Hindustan Times: Ranchi: Tuesday,
08 September 2020.
The
Right to Information, the flagship scheme of the UPA government, seems to be in
poor shape in Jharkhand as the state information commission remains
non-functional for want of commissioners. Interestingly, the Congress is the
alliance partner of the JMM-led government in Jharkhand. However, the party
that claims Right to Information (RTI) as the brainchild of Manmohan Singh
government, appears helpless in the eastern state where it is in power.
The
posts of information commissioners (ICs) became vacant one by one in Jharkhand
state information commission (JSIC) over the years.
The JSIC
continued with acting chief information commissioner (CIC) Himanshu Chaudhary
and two ICs for nearly three years in the past, as the previous BJP government
was reluctant to fill in the vacancies.
Cases
piled up and the purpose of the flagship scheme - to bring in transparency in
government functioning - got defeated. About 6,000 appeals were pending, it was
learnt.
It
became all the more critical in May this year when the state commission became
headless after the term of acting chief information commissioner (CIC) Himanshu
Chaudhary ended. Interestingly, there was no permanent CIC in Jharkhand after
the completion of Aditya Swaroop’s term.
Upon
completing his term in May, Chaudhary had told chief minister Hemant Soren to
fill the vacancies at the earliest. He told the media that he could dispose of
4,414 cases after hearing out a total of 29,832 appeals and fixed penalties in
198 cases.
After
Chaudhary’sdeparture, about 30 employees of JSIC are practically without work.
Significantly,
it (absence of CIC) impacted the employees who are not regular. The salary
payment of two on contract, four daily wage earners and 10 home guard jawans
deputed in JSIC were on hold since June in want of the disbursing officer - the
CIC.
Personnel
department joint secretary Sudhir Kumar Ranjan said the government in January
had advertised for the posts. “We have received applications as well but the
matter remains pending in want of clear cut directives from the government and
the state assembly,” he said.
Elaborating,
he said the delay was caused as there was no leader of the opposition (LoP) in
Jharkhand.
According
to the RTI Act 2005, there should be at least five ICs besides the CIC in state
information commission. The posts are filled up through a process that includes
scrutiny of applications by a committee comprising the chief minister as
chairperson, a cabinet rank minister and the LoP. After scrutiny and selection,
the list is sent to Raj Bhawan for governor’s approval following which
appointments are made, he said.
The
Hemant Soren government has nominated transport minister Champai Soren as a
member but the committee is incomplete without the LoP, said Ranjan. He said
the department also approached the state assembly underlining the provision,
which has the mention that the leader of the largest group can also be
nominated in absence of the LoP. He said the assembly has not replied till
date.
BJP
state president Deepak Prakash said the JMM-led coalition government was
delaying it intentionally. “It’s a conspiracy to keep information under the
carpet,” he said, adding that the government does not want people to know its
“misdeeds”.
Prakash
said the BJP has already elected Babulal Marandi the LoP and the delay was
therefore uncalled for. The assembly was deliberately keeping the matter in
abeyance, he said.
JMM
spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said the issue of the LoP was in the domain
of the assembly speaker and therefore the party should not comment on it.
Congress
state president and minister in the Hemant Soren cabinet said his party
supports the RTI. “It is useful for common people, the pandemic due to the
spread of coronavirus might have delayed the process of filling the vacancies,”
he said.
Whatever
might be the reason, the defunct JSIC has brought to fore the debate of
transparency, besides the issue of salary due to 16 staff there.
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