Fact-finding Report on “Child Deaths in Malkangiri District

Press Note on 14th RTI anniversary released by NCPRI

Press Note on 14^th RTI anniversary

 October 12, 2019, marked 14 years of implementation of the RTI Act in India. The law has empowered millions of people across the country to exercise their fundamental right to seek information and hold the government accountable.

 Never has the government’s commitment to transparency been as questionable as it is today, on the 14^th anniversary of the Right to Information law- information of critical national and public importance continues to be denied and the Act itself was weakened through amendments..

 The convention, organized by the Central Information Commission is the first since the RTI Amendment Act 2019 was passed by Parliament which dealt a serious blow to the law. Despite protests across the country and opposition from several political parties, the BJP government brought in amendments to the RTI Act. There were no public consultations on the amendments and in fact even the text of the amendment Bill was not made public before being introduced in Parliament. The amendments empower the central government to make rules regarding the tenure, salaries, allowances and other terms of service of the chief and other information commissioners of the Central Information Commission (CIC) and all state information commissions (SICs).

 It has been more than 2 months since the amendments received the assent of the President on August 1, 2019. However, till date the central government has not promulgated rules. Though the DoPT MoS Jitendera Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah spoke at the inaugural session of the CIC convention, they did not make any reference to the recent amendments to the law nor did they give any indication of the time-frame in which rules will be made.

 In complete denial of the dismal reality of the implementation of the RTI law Home Minister, Amit Shah claimed that this government is committed to transparency.

 The abrogation of articles 370 and 35A has meant that the J&K RTI Act stands repealed. The transparency law in the state was repealed without any transparency in the process itself! There is no clarity about the status of the appeals and complaints pending before the J&K State Information Commission as the commission was set up under the J&K RTI Act. The state Act also had some progressive provisions not contained in the Central RTI Act- such as time bound disposal of second appeals.  

 The track record of the government on openness has been questionable. For instance, the government resisted disclosure of records and deliberations regarding demonetisation. Electoral Bonds were introduced as a mode of anonymous funding of political parties through an amendment to the Finance Bill. Preposterous claims were made by the government that this was being done to bring in greater ‘transparency’. BJP was the biggest beneficiary of the electoral bond scheme launched by the government in 2017-18, bagging 94.5% of the bonds worth a little over Rs 210 crore masking the unholy nexus between corporates and the ruling party. The government has also kept under wraps information about bank frauds and NPAs. It also tried to suppress the release of the unemployment data.

 ‘Report Card of Information Commission 2018-19’ brought out by Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) and CES on the functioning of information commissions across the country has found that despite the directions of the Supreme Court in judgment in February 2019 to appoint information Commissioners to the Central and State Information Commissions, many appointments to the information commissions have not yet been made. In fact currently four posts of information commissioners in the CIC are vacant.

 Furthermore, scores of RTI users have been attacked and more than 84 killed in their quest for information and accountability. This month itself an RTI activist in Rajasthan was allegedly killed in police custody. Even as the attacks continue unabated, the government has failed to operationalize the Whistle Blowers Protection Act which was passed in 2014.

To mark the anniversary of the RTI law, NCPRI members in many states held events resolving to protect RTI, increase it's usage and overcome the attempt to weaken one of the most radical freedom on information legislations in the world. After the amendments were passed in the Parliament, the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information launched a year long "Use RTI, Demand Accountability" campaign on August 1^st 2019. To demand accountability from the government, RTI users and citizen campaigns have been filing and will continue to file RTIs on pressing issues of public interest. Some of the RTIs already filed sought information on issues such as district mineral funds, lynching cases, Aadhaar and voter ID linkage, electoral bonds, the National Food Security Act amongst many others.

By NCPRI , New Delhi

On 13.10.19

Story about Forgery, manipulation and illegality in awarding land patta by Manas Ray, Additional Tahasildar , Ranapur

Story  about  Forgery, manipulation and illegality  in awarding land patta   by Manas Ray, Additional Tahasildar , Ranapur 

We demand  before authority to initiate legal proceedings against Sri Manas Ray, main accused in manipulation of land patta in favour of Bipin Jena of Bankapur village under Ranpur Tahasil of Nayagarh district as per direction of High Court, Odisha.

 1.  Bipin Jena of Bankapur  village  is the eldest son  of  deceased  Dasarathi Jena and Kumudini Jena ( two sons  and three daughters). He  in collusion  with Sri Manas Roy , Additional Tahasildar  and other employees  of Ranapur Tahasil manipulated the Govt. procedures , prepared  forged  documents  and obtained land patta  of  the whole land  of his father in his name.

2.       Bijini Jena, younger brother  of Bipin Jena having  heard  from some sources about his brother obtaining land patta  of  their ancestral property  in his name through submission of  forged  documents, applied   to Sub-Registrar office, Nayagarh  for certified copy  of land records.

3.       Then,  Bijini Jena  filed RTI  application under RTI Act  to the PIO, office of Tahasildar , Ranapur  seeking information about  details of documents produced  by his elder brother Bipin Jena  to get land Patta and approval of Tahasildar. Both  the PIO and First Appellate  Authority  did not  supply any information leading  to filling of  Second Appeal petition which is pending for disposal of Odisha Information Commission.

