From: Chitta Behera <chittabehera1@yahoo.co.in>
Date: Sat, Jun 4, 2011 at 8:36 PM
Subject: Fw: [Social Watch Group] Complain Against Sri, T. K. Mishra, Odisha Chief Information Commissioner
To: Jagannath Dalai <jagannathdalai@yahoo.com>
Cc: pradippradhan63@gmail.com
To: social-watch-group@googlegroups.com
Sent: Fri, 3 June, 2011 9:09:05 PM
Subject: [Social Watch Group] Complain Against Sri, T. K. Mishra, Odisha Chief Information Commissioner
To,
Governor, Orissa
Raj Bhavan, Bhubaneswar
Sub: Complaint under Section 17 of RTI Act 2005 against Mr.T.K. Mishra, Chief Orissa Information Commissioner for his dishonor to Oriya language, practice of double standards, dubious nexus with corrupt officials, threatening and abusing misbehavior with complainants and naked violations of RTI law.
Sir,
I am a BPL person from the district of Nayagarh in Orissa, and also semi-literate having no knowledge of English. However I am a frequent user of RTI Act for the benefit of my area and as well the poor and disadvantaged sections of society to which I belong. As you know, the RTI Act 2005 primarily aims at bringing about transparency in administration of the Government and thereby to root out corruption from public life. But Mr. Tarun Kanti Mishra, who has been appointed as Chief Orissa Information Commissioner is completely incapable of practicing or enforcing the above objective of RTI Act. Situation has now come to such a pass that no officer or employee of the Government cares a fig for any of his orders, because he himself is found to be flouting his own order and also provisions of law with impunity. Thus, he only serves to cover up the incidence of corruption in Government offices where it runs on a rampant scale. Unless a drastic action is taken against Mr.Mishra, his present style of functioning in the capacity of Chief OSIC is sure to cause irreparable damage to the cause of RTI Act and thereby worsen further the corruption scenario in the State in days to come. In corroboration of such apprehension I would like to draw your kind attention to the following facts in respect of Mr.Mishra's gross misconduct, which are entirely based upon my direct experience with Mr.T.K.Mishra as Chief OSIC.
(2) Before pointing out the specific instances of how Mr.T.K.Mishra has conspicuously failed to enforce his own order it would be worthwhile to understand what is expected of him in the capacity of Chief SIC as per the RTI Act. It is incumbent on the Chief State Information Commissioner to hear the appeals and complaints lodged by the aggrieved RTI applicants so as to order the defaulter PIOs to provide them the information wrongly held back and penalize the said PIOs, if proved guilty, for any delay or obstacles created by them in furnishing of the requested information. Such being the position of RTI law, it is further incumbent on the Chief SIC to note down patiently and in detail what the appellant or complainant
wants to say in course of a hearing, and also to explain to him in clear and simple language, the findings and results of the hearing including the decision
arrived at. In this context it is important to remember that the Section 6(1) of RTI Act has given the option to any person to make his RTI application in regional language inter alia, and Section 7(9) requires a PIO to provide the information in the form in which it is sought by the applicant, which obviously includes the preference of the applicant to receive the requested information in regional language. Moreover, Section 4(4) of the Act enjoins upon each public authority including of course Orissa Information Commission to disseminate all material in local language. Thus Orissa Information Commission has a bounden duty to hold the hearings, write the decisions and conduct all correspondences with the members of public in Oriya the regional language of the State.
