Open Invitation to Join in
Mass Dharana protesting against secrecy maintained by State
Government in appointment of
Information Commissioners in Odisha
Venue-
Lower PMG, Bhubaneswar, Date-16.7.15
Dear friends
As aware you are, on
16.5.2015, Sri Narasingha Mishra while
coming out of Selection Committee
Meeting held under Chairmanship of Chief
Minister for nominating names for the
post of State Information Commissioner, said to the Media that the selection
has been made arbitrarily
and the people nominated do not deserve to be Information
Commissioner. Similarly, on 18th
May, hundreds of RTI Activists and Civil Society leaders assembled together at Raj Bhawan and submitted memorandum to Governor, Odisha not to appoint the arbitrarily and politically motivated
selected candidates in the post of the
Information Commission. It needs to be
mentioned here that since last ten years, RTI Activists of the state have been
demanding before the Govt. to follow the
transparent procedure in the appointment of
Information Commission.
In our pursuit to know about
details of procedure followed for the selection and appointment of
Information Commissioner, we the RTI Activists filed series of RTI Applications
to the PIO, Dept. of Information and Public Relations just after the selection
Committee meeting is over. Though two months have passed, the PIO has neither
supplied the information nor responded RTI Applications.
So,
it is clear that the State Government has followed fraudulent means and
manipulated the procedure to selection their political stooges for the post of
Information Commissioners. It
deserves to be mentioned here that while adjudication the Writ Petition No. 210/2012
and Review Petition No. 2309/2012, the Supreme Court has given
direction to both Central Govt. and State Govt.
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.”
Since last ten
years, this Govt. has taken every step not only to dilute the RTI Act but also
to make office of Information Commission dysfunctional by appointing useless
people as Information Commissioners. Odisha RTI Rules, 2005 termed as absurd, anti-people and illegitimate is still in practice
and standing as biggest stumbling block for the people to exercise their right
to access the information under RTI Act.
So, in this context,
Mass Dharana of RTI Activists and Civil Society leaders under the banner of Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan and other Civil Society
Organisations is being organised
at Lower PMG, Bhubaneswar on 16.7.15 at 10 AM demanding the information about selection and appointment of
Information Commissioners to be put in
public domain and withdrawal of anti-people Odisha RTI Rules,
2005. A memorandum will be submitted to Governor, Odisha appraising him about
the arbitrarily procedure followed for
appointing the Information
Commissioners which is illegal under RTI
Act and seeking direction to Govt. to put all information in public domain and make it accessible under RTI Act. So that, true Character of the State Govt. will be exposed before the people of Odisha.
Pradip
Pradhan
State
Convener, Odisha
Soochana Adhikar Abhijan
M-9937843482
Date-11.7.15
No comments:
Post a Comment