4.       Then, Bijini Jena moved  from   pillar  to post  filling  a number  of complaints  to the  Collector, SP, Nayagarh and Inspector-in-Charge , Ranapur seeking  an inquiry  into it. But nothing happened.

5.       This news  was highlighted  by Dharitri news paper on 21^st January, 2019 which prompted District administration to  come with action mode  by cancelling land patta  in name of Bipin Jena. But Tahasildar  did  not take any  action against  the  officials involved  in preparing  forged document and helping Bipin Jena  to obtain Land patta  by manipulating  Govt. procedure.

6.       Finding denial of justice by every authority, Bijin Jena, at last , approached Odisha  High Court  seeking justice. Acting on writ petition ( case No. CRLMP No. 1090 ),  on 28.8.19, the hon’ble High  directed  to the  Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, Govt. of Odisha and director General of Police, SP, Nayagarh and inspector-in-Charge , Ranapur  to register FIR  and take quick action against the accused  within 4 weeks.

7.       After direction of High Court, the  Ranapur Police has registered  the FIR  against  the main accused Sri Manas Ray, Additional Tahasildar and other officials of  Ranapur Tahasil. In the meantime,  the police has arrested Bipin Jena and a Revenue  Inspector involved in  assisting for preparation of forged documents. But  interestingly, the   police under pressure from Collector, Nayagarh is trying to protect Manas Ray, main accused  who  has taken  huge  money  to manufacture all documents in support of Bipin Jena.  Despite repeated complaints from Bijin Jena, Sri Roy did  not  conduct any inquiry. He has  not yet  been arrested . we  came to know that the district administration has transferred him  to Jharsuguda district  in order  to save him from arrest. 

Posting  by  

Dillip Samantaray , RTI Activist  and Advocate 

Date-13.10.19

M- 9853632850

Vigilance cases against IAS officers in Odisha

Vigilance cases against IAS officers in Odisha

( From 2000 to 2014), exposed  under RTI

Dear  friends

In 2014, RTI application was  filed  to the PIO, office  of Directorate  of Vigilance, Cuttack  seeking  information about  details of  Vigilance  cases  filed against IAS and OAS  officers,  Final Report prepared,  Charge sheet filed  from 2000 to 2014.  The PIO and First Appellate Authority rejected RTI Application on the ground of voluminous information. Then Second Appeal was filed  in Odisha Information Commission which was registered  as SA No. 278/2015 .  Just after this  case, the State  Govt. released  a notification  to keep  office of State Vigilance from  ambit of RTI Act. The  decision of the State Govt. has been challenged in High Court  which is still pending.

However, the case  was  heard  by Chief Information Commissioner  in 2017  and its  hearing  continued for two years , as the PIO   continued  seeking  time  again and again  to prepare  such  huge  information. At last   we  arrived  at  negotiating table  before  the Commission    that  information about only IAS  officers  will be provided  to the appellant. Accordingly, the  Commission passed order dated 14.3.19. On 16.7.19, the PIO  supplied the  following  information.

·         Rate  of  conviction against IAS  officers is very low.

·         IAS officers  involved  in  infamous Dal Scam against  whom Vigilance  has filed  has been withdrawn.

·         Many IAS  officers  have been given protection in name of  pending investigation and  submission of  final report.