(3) Mr.T.K.Mishra, while he was the Chief Secretary to Government of Orissa, had issued an Office Order No.237/CS dated 28.10.2009 to all Principal Secretaries/ Secretaries/ Special Secretaries of the Departments of the State Government to use Oriya language in connection with all official functions and programmes (Annex-1). Subsequently, based upon that order the Director Institute of Oriya Language in his circular letter no. 1634 (30) dt. 22.12.2009 issued to all District Collectors reminded them about the urgency of using Oriya language in all governmental activities with which
the members of public are concerned (Annex-2). But ironically, Mr.T.K.Mishra himself has remained the most audacious violator of his own order, because he never afterwards used Oriya in his orders, circulars or correspondences, either in the then capacity of Chief Secretary or in the present capacity of Chief Orissa Information Commissioner. In a situation where Mr.Mishra being the head of above mentioned public authorities didn't abide by his own order, why should other commissioners or officers sub-ordinate to him obey the same? As a result, except only a few offices at lower level, no public authority including Orissa Information Commission headed by Mr.T.K.Mishra is found to be using Oriya language in official business. Moreover, even though I as a complainant have been urging Mr.T.K.Mishra Chief OIC both orally and in writing to conduct hearing, write decisions and make correspondences in Oriya language, he has brutally ignored it, ironically going against his own order.
(4) Because of my persistent demand before Mr.T.K.Mishra Chief OIC for conducting Commission's business in Oriya and also because of my continuous protest against some of his objectionable conduct, he has been adopting a vindictive attitude against me in recent months. For instance, in the Complaint Case No.3/2008 (against the failure of PIO to supply me the information relating to construction of a Well at Lingiribari under Singar Palli G.P. in Nua Gaon Block in Nayagarh District), the then Chief OSIC Mr.D.N.Padhi after hearing the parties had reluctantly decided, and that too after persistent demand by me, to impose penalty against the defaulter PIO and therefore issued a show-cause notice to him to that effect. But subsequently, Mr.T.K.Mishra, who succeeded Mr.Padhi in his place, took an arbitrary decision in the hearing dated 29.12.2010 to exonerate the said PIO from any manner of penalty basing upon the make-believe report of the PIO himself, and without taking into account the points mentioned in my written submissions.
(5) In another instance, having failed to receive any information from PIO DRDA Nayagarh in response to my RTI application dated 3.10.2008, I had lodged a Complaint before OSIC under Section 18 of the Act. After a series of hearings spanning a prolonged period the then Chief OSIC Mr.Padhi had perforce decided to impose penalty against the guilty PIO. But subsequently Mr.T.K. Mishra after he became the Chief OIC, called me
to a hearing, but on seeing me flared up against me in a bad temper. Without going through any papers, he furiously charged me, "Why have you come here? Have you made first appeal?" Showing the Section 18 of RTI Act 2005 I submitted that one could, if he wished so, lodge a direct complaint before the Commission. Reacting very rudely against me Mr.Mishra completely lost his cool and hurled at me threatening and abusive utterances in English - "Do you know? I can straight away throw you behind the bars. I shall not hear any single case of yours. Do whatever you like against me, in High Court or Supreme Court. But be sure, you can't do anything against me". I strongly feel that it is a case of gross misconduct by Mr.Mishra in capacity of Chief OIC to use threatening abuses in English against me knowing pretty well that being a semiliterate BPL person I don't follow English at all. Further it is also illegal on his part to arbitrarily close my case without giving me an opportunity of hearing and simultaneously exonerating the guilty PIO from any manner of penalty- all out of a strong feeling of vendetta against me.
(6) Still in another instance (Complaint Case No. 932/2009) I had submitted an RTI application dated 5.11.2008 to the PIO of ICDS Daspalla, but having received no response from there I had lodged a Complaint to OSIC under Section 18. The first hearing of my complaint case was held on 29.9.2010. Though there is no provision in RTI Act for a PIO to be represented through a lawyer in the hearing of a case, the said PIO sent a lawyer to the hearing of the case and the then Chief OIC Mr.D.N.Padhi had initially accepted him despite my vehement protest against such acceptance. However, under the impact of my strong protest Mr.Padhi had warned the lawyer not to appear in any future hearing on behalf of the PIO. But afterwards when the next hearing was held by Mr.T.K.Mishra successor to Mr.Padhi in the capacity of Chief OSIC, Mr.Mishra going against the law accepted the representation by the lawyer, and that too despite my oral and written protest against this illegal practice. Moreover, Mr.Mishra in course of the hearing used to talk in English with the PIO's lawyer so that I couldn't follow the meaning of the proceedings. Despite my repeated request to Mr.Mishra not to talk in English during the proceedings in view my ignorance of that language, he deliberately persisted in doing so.
