Fund allotted for RTI campaign not utilised properly in Odisha

Misuse, Misappropriation and mindless expenditure of fund allotted for sensitisation of the people about RTI by Govt. of Odisha spoils RTI in the state.

Dear friends

Few days back, Nabin Patnaik, Chief Minister, Odisha has   gave a call in Collectors’ conference to maintain utmost “Transparency” in Govt. work and administrative activities.  But he had not spoken a single word on “RTI”, a law  meant for enforcing transparency  and accountability  in administration.  It may be he is ignorant  about  this law or he with ill-intention  might be bypassing it apprehending  that enforcement of  RTI  in letter  and spirit  which  he has destroyed  in Odisha  will open up  flood-gate of corruption  and misappropriation of public fund  in the state.

As  per section 26 of the RTI Act,  the State Government shall organise  educational programme  to sensitise the people  about RTI Act,  promote  timely and effective  dissemination  of accurate information  by public authorities  about their activities,   provide training to the PIOs and produce relevant materials for use by the Public authorities.   The State Govt.  in Information and Public Relation Department , nodal Dept. for RTI  has been releasing fund every year to   DIPROs ( District Information and Public Relation Officers)  of all Districts to organise public sensitisation programme, seminar and workshops on RTI.  But these fund are neither properly utilised nor are public involved  in awareness programme.  In many districts, workshops or seminars are organised within participation of Govt. officials without involving the common people, RTI Activists ad local volunteers. High- profile lunch is organised for officers and staff without holding much debate on RTI in the seminars.

RTI application was submitted to the PIO, Dept. of I and PR, seeking information about details of fund sanctioned, utilised  for RTI awareness programme  in different districts and UC submitted  by them.   It  was found from the information  supplied by the PIO  dated 27.5.17 that  most of DIPROs  have not submitted UC since last three years.  The Dept.  is also not aware  whether fund has been utilised  or not. As per field report made by RTI Activists, fund sanctioned for RTI awareness programme is misused and misappropriated in large scale without   delivering any fruitful results. In many districts, funds remain unutilised and surrendered later on.

 The details of   information supplied by the PIO  is as follows.

Amount/UC of funds  distributed to different DIPROs  for RTI awareness programme  in 30 districts
Sl.No	DIPROs	Fund allotted  2014-15	UC  thereon	Fund allotted  2015-16	UC thereon	Fund allotted  2016-17	UC thereon
1	Angul	80,000.00	Furnished	80,000.00	Furnished	40,000.00	Not furnished
2	Balasore	80,000.00	DO	80,000.00	Do	40,000.00	Not furnished
3	Bolangir	80,000.00	DO	80,000.00	Not furnished	----	---
4	Baragarh	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Not furnished	---	---
5	Bhadrak	60,000.00	Furnished	40,000.00	Furnished	40,000.00	Not furnished
6	Bhubaneswar	40,000.00	Not furnished	40,000.00	Furnished	40,000.00	Not furnished
7	Boudh	40,000.00	Furnished	40,000.00	Not furnished	40,000.00	Not furnished
8	Cuttack	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Furnished	40,000.00	Furnished
9	Dhenkanal	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Not furnished	----	---
10	Deogarh	40,000.00	Not furnished	40,000.00	Not furnished	---	---
11	Gajapati	60,000.00	Surrendered	40,000.00	Furnished	40,000.00	Not furnished
12	Ganjam	1,20,000.00	Not furnished	1,20,000.00	Not furnished	---	---
13	Jagatsingh Pur	80,000.00	Surrendered	80,000.00	Not Furnished	---	---
14	Jajpur	60,000.00	Not furnished	40,000.00	Furnished	40,000.00	Furnished
15	Jharsuguda	40,000.00	Not furnished	40,000.00	Not furnished
16	Kalahandi	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Not Furnished	--	---
17	Kandhamal	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Not furnished
18	Kendrapara	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Furnished
19	Keonjhar	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Not furnished
20	Khurda	40,000.00	Not furnished	40,000.00	Not furnished
21	Koraput	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Not furnished
22	Malkangiri	60,000.00	Not Furnished	40,000.00	Not Furnished
23	Mayurbhanj	1,20,000.00	Not Furnished	1,20,000.00	Not Furnished
24	Nabarang Pur	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Not furnished
25	Nayagarh	80,000.00	Not Furnished	80,000.00	Not Furnished
26	Nuapara	60,000.00	Furnished	40,000.00	Furnished
27	Puri	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Not Furnished
28	Rayagada	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Not furnished
29	Rourkela	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Not furnished
30	Sambalpur	80,000.00	Furnished	80,000.00	Furnished
31	Subarnapur	60,000.00	Not furnished	40,000.00	Not furnished
32	Sundargarh	80,000.00	Not furnished	80,000.00	Furnished	40,000.00	Not Furnished
33	D.D( Northern)	NIL	---	40,000.00	Not furnished
34	D.D. ( Central)	Nil	Nil	40,000.00	Furnished
35	D.D.(Southern)	NIL	NIL	40,000.00	40,000.00	Not furnished

2. Similarly, Govt. of India  had released  fund   for celebration of  RTI weeks  from 5^th to 12^th  October-2016. Accordingly, each district  was allotted Rs. 10,000.00  for  celebration.  But  no district  has yet submitted UC to  Govt. The Nodal Dept. is not aware whether the programme was organised or fund misappropriated.

Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

Date-24.6.17

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