Sl. No	Name  of IAS officers	Vigilance Case Number	Year of case  filed	Present Status
1	Sri Moadan Mohan Mohanty	BBSR Case No. 44/2000	2000	Chargesheet  filed
2	Sri Sanjib Kumar Roy	BBSR Case No. 24/2001	2001	Convicted
		CTC Case No. 15/2003	2003	Chargesheet  filed
		BBSR Case No. 25/2007	2007	Case has been abated  on 10.3.14
		CTC Case No. 84/2012	2012	Pending investigation
		CTC Case No. 47/2008	2008	Final Report  submitted
3	Sri Sanjib Kumar Roy Sri Sanjay Rastogi	CTC Case No. 47/2008	2008	Final report  submitted
4	Sri Phani Bhusan Das	BBSR Case No. 39/2001	2001	Final Report submitted
5	Sri Kartik Ch. Das	BBSR Case No. 22/2002	2002	Final Report submitted
6	Sri Lokanath Mishra	BLS Case No. 23/2000	2000	Departmental action against Sri Mishra
7	Sri Jagadish Prasad Das	BBSR Case No. 10/2004	2004	Final Report submitted
		BBSR Case No. 7/2003	2003	Final report submitted
8	Sri Jagar Singh	CTC Case No. 27/2000	2000	Final Report submitted
9	Dr. Hrushikesh Panda	BPR Case No. 38/2002	2002	Final Report submitted
		BPR Case NO. 39/2002	2002	Final Report submitted
		BPR Case No. 40/2002	2002	Final Report submitted
		BPR Case No. 41/2002	2002	Final Report submitted
10	Sri S. Osatullah Sri Sanjib Mishra Sri Soumya Prasad Mishra	BPR Case No. 50/2002	2002	Final report submitted
11	Sri Prafulla Mishra	BBSR Case No. 9/2003	2003	Charge sheet  filed
		BBSR Case No. 34/2003	2003	Charge sheet  filed
		BBSR Case No. 35/2003	2003	Charge sheet  filed
12	Sri Vinod Kumar	BBSR Case No. 60/2003 BBSR Case No. 62/2003 BBSR Case No. 7/2005 BBSR Case No. 8/2005	2003 & 2005	Charge sheet  filed
	Sri Vinod Kumar	BBSR Case No. 12/2005	2005	Final Report prepared
	Sri Vinod Kumar	BBSR Case No. 18/2006 BBSR Case No. 27/2006 BBSR Case No. 32/2006 BBSR Case No. 33/2006 BBSR Case No. 49/2006 BBSR Case No. 54/2006 BBSR Case No. 57/2006 BBSR Case No. 59/2006 BBSR Case No. 60/2006 BBSR Case No. 32/2007 BBSR Case No. 34/2007 BBSR Case No. 38/2007 BBSR Case No. 48/2007 BBSR Case No. 50/2007 BBSR Case No. 51/2007 BBSR Case No. 52/2007 BBSR Case No. 53/2007 BBSR Case No. 11/2008 BBSR Case No. 6/2009 BBSR Case No. 22/2011	2006 & 2007 2008 2009 2011	Chargesheet  filed
	Sri Vinod Kumar	BBSR Case No. 56/2006 BBSR Case No. 54/2007	2006 2007	Convicted
13	Sri Surendra Nath Tripathy	CTC Case No. 30/2004	2004	Charge sheeted  against others
		CTC Case No. 5/2004	2004	Charge sheeted  against others
		CTC Case No. 6/2004	2004	Charge sheeted  against others
14	Sri Vijay Arora	BBSR Case No. 35/2007	2007	Final report  submitted
15	Sri Nityanada  Mohanty	CTC Case No. 10/2003	2003	Charge sheet filed
		CTC Case No. 9/2006	2006	Charge sheeted
16	Sri Bijay Kumar Dhal	CTC Case No. 24/2008	2008	Final Report  submitted
17	Sri Mayadhar Panigrahi	BBSR Case No. 28/2008	2008	Charge sheeted
		BBSR Case No. 29/2008	2008	Charge sheeted
		BBSR Case No. 33/2008	2008	Final Report submitted
19	Sri Himanshu Sekhar Samantaray	BBSR Case No. 37/2008	2008	Convicted
18	Sri R.N. Senapati	BBSR Case No. 49/2000	2000	Charge sheeted against others
		CTC Case No. 30/2003	2003	Charge sheeted against others
		CTC Case No. 32/2003	2003	Charge sheeted against others
		CTC Case No. 35/2003	2003	Charge sheeted against others
		CTC Case No.38/2003	2003	Charge sheeted against others
		CTC Case No. 39/2003	2003	Charge sheeted against others
		CTC Case No. 41/2003	2003	Charge sheeted against others
		CTC Case No. 42/2003	2003	Charge sheeted against others
		CTC Case No. 12/2004	2004	Charge sheeted against others
		BBSR Case No. 13/2004	2004	Charge sheeted against others
		BPR Case No. 52/2005	2003	Final Report submitted
19	Sri Nikunja Kishor Sundaray	BBSR Case No. 36/2005	2005	Pending investigation
20	Sri I. Srinivas	CTC Case No. 14/2005	2005	Charge sheet against others
21	Dr. Prasanta Kumar Pradhan	BBSR Case No. 12/2009	2009	Charge sheet  filed
		BBSR Case No. 43/2008	2008	Charge sheet against others
		SBP Case No. 28/2011	2011	Pending Investigation
22	Sri Bishnupada Sethi	CTC Case No. 33/2010	2010	Final Report submitted
23	Sri Srikant Prusty	CTC Case No. 44/2010	2010	Charge sheet  filed
24	Sri Rabindra Nath Das	CTC Case No. 60/2010	2010	Charge sheet  filed
25	Sri Bhagaban Ch. Das	BLS Case No. 52/2009	2009	Charge sheet  filed
26	Sri Ambika Prasad Mishra	SBP Case No. 90/2010	2010	Charge sheet  filed
27	Sri Pradipta Kumar Pattanayak Sri Ashok Kumat Tarenia Sri Jagadish Prasad Agrawal	BBSR Case No. 31/2005 BLS Case No. 59/2009	2005 2009	Charge sheet against  Sri Agrawal
28	Sri Benudhar Das	BBSR Case No. 48/2008	2008	Charge sheet  filed
29	Sri Pramod Kumar Pattanayak	BLS Case No. 54/2009	2009	Charge sheet  filed
30	Sri Alekha Chandra  Padihari	BBSR Case No. 7/2011	2011	Charge sheet  filed
31	Sri Debaraj Mishra	SBP Case No. 78/2014	2014	Charge sheet  filed

Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

Date- 4.10.19