians especially from Congress party were quick to blame the RTI Act for the mess and expressed the desire to dilute it, if not in direct words.
Corporate affairs Minister Veerappa Moily said that the RTI Act “transgressed into the independent functioning of the government.’’ Law Minister Salman Khurshid said that misuse of RTI had hit “institutional efficacy and efficiency.’’
Then, there were attempts to dilute the Act as reflected in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s speech at the annual CIC convention in New Delhi in October. While he politely mentioned that the government wanted to make the Act even more effective instrument for ensuring transparency and accountability in administration, in the same breath he said, “Another concern that has been raised is that the Right to Information could end up discouraging honest, well-meaning public servants from giving full expression to their views... The Right to Information should not adversely affect the deliberative processes in the government.” RTI activists across the country, the media and the opposition parties were vociferous in their views against Dr Singh’s indirect attempt at diluting the RTI Act.
The largest piece of cake in running down RTI was taken by Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Pritiviraj Chavan who confessed that his go-slow in taking decisions is because of the RTI Act. He stated to newspersons that, “Now with the RTI in force, all files could be accessed by anyone and that's why one has to be very cautious…there are many decisions which involved error of judgment and no one imagined that the RTI would bring these decisions to public view. Some of our colleagues were punished severely as a result of such information coming out in the open.’’
Thankfully though, they were restricted just to making loud remarks and not conspiring to make amendments to the RTI Act. For now, at least.
RTI JOKE OF THE YEAR: Same Governor comes under RTI in Maharashtra but not in Goa.
In January 2011, Goa-based RTI activist, Aries Rodrigues, demanded information under the Act regarding President Pratibha Patil’s controversial four-day visit to the state, which was declared as a ‘private visit’ through a press release issued by the Governor’s office in Goa. K Sankarnarayanan, the Governor of Maharashtra also holds additional charge as Governor of Goa. Mr Rodrigues was denied information stating that the Goa Governor’s office does not come under the purview of the RTI Act. Mr Rodrigues then demanded the same information from the Governor of Maharashtra where Mr Sankaranarayanan was, and still is, the Governor. He got the information, which confirmed that the President was indeed on an official visit to Goa and not on a private one as claimed by the Goa Governor’s office, for which the Goa government spent Rs14.81 lakh from taxpayers’ money.
Thankfully, a petition in the Bombay High Court filed by the Goa Governor’s office was scuttled when the Court said that the Governor is public authority under the RTI Act and must provide relevant information. The Governor’s office then moved to the Supreme Court. Early this month the Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s order and directed the Governor’s office to make public the information under the RTI.
RTI RESOLUTION OF THE YEAR: Pune becomes the leading example.
The prestigious Central Information Commission (CIC) annual convention in New Delhi in October witnessed Pune becoming a role model for some of its resolutions. Pune is the first city in the country to make a library for RTI. This is located in the Pune Municipal Corporation building and was the brainchild of leading RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar. Open Days in government offices is also a unique feature of Pune. Again thanks to Mr Kumbhar and other activists, the Pune Municipal Corporation keeps all its departments open for inspection of files under Section 4 of the RTI Act every Monday, between 3pm and 5 pm. The Pune Collector’s office is also open for such inspection every Friday. Also, State Information Commissioner Vijay Kuvalekar’s special initiative wherein he brings together the applicant, PIO as well as the first appellate authority for quicker disposal of appeals was well appreciated. The CIC Convention decided to adopt all these three unique practices in other parts of the country.
RTI HEROES OF THE YEAR: Bhadresh Wamja, Sharad Phadke.
Bhadresh Wamja: Ignoring intimidation and family pressure, 17 year old Bhadresh Wamja of Saldi village, about 120 kms from Gandhinagar, used the RTI to restore food-grain and fuel rations that were being denied to villagers under the Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) and spurred a policy decision by the state government. His story was rated as the best success story under RTI, in a convention held at YASHADA in Pune which trains government functionaries from all over the country on RTI.
Sharad Phadke: He suffered a loss of Rs1,000 when he put in his ATM card to withdraw money. He did not get the cash, but the amount was debited from his account. He used the RTI to demand information regarding action taken against the bank officer who did not credit Rs1,000 to his bank account within the mandatory 12 days period as per the Reserve Bank of India rules. Mr Phadke also asked for information about the penalty which the bank had to pay him at the rate of Rs100 per day, for delay in not resolving the issue within 12 days. Bank of India, where Mr Phadke had account, subsequently was compelled to pay the penalty of Rs6,500 for a delay of 65 days. Mr Phadke did not stop at that. Stating that thousands of customers would be going through such harassment of banks, he has been filing RTI against several banks seeking information on the amount of penalty paid by them in such cases. The RBI has now reduced the number of days to 6 for crediting the wrongly debited amount beyond which the concerned bank has to pay the penalty of Rs100 per day to the customer. A couple of banks have installed software wherein the customer’s money gets automatically credited instantly in case of such faulty debit transaction from the customer’s bank account. All this was possible thanks to Mr Phadke’s tenacious campaign.
RTI SHAME OF THE YEAR: Ramanand Tiwari, State Chief Information Commissioner ousted.
State Chief Information Commissioner of Maharashtra was ousted by the Cabinet for his involvement in the Adarsh Housing scam. He gave extra FSI permission to Adarsh builders when he was the principal secretary in Urban Development Department. For this favour, his son was allotted a flat in Adarsh. This stern action was taken under Section 17 of the RTI Act which states: “The Governor may by order/remove from office the state information commissioner if a state information commissioner has acquired such financial or other interests as is likely to affect prejudicially his function as the state commissioner.”