State Govt.’s deep-laid conspiracy to enforce secrecy in appointment
of Information Commissioners again exposed through RTI
RTI (Right to Information)
Act has been enacted to ensure and enforce transparency and accountability in
the administration. Since ten years of
its implementation in India, RTI Act has been proved as most powerful law
empowering the citizens to behave as master of the country. It has also been
powerful tool in the hand of citizens to contain corruption.
But the irony is that from
2005, the State Govt. under the Chief
Minister ship of Sri Nabin Patnaik has always
played foul game and conspired to dilute the RTI Act. The state bureaucracy
has gone to any extent of scuttling the throat of RTI in the state. The corrupt bureaucracy has not only tried to
divert RTI but also made the Information Commission dysfunctional by appointing
their political stooge and corrupt people as Information Commissioners. These
Commissioners have not only proved their inefficiency in disposal of the cases
but also shown their ignorance of law during hearing of the cases.
Being frustrated over mal-functioning
of the Commission and their careless decisions, the RTI Activists and concerned
Citizens reacted strongly against the Govt. and demanded to enforce transparency in the
appointment of the commissioners and appoint an efficient and credible people as
Information Commissioner. This reaction was also displayed at national
level. While adjudicating a Writ
petition, the Supreme Court gave
direction to the State Govts and Central Govt. to enforce transparency in the
appointment of the Commission and disclose all the information to the
Information-seekers under RTI Act.
As per section 15
(5) of the RTI Act, the State Chief Information Commissioner and the State
Information Commissioners shall be
persons of eminence in public
life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism,
mass media, administration and governance. A citizen has right to know from the Govt. about
eminency and outstanding knowledge and experience
of a person who got appointment as
Information Commissioners.
But, interestingly, since
beginning of the selection for the post of Information Commissioner, the State Govt.
has been maintaining utmost
secrecy in matter of disclosure of
information about the details of candidates applied
for the said post.
On 25.3.15 Sri
Sachikant Pradhan, RTI Applicant had applied to the PIO, Department of
Information and Public Relation, Govt. of Odisha seeking details of the
applicants, their qualification, experience and expertise. The PIO denied the information. Then Sri
Pradhan made first appeal to the First
Appellate Authority who disposed
the case on 23.6.15
denying the information
under section 8 (1) (j) of the RTI Act.
This clause is not at all warranted in this case, as these information is required to be disclosed under section
4 (1) (c) and (d) of the RTI Act.
Secondly, the name, address, qualification of a person is public information
usually suo moto disclosed under section 4 (1) (b) of the RTI Act.
Now, the question
comes, why the Govt. is hesitant to disclose the information about appointment.
Because, there is huge corruption and
irregularities in the selection of the candidates for the post without
following any procedure. The Govt. has given appointment inefficient
and worthless people as Information Commissioner ignoring
the efficient, credible and experience
candidates who have applied for
the said post. If the information is
disclosed under the RTI Act, the Govt. may land in trouble and the true
character of Nabin Patnaik Govt. will be exposed. The State Govt. has appointed their stooges as Information
ommissioners to protect their corrupt practice by favouring
them in the complaint
cases filed for disclosure of information due to non-disclosure of
information by the erring PIO.
Pradip Pradhan, M-9937843482
Date- 24.07.2015
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