Open Appeal
to all concerned to join with us in our struggle for transparent and accountable
governance in the state.
Mass Dharana
of RTI Activists in protest against conspiracy of State Govt. to destroy RTI
Act in Odisha
Venue- In front of Raj Bhawan, Bhubaneswar, Date-
31.5.18, Time- 10 AM
Dear friends
Within 12 years of its
implementation, RTI has been proved as most
empowering law for the citizens of the country. The common people are seen using this law extensively starting
from accessing information about
their rights and entitlements
guaranteed under various welfare
schemes to exposing scams and irregularities
in development projects, tracking
ATR on their
complaints/ grievances submitted
to the public authorities, enforcing transparency and accountability in the administration. This law has been
biggest weapon in the hand of RTI Activists to fight out corruption at various
levels and paved the way for generating debate for introduction of robust
grievance redessal mechanism to redress grievances of the people in time bound
manner. RTI Activism in India generated
nation-wide movement led by Anna Hazare for constitution of Lokpal at
the centre and Lokayukta in the state through enactment of the Lokpal and
Lokayukta Act, 2013.
But
from the very beginning , the implementation of RTI in Odisha has suffered
severe setback due to anti-people
Odisha RTI Rules, 2005 which is well-designed
by Odisha bureaucracy to subvert the sun-shining law. Tall claim of
chief Minister that his Govt. is
transparent Government is false and
designed to befool the people. The Chief minister never takes name of RTI
while pronouncing slogan of
transparency in his administration. RTI
under his regime has been diluted, subverted
and destroyed to keep
continuity his corruption without any hassles. For
example, the Form-A ( Application for information) under the said Odisha Rules
is too long, complex and over-damaging one
which not only frightens away the ordinary members of the public from applying for information
under the Act but also ultravires too of the mother Act. The column-2 asking
for Father/ Spouse name, column-3 asking for permanent address and Column-4
asking for particulars in respect of identity of applicant are very much personal details , the
disclosure of which by an applicant before the PIO has been forbidden under section 6 (2) of the RTI Act. Similarly
demand for proof of citizenship from an applicant filling RTI
Application under Odisha Rules is also
contrary to section 6 (2)
of the RTI Act. The State Govt. has also made arbitrary provision of
charging Rs. 20/- and 25/- towards First
Appeal fee and Second Appeal fees
respectively is also absurd and illegal under RTI Act. Since last several years, RTI Activists and
Civil Society Organisations have been demanding for withdrawal of these
anti-people provisions of Odisha Rules. But the State Govt. has not taken any steps to make Odisha RTI Rules people’s-friendly.
It still remains absurd and illegitimate.
Secondly,
as per section 4 (1b) of the RTI Act, each Public Authority is required
to voluntarily disclose 17 types of information within 120 days of
enactment of RTI Act i.e., 12th October 2005. As per section 4 (4)
of the Act, these information will be disseminated in odia language. But within 12 years of RTI Act in Odisha, the
State Govt. has developed a fantastic website www.odisharti.in which is a storehouse of proactively
disclosed information of many
departments and sun-ordinate offices. But it
is interesting to note here that these information are outdated
and not a single information is
found correct. Even the
voluntarily disclosed information
of the office of Speaker, Odisha
legislative Assembly and
office of Governor, Odisha is not
updated. Not a single
information is disseminated in Odia language despite enactment of Odia
Language ( amendment ) Act. The Common
people hardly access this information. Display Board about RTI Act
is hardly noticed in any
office of the state.
Thirdly, Odisha has
witnessed series of attacks on RTI
Activists which is
increasing day by day. A good number of RTI Activists who
are at forefront of exposing
corruption, irregularities
in implementation of Govt. schemes and programme are seen harassed, tortured and mercilessly beaten up, petrol attacked and also murdered by powerful people due
to police inaction, denial of
registration of FIR and lack of
investigation and nexus of the
police with the vested groups. It has been noticed that within period of last three years, more
than 50 RTI Activists have been beaten
up, attacked and socially ostracised by influential and corrupt people
in the state. Despite several complaints to higher authorities for immediate investigation into FIRs lodged by RTI Activists and
ensuring their protection , the State
Govt. has not taken any steps in
this regard.
Fourthly,
As
per the RTI Act, the State Information
Commission is the highest adjudicating body
entrusted with task of deciding
appeals and complaints of the
information-seekers, penalising erring PIOs and recommending disciplinary proceedings against them for persistent violation of the RTI Act
and awarding compensation to the
affected citizens who got harassed due to
denial of information by the PIOs. The Information Commissions are having
power of Civil Court to conduct
inquiry into any complaints/ appeals, call for
any reports , summon attendance of
persons and examination of
witness and documents etc. But the functioning of Information Commissioners are
highly disgusting and
frustrating. Lack of transparency in appointment of Odisha Information
Commissioners, appointment of
inefficient ICs has brough
disaster in the functioning of the Commission.
Long delay in hearing of the case, lingering of the cases by the Commission fixing so many dates, non-imposition
of penalty on erring PIO has frustrated the
appellant-citizens and
discouraged them to pursue
any case to get justice from the
Commission. From a close study of 9 months of performance of Odisha Information
Commission (from August, 2017 to April, 2018) , It was observed that Smt. Sashi Prava Bindhani , SIC disposes only 27 cases per month,
while Sri L.N.Patnaik ‘s monthly
disposal rate is just 56 . The disposal rate of the cases (85) by Sri Sunil
Mishra, SCIC is 3 times more than that of Sashi Prava Bindhani. It is evident that the Information
Commissioners do not have expertise and
experience and having lack of interest to
render justice to the citizens. Neither they recommend for
disciplinary proceedings
against erring PIOs { section 20(2)
} nor award compensation to the aggrieved citizens
under section 19 (8b) of the RTI Act.
Our Demands
1.
Immediate amendment of Odisha RTI Rules in order
make it citizen-friendly after due consultation with Civil Society Groups and
RTI Activists.
2.
Formulating transparent procedure for
appointment of Information Commissioners in line of
Supreme Court Judgement in the matter of namit Sharma vs Union of
India dated 3.9.2013 ( Review petition
No. 2309/2012).
3.
Odisha
Information Commission should have internal mechanism of disposing atleast 3000
cases by each Information
Commissioner in a year and each
Appeal/Complaint filed in the
Commission must be enquired within one of the filling of the case.
Penalty must be imposed on erring PIOs violating RTI Act strictly adhering
section 20 of the RTI Act.
4.
Any
complaint about attack on RTI
Activists filed in police station must
be registered immediately and
investigated with action against
the culprits . So that RTI
Activists can work without fear and contribute more in the field
of minimising corruption in the state.
In this context,
a Mass Dharana is being Organised
by Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan at Raj Bhawan on 30.5.18 at 10 am to 4 pm. A memorandum will also be submitted to Governor,
Odisha pressing for above-mentioned demands.
Pradip Pradhan
M-9937843482
Date- 29.5.18
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