Office
of Chief Minister, Odisha – Far From Transparency & 5T and full of lies
(Exposed
under RTI)
Chief Minister office never discloses
·
Monthly Report
of Ministers ,
·
Documents
about dismissal of officers
·
Suo moto
disclosure of information under section 4 (1) (b) of the RTI Act.
Where is 5T and
TRANSPARENCY ?
We
demand that all
Monthly Performance Reports of
Ministers and details of dismissal
of officers must be
web-hosted and put in public domain for knowledge
of the people of the State. Why it
will be kept secret.
Dear friends
The Day Chief Minister spoke
about 5T in Media Conference, we had
said it another
big hoax of this Govt. 5T
is a media buzz word, media managed
Propaganda with full
of malicious deception. We have
pointed out several times
in public platform that it is
another design to deceive the people of
Odisha .
1.
Firstly,
To explore what is 5T, RTI Application dt. 8.11.19 was filed
to the Department of General Administration and
Public Grievances , Govt. of Odisha seeking information about Photocopy
of Decisions taken with file noting about opening Department of 5T and
appointment of Sri V.K.Pandian as Secretary of 5T along with order of Chief
Minister, copy of cabinet approval for
opening of new Dept. , 5T.. The PIO provided two copies of notesheet and notification about 5T. In NOTE SHEET, it
is mentioned that “ Shri V.K.Pandia , IAS , Private Secretary to Chief Minister will also be Secretary to Chief Minister 5Ts
Transformation Initiatives”. In the
NOTIFICATION dt. 28th August
, 2019 No. GAD –SER1-IAS-0035-2015-24157/AIS.1. Shri V. Karthikeya Pandian, IAS
( RR-2000) at present Private Secretary
to Chief Minister , Odisha is allowed to
remain in additional charge of Secretary
to Chief Minister-Transformation Initiatives ( 5T) in addition to his own duties. So, 5T
is neither a Department
nor any cabinet decision
taken in this regard. It
is an initiative. It is just media hyped
propaganda to divert attention of
the people from real issues affecting
them. The people must reject it.
2.
Secondly, in the
month of June, 2019, Chief Minister, Odisha declared
that he would monitor performance
of Ministers and asked each Minister
to produce their Monthly progress Report. RTI Application was filed
to the office of Chief Minister,
Odisha , Dept. of Parliamentary Affairs, Govt. of Odisha
seeking copy of
Monthly Performance Report
submitted to Chief Minister. On
7.8.19., the PIO, office of
Chief Minister vide letter No. 2514/CM dt. 7.8.2019 intimated that “No such Report
as required is available in the
office of Chief Minister.” However, to
examine whether the Ministers
have submitted their Monthly performance report to Chief Minister, RTI Application was submitted to the office of 8 Ministers seeking
copy of the forwarding letter of Minister in which they
have submitted their monthly
report to the Chief Minister. The Response of the office of
Minsiters is as follows. ( the office of All
the Ministers except Ranendra Pratap Swain , Minister
for Food supply & CW responded
one and similar kind of
information, as if they
have all responded after
taking each other.
A.
On 14.11.19., The office of the Minister for Women and Child
Development, Govt. of Odisha responded
that “ the information as in the manner requested by you in your application is
not available”.
B.
On 13.11.19., The office of
the Minister for Panchayat Raj &
Drinking Water , Law, Housing & Urban Development said that “ the
information as in the manner
requested by you in your application is not available in this office”.
C.
On 25.10.19., The office of
the Minister for Forest & Environment, Parliamentary Affairs,
Odisha asked to
deposit Rs. 46.00 towards cost
of information. When the cost of information through M.O. was deposited
, it was returned back. Later on, on 15.11.19., the PIO
wrote a letter stating
that the previous letter was issued inadvertently. He responded in same way that “information, as in the manner requested by you in your above
application, is not available in this office
D.
On 13.11.19., the
office of the Minister for Finance & Excis, Odisha responded
in similar manner that “ the information as
in the manner requested by you in your application, is not available
in this office”.
E.
On 17.10.19., the office of Minister of State ( Independent Charge) Electronics &
Information Technology , Sports & Youth Services, Odisha transferred
RTI Application to the
Dept. of Sports & Youth Services
and Dept. of Electronics & Information Technology to provide
information. Though two months
passed, the PIOs of these Departments
have not supplied any kind of
information.
F.
But the
response of Sri Ranendra Pratap Swain, Minister for Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare,
Cooperation, Odisha is more
interesting and praise worthy. On 13.11.19., his office
has sent copies
of 5 forwarding letters addressed
to Chief Minister in which he
has sent his Monthly Performance Report. One of
letter of the Minister addressed to Chief Minister is presented
herewith for better understanding.
“ With
reference to the UOI No. 74/CM dated 4.6.2019, I am to
submit herewith the one page report each on the work done during the last month
with special focus on the Manifesto to priorities
in respect of Food supplies and
Consumer Welfare Department as well as
Cooperation.”
On 6.9.19, Content of the letter of the
Minister is as follows.
“ I am submitting herewith the progress
of implementation of 5T and
progress report for the month of August, 2019 on the priority
areas of Government in respect of Food supplies & Consumer Welfare
Department and Cooperation
Department and tours and inspection conducted
during the said month for kind information”.
It
is concluded that either
the Ministers have produced
the report and kept in confidence or report has
never been produced
to Chief Minister.
3. Thirdly, just
after 3 months of assuming office of Chief Minister for 5th term, Nabin Patnaik
addressed press conference reading papers
about dismissal of
officers and employees and withholding pension of retired
officers on corruption charges. Both
Print and electronic Media made a
front-paper news with applause terming it
as “ Operation Clean”.
Having gone through
the news , RTI Application dated 3.9.19.
was submitted to the Office
of Chief Minister, Odisha, Dept.
of GA& PG seeking information
about copy of
papers which Chief Minister read out
in Press Conference and
copy of all documents on the basis which he dismissed
the officers. On 5.11.19.,
the PIO, office of
Chief Minister responded that
“ No such
information is available in the
Chief Minister’s Office”.
On 3.9.19, RTI
Application was filed to Dept. of GA & PG seeking the same
information about details of
decision taken for dismissal of officers and employees . on 6.9.19., The GA Department transferred RTI Application to the PIO, Dept. of Parliamentary Affairs,
office of Chief Minister and
Director, Vigilance to
provide information. On 16.9.19, the office
of State Vigilance responded
that they are exempted from disclosure under RTI Act
as per Govt. notification No.
8081-RTI-74/2016-IPR dated 11.8.2016. On 1.10.19, the PIO, Dept. of
Parliamentary Affairs transferred RTI
Application to the PIO, office of Chief Minister, Odisha to provide
information, as it closely relates to your office. Despite two RTI Applications being forwarded to Chief Minister’s office, the said
office did not
care to respond under RTI Act, even two months passed.
It is astonishing
that When the Chief Minister Speaks
of transparency and addressed press meet about plan and programme of his Govt, but his
office does not
disclose any information under RTI Act, the sun-shining law enacted to enforce
transparency in the administration.
4.The website of
Chief Minister, Odisha (https://cm.odisha.gov.in/) does
not have
any information disclosed under
section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act which is
mandatory for all
public authorities. As a Public Authority , it must
declare names of PIO and First Appellate Authority
in their website
and other related information in
Odia. The Dept. of I and PR, nodal Dept.
for RTI has made
several circulars to all Dept. and offices to
comply section 4 ( 1) (b) of RTI Act
in Odia language. But the CM office
has done nothing .
Pradip
Pradhan
M-9937843482
Date-
26.12.19
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