RIGHT TO INFORMATION - 2009 - Indian Social Institute

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New Delhi: A day later when a National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) report highlighted flaws in the implementation of UPA government’s mega National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the ministry of rural development has said the report is ‘half backed and does not reflect any ground reality’. FE has also learnt that Wajahat Habibullah, central information commissioner, had recently written to deputy chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia regarding the need of uploading all information, regarding various development schemes supported by the commission, on the public domain as done under NREGA. “One area in which this recourse has already been successfully adopted is in the implementation of NREGA and it would be ideal if the transparency and accountability demanded by the law can be speedily replicated to all major development initiatives financed by Planning Commission funds,” Habibullah wrote in his letter to Ahluwalia (FE possesses a copy of the letter). In response to Habibullah’s letter, secretary Plan panel Subas Panis recently circulated a letter to all ministries that use commission’s fund to follow the model adopted under NREGA for sharing all the relevant information with the public. “Public authorities under the Right To Information Act, 2005, are mandated to maintain all its record duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and form which facilitates the right to information,” Pani wrote in the letter. Habibullah had in his letter to Ahluwalia urged to ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerised within a reasonable time, subject to availability of resources and connected via network all over the country to ensure access. Meanwhile, while highlighting factual inaccuracy in NCAER/PIF report, which stated that funds under NREGA are being allocated to districts rather than state governments, ministry of rural development secretary Rita Sharma said the Centre has stopped allocating funds to districts from last one year. “We have stopped giving funds to districts so that the state governments can have their priorities while allocating funds to districts,” Sharma told FE. Criticising the report, Sharma said all the allegation of forged muster rolls and payment could be checked at the dedicated websites to ascertain facts. “We have uploaded details of jobs cards on the websites for public knowledge,” she said. The study released here on Wednesday by Rajya Sabha member and former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Bimal Jalan, said the official estimates of wages realised... (Financial Express 15/5/09) RTI cell, insurance on syndicate agenda (1) CHANDIGARH: The syndicate meeting slated for May 23 will see a discussion on a host of significant recommendations for the benefit of Panjab University and its students. The foremost among this is varsity’s proposal to open a special RTI cell with the appointments of deputy registrar and assistant registrar. Moreover, if given a green signal, PU will go ahead with its plan of group insurance scheme for 12,000 students from the next academic session. Under the Students Safety Insurance Policy, each student would have to pay Rs 120 per annum to avail this facility. Students would be provided insurance cover of Rs 2,00,000, besides, a separate insurance cover of Rs 1,00,000 for their parents. The insurance cover will include hospitalization charges and accident risk to students and their parents. Students have to pay a premium of Rs 120 annually, which will be included in their tuition fees. To bring in more transparency in appointment of lecturers in colleges affiliated to PU, a proposal to introduce score card proforma is also in the pipeline. Each candidate would be required to fill the form and mention his/her qualifications. A candidate will get pro-rata marks out of 35 marks as per the performance in qualifying degree. For instance, if a candidate has got 60% marks in post-graduation, then he or she will get only 60% marks (21) out of 35 marks for basic qualification. Candidates with extraordinary performance in sports at national or international level would be awarded four marks extra. Out of 20 marks set for interview, a candidate is required to get at least 10 for selection. The nitty-gritty of signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between PU and Korea Institute of Energy Research (South Korea) will also be discussed. The joint venture will be a step forward in generating clean energy from municipal organic waste. The technology developed in the form of a patent will be shared on equal basis. There is also proposal of University Law School to increase the number of seats from 25 to 50 for LLM. (Times of India 17/5/09) Full bench hearing of Central Information Commission on June 8 (1) CHENNAI: Many activists have complained that public authorities are unduly charging RTI petitioners with the wages and allowances of officials as “cost of information,” quoting very high figures to stall the working of the Act. Following this, the Central Information Commission has scheduled a full bench hearing on June 8 and has invited heads of Ministries, Public Sector Units (PSU) to get their views on the practice. Section 7(3) of the Right to Information Act talks about the cost of providing information “on
payment of further fee” to petitioners, without exactly specifying what would be taken as the “further fee,” beyond the fees prescribed for providing information. This has resulted in Public Information Officers (PIO) asking petitioners to pay for wages and allowances for the staff involved in collecting the information. T. Sadagopan, a Chennai-based consumer activist, had submitted an RTI petition to the Public Information Officer (PIO) on May 29, 2008, listing 19 questions. However the PIO had not replied substantially and had also asked him to pay Rs.379 towards salary and allowances for staff, who would have to obtain the information. Similar incidents had been reported by other activists where the Southern Railway had asked petitioners to pay, as part of the cost of information, the salaries and allowances of the staff. V. Madhav, another activist, was even asked to pay for the cost of maintenance of computers and other equipment. While Mr. Sadagopan’s first appeal was rejected, his appeal to the CIC was taken up on May 12, 2009. Shailesh Gandhi, Central Information Commissioner, upheld the appeal, and also directed Southern Railway to provide photocopies of the first 200 pages free of cost. While Mr. Madhav’s appeal is still awaiting disposal, the CIC has decided to hold a full bench hearing following the public notice issued in November 2008, asking for comments on the same issue. