Moneylife: Pune: Friday, 02 May 2014.
On 31 January
2011, the postal department stopped under certificate of posting or UCP
facility. However, two months after, in March 2011, the Collector of Pune sent a document to Baravkar
through UCP!
Over a month
ago, Pune-based Right to Information (RTI) activist Vilas Baravkar committed
suicide and left a suicide note in which he named 78 people comprising
politicians and police officers, responsible for his death. Read Moneylife
story: Pune RTI activist names 78 people in his suicide note.
Post his
death, Pune-based State Information Commissioner (SIC), ordered the district
collector, police and Zilla Parishad (district body) to upload on their
respective websites, copies of documents that Baravkar had asked for, under
various RTI applications.
In the
backdrop of several cases of killings of RTI activists, the Central Information
Commission (CIC), post Satish Shetty’s murder in 2010, directed that the
respective departments from which the activist had asked for information under
RTI, should suo motu put up all the information that the deceased had asked
for, on the website.
Despite the
order, except for the Pune District Collector, no other public authority has
responded. However, RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar, who set the order from State
Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC) in motion, by appealing for such
transparency, has found that, while the Pune Collector has not put all the
required documents, one of them is allegedly fraudulent.
Kumbhar says,
“Although the Collector’s office has put up some documents and has partially disclosed
information to public, through its website, one document seems suspicious. In
March 2011, the Collector’s Office had sent a document to Baravkar through
postal department through the facility of under certificate of posting (UCP).
However, just two months before that, in January 2011, the Department of Posts
and Telegraphs itself had withdrawn UCP
facility. So, it is really strange that a document was sent through a
medium which did not exist!’’
Kumbhar has
demanded inquiry by the CIC.
“Under Section
18 of the RTI Act, SCIC has ample powers for summoning and enforcing the person
who handled this fraud, to be present physically before him and compelling him
to give oral or written evidence on oath and asking him to produce the
documents or material and requisitioning any any public record or copies from
any court or office. Besides, most of the information asked by Baravkar falls
under Section 4 of the RTI Act and since this has not been complied by all the
three agencies, the relevant PIOs must be penalised,” Kumbhar said.
In the
meanwhile, National Campaign for Peoples’ Right To Information (NCPRI), in a
letter dated 24 April 2014, has appealed to Ratnakar Gaikwad, State Chief
Information Commissioner, asking him to monitor compliance of his order. In the
letter, Venkatesh Nayak along with other core members of NCPRI, said, “We are
happy to note that as the statutorily mandated champion of transparency, you
have already directed the disposal of the pending RTI applications filed by the
Late Shri Bavarkar and public disclosure of information sought by him. Although
we failed to prevent Shri Bavarkar from succumbing to pressure from vested
interests, by disclosing all information sought by him in this manner we can
frustrate their designs to keep the information under wraps. We also request
you to monitor compliance with your direction and issue a press release when
the concerned public authorities have complied with your directions so that
people get to know that the information has indeed been made public.”
Upset that
the police website does not contain the information ordered by the SCIC, Nayak
also appealed for fast track investigation into the suicide and asked for
inquiry into cases of corruption by the State’s Lokayukta. In the letter, he
says, “We also urge you to write to the Director General of
Police (DGP), Maharashtra to ensure prompt and fast track investigation of this
case to identify all persons guilty of abetting Shri Baravkar’s suicide and to
bring them to book. In addition to this, we urge you to write to the
Maharashtra Lokayukta requesting him
to inquire into
all cases of
corruption and mismanagement of
public funds exposed by the Late Bavarkar and to order a special audit of all
developmental works and governmental decision making processes which he
targeted through his RTI interventions.”
Nayak points
out that Maharashtra continues to top the list of States where incidentally RTI
users and activists demanding greater transparency and accountability in public
affairs are targeted in this manner or physically assaulted or simply
eliminated through acts of murder. “The Maharashtra Government has a special
responsibility towards protecting anti‐corruption
crusaders and whistle-blowers like the Late Shri Bavarkar from coming to harm.
However, when unscrupulous elements succeed in harming such civic‐minded citizens, it reflects the
failure of the State to ensure the practical realisation of the national motto
‘satyameva jayate’,” he added.
The letter
has been jointly signed by Venkatesh Nayak, Nikhil Dey, Anjali Bhardwaj,
Bhaskar Prabhu, Rakesh Reddy – Co-Convenors and Kathyayini Chamaraj and Raja
Bunch –Members of NCPRI’s Working Committee.
In this case,
Baravkar was given police protection since two years. However, the point is,
why is it that information is so opaque despite nine years of RTI? We are
discussing this topic in the seminar being held in Pune on 2nd and 3rd May 2014. The Media Information
and Communication Center of India; Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), India and
RTI Forum for Instant Information (RFII), Pune will jointly organise a two-day
seminar on “Nine Years of RTI Act: Role of Civil Society in enhancing
transparency” in Pune on these two days.
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