10,000 cases pending with Odisha Information Commission

Total No. of 10,000 cases pending with Odisha Information Commission- RTI is almost dead in Odisha

Dear friends

Just few days back, Nabin Patnaik, Chief Minister, Odisha has asked the District Collectors to enforce transparency and stop corruption in administration. It sounds good and might be inspiring. But in practice, Nabin Patnaik neither wants corruption  to be  checked nor  transparency to be enforced in administration. RTI Act which came into force w.e.f. 12^th October, 2005 across the country including Odisha (except Jammu & Kashmir) has mandate to enforce transparency in the administration. But astonishingly,   from the day one, the state Govt. conspired to dilute and destroy RTI Act by way of framing anti-people, illegitimate and absurd Odisha RTI Rules, 2005 and giving appointment of useless, lethargic, inefficient and corrupt people as Information Commissioner.  The cumbersome procedure  for filling compulsory RTI Application, illegal demand of proof of citizenship from Information-seekers, illegal collection of fee for First Appeal and Second Appeal etc.  under Odisha Rules  is meant not to allow  the common people  to access the information. Similarly,  Nabin Patnaik Govt.  has made  the Information Commission defunct by appointing  useless, lethargic, inefficient and corrupt people as Information Commissioner. These Information Commissioners neither  hear the case properly  due to lack of  knowledge  about the law nor write the decisions effectively.  Due to their inefficiency, they manage to hear case 12 to 15 cases per day and close the hearing  by 1.30 PM.  Due to less number of cases being heard by the Commissioners,   the pending of the cases  is increasing every year and rate of disposal of the cases by Commission is also declining rapidly. Mrs. Sashi Prava Bindhani and Sri L.N.Patnaik  has been  proved  as worst Information Commissioners in Odisha since 2006.

RTI Application was filed to Odisha Information Commission seeking information about  details of  cases received, disposed and pending  since 2006.  The information supplied by the PIO dated 8.6.17 is as follows.

Year			Cases received	Cases disposed	Cases pending
Complaint cases filed under section 18 of the RTI Act
2006			644	309	335
2007		335	1972	381	1926
2008		1926	1973	527	3372
2009		3372	2557	886	5043
2010		5043	3344	1570	6817
2011		6817	3310	5163	4964
2012		4964	2781	6265	1480
2013		1480	1733	2168	1045
2014		1045	709	1463	291
2015		291	501	69	723
2016		723	600	136	1187
2017 (upto 31.5.2017)		1187	253	98	1342
Second Appeals under Section 19(3) of the RTI Act
2006			202	108	94
2007		94	437	152	379
2008		379	370	129	620
2009		620	373	132	861
2010		861	421	273	1009
2011		1009	605	456	1158
2012		1158	2197	1274	2081
2013		2081	3111	2003	3189
2014		3189	3182	2841	3530
2015		3530	3229	657	6102
2016		6102	3121	1240	7983
2017 (upto 31.5.2017)		7983	1316	1044	8255

Comments

a.    It shows that Total cases (Complaint Case + Second Appeal) pending with Odisha Information Commission is   9597.

b.    The way the information Commissioners are  hearing  the cases,    If  someone files a complaint case to-day, his/her case will be heard  after 3 years. If the information is supplied after 3 years, the said information may have lost its relevance. That’s why the Common people are seen not interested to   file cases in  the office of  Information Commission.

c.     Similarly, the PIOs are also casually dealing RTI applications and denying information being pretty aware  that  the case will be heard after three years with no penalty, as the Commission hardly imposes penalty  on erring PIOs.

The moot question is  how transparency will be enforced  without effective implementation of RTI Act in Odisha. So Nabin Patnaik’s  claim of enforcing transparency is sheer deception.   

Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

Date-15.6.17