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) had also submitted at a meeting with the CIC on February 24, 2009, its views on how the section should be interpreted. But the issue has not been resolved yet, and the full bench hearing could come up with guidelines, activists said. (The Hindu 18/5/09) 11 RTI activists singing national anthem arrested for rioting (1) Mumbai, May 20, 2009: Eleven activists of Right to Information (RTI) were arrested on charges of rioting and obstructing work of a public servant on Tuesday. These activists had come to observe the open-court hearing of Dr Shrikant Prabhu, one of the activists. After the hearing they sought time from the commissioner to tell him that he was committing a “bailable offence.” The activists wanted to hand over a report they had prepared stating what leads to the bailable offence. Sanjay Amrute, senior police inspector said: “We have arrested 11 RTI activists who barged into the cabin of Suresh Joshi, the state information commissioner.” “They have been booked for rioting and obstructing the work of a public servant. On Wednesday, we will produce them in court.” The activits arrested are Krishnaraj Rao, G.R. Vora, Mohammad Afzal, Sunil Ahya, Vijay Chauhan, Mukund Parekh, Sanjay Ghatalia, K.N. Singh, Pramod Kadam, Ravi Kiran Haldipur, and Shrikant Prabhu. “We had not taken an appointment as he never gives us one. When we requested for time, he first refused but then agreed,” Vora said. “Before the interaction, one of the activists wanted to sing the national anthem. Joshi objected and did not stand up. But as soon as we started singing, Joshi called the police.” Joshi denied the allegations. “Even after telling them that I had to go to a doctor and that I would fix up another day to meet them, they still didn’t listen and walked into my cabin.” (Hindustan Times 20/5/09) RTI exposes chinks in Delhi Police narcotics branch (1) New Delhi: Cases of drug peddling are considered heinous offences and can even entail death penalty under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. A response under the Right To Information (RTI) Act from the Delhi Police’s Narcotics Branch, however, raises grave doubts over how serious the investigating agency is when it comes to arresting the accused and putting them up for trial that could go on in the courts for years. In most of these cases, the accused are made to languish behind bars and are not allowed bail till the court pronounces its verdict. According to a reply sent in pursuant to an RTI application by Kamran Siddiqui, general secretary of the NGO Real Cause, though the Narcotics Branch registered 20 cases under the NDPS Act between January and February this year, they could not, for unexplained reasons, nab even a single prospective buyer. (Indian Express 22/5/09) RTI activists released on bail (1) Mumbai: After spending two days and a night in the Arthur Road Jail, 11 RTI activists were released on Thursday on personal bond. Krishnaraj Rao, GR Vora, Mohammad Afzal, Sunil Ahya, Vijay Chauhan, Mukund Parekh, Sanjay Ghatalia, KN Singh, Pramod Kadam, Ravi Kiran Haldipur and Dr Shrikant Prabhu were arrested for "unlawful assembly and tresspassing" after a protest organised by them took an ugly turn on Tuesday at state chief information commissioner Suresh Joshi's office. Their arrests have created a stir among other activists. Central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi termed the action excessive. "I do not know what happened, but from the reactions of Joshi, I don't think that the situation was riotous. I feel there was an excessive action by police. "People keep protesting and look for innovative and creative ways to do that. But as long as the protests are peaceful and do not paralyse the
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Page 3 and 4: is a part of pro-active disclosure
Page 5 and 6: presided over the function. D.B. Bi
Page 7 and 8: advance no reasonable reason for de
Page 9 and 10: chief officer within the prescribed
Page 11 and 12: agencies, indicating the particular
Page 13 and 14: authority also. Till date many of t
Page 15 and 16: y the accused (such as residential
Page 17 and 18: G. Ramachandra Reddy, State Officia
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Page 23 and 24: y the state government was the sche
Page 25 and 26: Mumbai (PTI): With over 4.16 lakh a
Page 27 and 28: BANGALORE: Director-General and Ins
Page 29 and 30: for examination, Mr. Madhav says, w
Page 31 and 32: imported products in our State, CAA
Page 33 and 34: New Delhi, April 16, 2009: Students
Page 35 and 36: Govt dept fined for ignoring petiti
Page 37 and 38: contention that the CJI was not obl
Page 39: efore that he had to run from pilla
Page 43 and 44: to part with the information citing
Page 45 and 46: And the tool for this youth — fro
Page 47 and 48: government had the power to initiat
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Page 51 and 52: to the complaint filed by Arora and
Page 53 and 54: charged excess premium even after t
Page 55 and 56: under section 84 (c) of the Tenancy
Page 57 and 58: NEW DELHI: A recent report on the R
Page 59 and 60: honoured in the letter and spirit o
Page 61 and 62: "information" given in Section 2(f)
Page 63 and 64: agreement with noted jurist Fali S
Page 65 and 66: Ghaziabad, Hamirpur, Jhansi, Lakhim
Page 67 and 68: Aimed at highlighting the common ma
Page 69 and 70: Act from Kanpur University for the
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Page 75 and 76: SC will challenge Delhi HC order pu
Page 77 and 78: Warning against misusing RTI Act to
Page 79 and 80: Nagaland, Arunchal Pradesh, Orissa
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Page 83 and 84: was a bit better, which meant out o
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Page 87 and 88: others, I & PR director Mr BP Mohan
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information on the creche from the
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RIGHT TO INFORMATION - 2009 - Indian Social Institute

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