Maharashtra
State Chief Information
Commissioner disposes 5000 cases per year against around 250 cases disposed
by each Odisha Information
Commissioner
The effective implementation of any
law requires robust
Grievance Redressal
Mechanism in place for time-bound
disposal of any complaint
with regard to non-implementation
of the law. RTI Act
has inbuilt mechanism of two
grievance redressal procedures
i.e., appeal under
section 19 and complaint under section 18 of the Act. In case of
violation of any provisions of
the Act or denial of information or
supply of misleading and false information, a citizen has liberty to file
complaint or appeal against the erring PIO or Public authority before
Information Commission. The Information Commission is empowered to hear and dispose the case
and enforce supply of the
Information and impose penalty
( Rs. 250.00 per day up to
maximum Rs. 25,000.00 ) on PIO
and recommend disciplinary proceedings against
them.
But
delay in disposal of the cases and
pendency of huge
number of cases in the office of Information Commissions
has become matter of concern across
the country. To reduce pendency and quick disposal of cases,
the Information Commissions have adopted various methods.
Sri Ratnakar Gaikwad, Maharastra Chief Information Commissioner has
disposed with written order
record number of 20,002 cases (
18,531 Second Appeals and 1471 Complaint
cases ) from June 2012 ( date of
joining ) to Feb. 2016. The average disposal of cases per year
is 5000. Similarly, Sri Shailesh Gandhi, former Central Information
Commissioner had disposed 20,400 cases during his tenure of 3 years and 9
months.
But the information obtained through RTI
has exposed that the disposal of the
cases by Odisha Information Commission
is very low leading to rise in
pendency up to 6000 cases by
Dec.2015. During 7 months of their
working as State Information Commissioners, Mrs. Sashi Prava Bindhani and Mr. L.N.Patnaik have disposed total no. of 269
cases (134 cases disposed by each Information Commissioner within 7 months).
Earlier the former Information Commissioners like Sri Jagadanand Mohanty, Tarun
Kanti Mishra and Sri Pramod Kumar
Mohanty were disposing
around 700 cases per year.
The Odisha Information commission avails equal facilities, salary,
allowance, accommodations as enjoyed by other State Information Commissioners
and Central Information Commissioners.
Now, the question comes why Odisha
Information Commissioners could not dispose more number of cases. It is due to their inefficiency, lethargic, idleness lack of
knowledge and expertise to hear and dispose the case. Since beginning, the State Govt. has tried
to dilute the Act and hatched
conspiracy to keep the Information Commission defunct by appointing
inexperienced and inefficient
people like Mr. Jagadanand
Mohanty in the post of
Information Commission. The information Commission has continued
to suffer and gained
ill-reputation and miserably failed to give justice
to the Information-Seekers. The long delay in disposal of the cases by
the Commission has discouraged the people to file the case in the Commission to
get justice. Keeping it in view, RTI Activists
across the country have come to the street to demand to quicken disposal of the
cases by the Commission. Sri Ratnakar Gaikawad, Maharastra CIC has said that for reducing
the pendency in Commissions that
is threatening the RTI Act, every Commissioner
should pass an order on at least
25 appeals after hearing both sides on daily basis.
Pradip Pradhan
M-9937843482
Date-8.3.16
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