The Print: Chandigarh: Thursday, November 29,
2018.
State information commissions are often
considered a refuge for recently-retired bureaucrats, a sort of bridge that
helps them tide over the sudden shock of powerlessness. Many hanker after a five-year
tenure in the commission, which guarantees a government car, a hefty pay
package and additional perks.
But for a young lawyer from Delhi to
leave behind a lucrative practice and join the Haryana State Information
Commission is almost unheard of. Arun Sangwan did just that… and how!
Sangwan, 37, has been labelled Haryana’s
‘terror commissioner’ because in less than one year he has got the public
information officers (PIOs) of government departments scurrying at the mere
mention of his name.
Having carefully studied every bit of the
Right to Information Act to understand his powers, Sangwan has fined scores of
PIOs for not providing information, also ordering disciplinary action against
half-a-dozen of them.
And it does not stop there. Ten days ago,
he issued bailable warrants against officials of several private corporate
hospitals for not providing information.
“Private hospitals have been declared a
public authority to provide information about all organ transplants taking
place in the hospital. In this case, hospital officials refused to even accept
the application seeking information,” said Harinder Dhingra, the RTI activist
who had sought the information and moved the commission when he failed to get
it. Bailable warrants can be issued under Section 18 of the act.
Wanted to join politics
Hailing from a family of lawyers in
Delhi, Sangwan studied law from CCS University, Meerut. But instead of joining
his father and brother in practice, he decided to join politics.
He joined Union minister Rao Inderjit
Singh, who had a long association with the family.
When Singh left the Congress in 2013,
Sangwan too left the party and supported the senior leader in creating his own
outfit the Haryana Insaaf Manch. Sangwan became its spokesperson.
Ahead of the parliamentary polls in 2014,
when Singh joined the BJP, Sangwan too followed and became a media panellist.
Twice he tried to get a ticket to fight
the assembly elections from the family’s home town Charkhi Dadri, but was
disappointed. Now, he has almost said goodbye to politics.
“Politics is a game not suited to his
nature,” said a close friend who did not wish to be identified.
In 2016, Sangwan was chosen as the legal
member of a tribunal in the town and country planning department in Haryana,
where he was posted for a year before joining the information commission in
December 2017.
“In joining the commission, it was almost
as if he had found his calling,” the friend said.
New spark in the commission
At 36, Sangwan was the youngest
information commissioner ever, and the commission gained from his youthful
idealism.
“Bureaucrats, when in service, are
trained not to part with information. They continue to have the same mindset
even after retirement, when posted in the commission,” a commission official
told The Print.
“Also, they are biased in favour of
government officials, and are not very keen to impose fines and start
disciplinary proceedings. But Sangwan liberally uses his powers to ensure
accountability and transparency in government functioning,” the official said.
“It was widely believed that the
commission is just a post-retirement parking spot for IAS officers. Nothing
much was happening and not much seriousness was associated with it. Those
involved in the process of giving information under the Act had started taking
things extremely lightly and in many cases, even when the PIOs were summoned by
the commissioners, they would not bother to appear,” said the commission
official.
“Now, life is back in the commission. As
things stand today, it is taken seriously, and Sangwan is one of the most
dreaded information commissioners in the state.”
A case in point was when Sangwan ensured
that the state government parted with all the information on how much
investment it had attracted at its much-touted ‘Happening Haryana’ summit in
2016. Various departments, including the Chief Minister’s Office, were refusing
to give the information, and it was suspected that the summit was a failure.
For the public good
Sangwan told ThePrint that he had never
planned to be in the commission.
“I live life as it comes. But I do believe
that whatever you do, do it with honesty and hard work,” he said.
“The RTI Act is a very powerful tool in
the hands of the public to make governments accountable and their functioning
transparent. But it is sad that almost 90 per cent of the cases which come to
the commission are those involving personal grievances,” he said.
“Public causes are very few. People need
to know that the Act allows them to inspect files, access notings, even ask for
samples of materials used by a public authority,” he added.
“Everyone in the commission is doing
stellar work, and I can’t say that one is better than the other. We are all
working towards the larger common cause of public good, and whatever is in
public interest.”
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