Memorandum submitted to Cheif Secretary, Govt. of Odisha for immediate appointment of Information Commissioner in vacancy post, formulation of Odisha Lokayukta Rules, Protection of RTI Activists in Odisha
Odisha
Soochana Adhikar Ahijan
Plot
No.-D-27, Maitree Vihar, Post-Rail Vihar, Bhubaneswar
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To
The Chief
Secretary Date-
3.7.20
Govt. of Odisha
Bhubaneswar
Sub- Memorandum
for enforcing transparency and accountability in the administration.
Sir
We the RTI
Activists and members of Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan holding public demonstration at Lower PMG,
Bhubaneswar to air our
grievance , hereby put forth the
following demands in order to enforce
transparency and
accountability in the administration of
the state.
A.
Appointment
of State Information Commissioner in the vacancy post
RTI Act which is being implemented
since 2005 has empowered citizens to exercise their right to access information held under public
authorities. It has the mandate to
enforce transparency and accountability in the administration and to contain corruption. In case of violation of RTI Act, the State Government
has constituted Odisha State Commission
under section 15 of the Act to hear and
adjudicate complaints and Second
Appeal cases in order to give justice to
the appellants/ complainants and punish the erring PIOs. But adjudication of the cases gets delayed
for years together due to long vacancy in the post of Information
Commissioners. Cases filed in 2016
are being listed now for
hearing in 2020 by the Commission
i.e., after 5 years of filling the case.
The long delay in hearing has not only
frustrated appellants but also encouraged the erring PIOs to continue to deny the
information. It has damaged
prospect of RTI Act in the state.
This problem is attributed due
to non-appointment of Information Commissioners. Presently ,
State Chief Information Commissioner
and State Information Commissioner
are loaded with more
than 12000 cases for disposal. In order to enforce appointment of Information Commissioners in vacancy post
created so far, the State Govt. has released two advertisements dated 24.6.2019
and 18.3.20 inviting applications for
selection of candidates for the said posts. But
the selection process is seen halted
due to unknown reasons. We ,
therefore request you to
expedite the procession of selection and
ensure appointment of atleast two Information Commissioners in the state.
B.
Enactment
of Odisha Lokayukta Rules
After a long fight by Social Activists and intervention of the
Supreme Court, the State Govt. constituted Odisha Lokayukta with
appointment and Chairman and three members
in March, 2019. No dout, this is a welcome step of the state Govt. putting
in place an independent body
for direct inquiry and
investigation into allegation of corruption and irregularities in the
administration. As per section 57 of Odisha Lokayukta Act, the State Govt. is
required to frame Odisha Lokayukta
Rules for effective implementation of the Odisha
Lokayukta Act. But though one year has
passed, the state Govt. has not yet framed
Rules required to carry out
various provisions of the Odisha Lokayukta Act. The Lokayukta as well as complainants are
facing a lot of
problems starting from filling of
complaints to conducting preliminary inquiry and final adjudication of the
cases. We, therefore request you to
take steps immediately
for enactment of Odisha Lokayukta Rules.
C. Functional of RTI Cell at State Secretariat Reception Counter
In order to facilitate the
receipt of RTI Allocations by the Information-seekers to various Dept. of the state secretariat, the State Got. has
opened a RTI Cell at reception
counter. The RTI Applications withou facing any hurdles
were seen submitting their RTI
Applications at the Cell and taking acknowledgement receipt and money receipts . But due to COVID-19
lockdown, this RTI Cell has been closed for
unknown periods. The State Govt. has neither made any notification about
this closure nor made any alternate arrangements for
submission of RTI Applications.
As it is seen,
the RTI Applicants are facing a
lot of problems to file RTI Application and
facing financial constraints
by sending it by post. We, therefore
demand that this RTI Cell
should be opened at the
earliest or any alternate
arrangements to be made in order to help
the citizens to file their RTI Applications to the Departments of the State Secretariat.
D. Attack on RTI Activists is rising
day by day. Within period of two months, two RTI Activists were murdered and the police
is seen silent without
conducting any inquiry into murder of Ranjan Kumar Das of Kendrapara district.
Police inquiry into murder of
Ahimanyu Panda, RTI Activist of Kondhamal was
not properly inquired , as the
conspirators are seen scot-free. During COVID-19 lockdown, a number of
RTI Activists have been threatened , mercilessly beaten up , harassed with false case filed against them in local police station. The
FIRs filed by the
RTI Activist are not duly registered
and inquiry conducted. We,
therefore request you to
direct all police stations to
provide protection to RTI
Activists and immediate register complaints filed by the RTI Activists and take action
accordingly.
Thanking you
Yours sincerely
Pradip Pradhan
State Convener
M-9937843482
Sanjukta Panigarhi
Srikant Pakal
Jitendra Sahu
Pratap Mohanty
Alaya Samantaray
Prakash Ch. Das 
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