Huge Irregularities, favouritism,
malpractice and politically motivated appointment
made for the post of Odisha Information commissioner, exposed through RTI.
· Though two
months passed since submission of RTI Application, the PIO did not supply any information
sought about the details of procedure followed and criteria taken up for the selection
of two candidates for the post of Information Commissioner.
· Self-claim
of Nabin Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha committed to ensuring transparency
in the administration is provided false and misleading and designed to cheat
the people of Odisha.
· The colonial
mindset of Odisha bureaucracy was also exposed.
· Apprehension
of RTI Activists
about Govt.’s secretive initiative
to appoint useless and sub-standard people in the post of the Information which was in practice since last 10 years was again proved true.
The more interesting, ridiculous and irony
of the whole episode is that the Information and Public Relation Department
which is the nodal Departmet for implementation of RTI Act in Odisha entrusted
to enforce transparency in the administration is denying information about appointment of Information
Commissioner, an agency formed to enforce RTI
and adjudicate cases of RTI
violation to the Information Seekers who are RTI Activists and
working to enforce effective implementation
of RTI Act in Odisha.
Dear friends
RTI Act, which came into force in 2005 is mandated to enforce a transparent
and accountable administration and contain corruption in the country. It has given right to the Citizens to access information
held under the control of the Public authorities. Since 2005, RTI Activists of the state have not only raised the issues relating to mal-implementation of RTI Act
but also
demanding before the Govt. to
follow transparent procedure in respect
of appointment in the post of Information commissioner ( It needs to be mentioned here that
the State Govt. has appointed most corrupt, useless, inefficient people like D.N.Padhi, Sri Jagadanand
and Sri Tarun Kanti Mishra involved in land scam in the post of Odisha Information omission in the state
within 10 years of the constitution of the omission) A number of
54 Complaints and 7 Writ petitions filed against these former Information commissioners
is pending before the Governor, Odisha and High Court, Odisha since 8 years.
However, Demanding transparency in the appointment of Information
is not confined to Odisha only. It is a demand of RTI Activists in all states even at national level. Amidst rising criticism over lack of
transparency in appointment of the
Information Commission and the huge discontentment
and resentment of RTI Activists and Concerned
citizens against the arbitrary and mindless, politically motivated
appointment in the post of Information Commissioners, the
Supreme Court while adjudicating Writ petition No. 210/2012 and
Review Petition No.2309/2012 in
2013 gave the order to both Central Government
and all State Govt. to follow the transparent procedure in respect of appointment of the Information
Commissioners and make all the information discloseable under RTI Act. The direction
of the Supreme Court is as follows.
“ v) We further direct that the Committees under Sections 12(3) and
15(3) of the Act while making recommendations to the President or to the
Governor, as the case may be, for appointment of Chief Information Commissioner
and Information Commissioners must mention against the name of each candidate recommended,
the facts to indicate his eminence in public life, his knowledge in the
particular field and his experience in the particular field and these facts
must be accessible to the citizens as part of their right to information under
the Act after the appointment is made.”
On 3rd March 2013, while quashing
the appointment of P.J.Thomas as Central
Vigilance Commissioner in Writ Petition (C) No.
348/2010, the Supreme Court has
made 10 legal arguments for transparent
selection of CICs, SICs, Human Rights Commissioners
& other Constitutional Authorities.
While hearing a Special Leave petition (Case
No.9680/2012) , petition made challenging the appointment of Tamil Nadu
Information Commissioner, the Supreme Court
has made the following remarks-
“Whether the selection of appointment of State Information Commissioners can be made
without adopting a transparent and fair method
of selection in which all eligible
persons can participate for appointment
to such post/office can be treated as
private affair of political set up”.
When the State Govt. started
initiative for selection of the candidates
through releasing advertisement publicly
seeking application from the interested candidates in Feb.
2013, I submitted
a memorandum to the Governor,
Odisha seeking direction to the State Govt. to modify
the advertisement and insert the provision of recommendation by public for the
post of Information Commissioner.
On
25.3.15, Sri Sachikant Pradhan, RTI
Activist had submitted RTI Application
to the PIO, Department of Information and
Public Relation, Govt. of Odisha,
Bhubaneswar seeking information about list of applicants
applied for the post of Chief Information Commissioner and State Information
Commissioner. Violating the provision
of section 7(1) of the RTI Act, the PIO took around two months to respond the RTI
Application. This is gross negligence and
deliberate attempt to denigrade RTI Act. Secondly, the PIO also denied providing
the information on the ground of
personal information under section 8(1) (h) of the RTI Act which is not at all
the personal information. This is an attempt to subvert RTI in Odisha and to
keep the information secret.
When the
State Government failed to put in public domain the transparent procedure to be
followed for appointment of the Commission, RTI Activists under the banner of
Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan
organised Mass Dharana before Raj Bhawan, Bhubaneswar
on 30th April 2015 and submitted memorandum seeking
direction
the State Govt. to issue detailed
written transparent
procedure in respect of
appointment of the Commission,
declare publicly name of the applicants, their background, experience and expertise, details
of search Committee, inviting public view
on the final list
for the post of Information
Commission prior to sending the name to the Governor of Odisha for appointment etc.,
modify the advertisement and include the provision of recommendation by public
for the post of Information Commissioner.
Defying all the legitimate procedures
and even ignoring the concern of Sri Narasingha Mishra, Opposition Leader and
Member of Selection Committee headed by Chief Minister, on 16.5.15, the State Govt. arbitrarily selected two candidates
for the post of Information Commissioners.
On 17.5.15, the Civil Society
Groups and RTI Activists came together in state level meeting and discussed
about arbitrary procedure followed for selection of the candidates in the post of all Commissions like OSCPCR, State Commission for Women, State
Human Rights Commission, State Information Commission etc. As per decision in
the meeting, all RTI Activists assembled together at Raj Bhawan and submitted
memorandum to Governor, Odisha appealing for review of the appointment of the
Chief information commissioner and Information Commissioner for Odisha.
On 18.5.15, I submitted RTI Application to the PIO, Dept. of Information and Public Relation,
Govt. of Odisha seeking
information about Procedure followed for selecting candidates for appointment
in the post of Chairman and Members of
Odisha Information commission, criteria taken up for
shortlising candidates for the
post of Chairman and Members of Odisha
Information Commission which was presented to the selection Committee and name
of the shortlisted candidates, proceedings of the selection Committee etc. Though
one ad half moth has passed, the PIO has neither responded the application nor
supplied the information.
Similarly, 5 no. of RTI Applications have been submitted by RTI
Activists seeking similar information
about procedure followed for selection and appointment of Information
Commission. Not a single RTI application has been responded by the PIO, though
statutory time limit has passed.
It shows that the State
Govt. has adopted arbitrary method of selecting their political stooge for the
post of the Information Commission. If
the selection procedure is followed properly, then what is the problem with
Govt to provide the information?
Pradip Pradhan, M-9937843482, Date-7.7.15
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