(7) In a subsequent hearing dated 5.4.2011 Mr.Mishra issued an order saying that the concerned PIO should, within 10 days of this order, provide me with information running into 1100 pages, though he knew pretty well that the information sought for by me didn't require so many pages. However, about two months is going to elapse since Mr.Mishra ordered the PIO to give me the 1100-page information, but not a single page of information has been furnished by the concerned PIO to me as of today. It seems either there is a secret nexus of vested interests between the lawyer of PIO and Mr.Mishra Chief OIC to suppress the particular bunch of crucial information that I sought for, or Mr.Mishra is utterly powerless to take action against even petty officers who nakedly violate his order. Be that as it may, taking into account the entire behavior code of Mr.Mishra in this case, such as entertaining the representation of the PIO by a lawyer, behaving very cordially with that lawyer but very rudely with me, deliberately talking with the lawyer in English during the proceedings ignoring my request to the contrary, and moreover conniving with the naked violation by the PIO of his order, it seems, he is not only killing RTI Act cold-bloodedly in the guise of a Chief State Information Commissioner, but also instrumental in suppression of any information relating to rampant corruption in government offices.
(8) Another blatant instance of illegal orders issued by Mr.T.K.Mishra Chief OIC with an ill-motive to shield corrupt officials from the risk of exposure through RTI is his outright, arbitrary and unilateral manner of disposal in respect of my Complaint Case No. 1720/2010. Though the Act has empowered an aggrieved RTI user to approach the Commission straight away under its Section-18 (Complaint) and the Commission is as such bound
to hear the concerned parties before disposing of a case, Mr.Mishra going against the letter and spirit of the Act dismissed the above Complaint Case
without giving me any opportunity of hearing, and simultaneously directing me to exhaust the First Appeal and then only come to the Commission through the Second Appeal. By such an illegal practice, Mr.Mishra has further procrastinated and complicated the process of disposal of any complaint case. Similarly, I had lodged a Complaint Case against PIO of District Labour Office, Nayagarh (CC No. 2222/ 2010), which Mr.Mishra disposed of in the above-said illegal manner.
(9) To sum up, Mr.T.K.Mishra as Chief OIC -
- has conspicuously failed to abide by his own order issued by him in the erstwhile capacity of Chief Secretary Orissa in respect of use of Oriya language in official business and also to uphold the provision mentioned in Section 4(4) of RTI Act in respect of use of local language by every public authority;
- deliberately indulges in the illegal practice of entertaining the representation of a PIO through a lawyer in the hearings before the Commission;
- intentionally takes resort to English language in course of hearings so as to keep the concerned appellant/ complainant (not knowing English) ignorant of the ongoing proceedings;
- is utterly incapable of monitoring and disciplining the guilty PIOs who nakedly violate his orders issued on disposal of a case;
- violates Section-18 of RTI Act himself by disposing of a complaint case without giving any opportunity of hearing to the complainant and by remanding it to the first appeal;
- uses threatening abuses in English language at the complainant (such as, I can send you to jail) in course of a hearing so as to silence him;
- arbitrarily closes the case of a complainant without giving him an opportunity of hearing, simply motivated by vendetta;
- arbitrarily exonerates guilty PIOs from any manner of penalty without any speaking order;
- has built up a nexus of vested interests with corrupt officials active in various public authorities as evident from his blind support to the guilty PIOs responsible for denial of crucial corruption related information to the RTI applicants.
(10) Under the circumstances, I fervently pray before you to take the following disciplinary steps in respect of Mr.T.K.Mishra Chief Orissa Information Commissioner as warranted under Section 17 of RTI Act-
- To order the probe by Supreme Court into the real facts behind the above referred cases grossly mishandled by Mr.T.K.Mishra as required under Section 17(1) of the Act;
- Pending the completion of the above mentioned probe, to suspend Mr.T.K.Mishra from his office as required under Section 17(2) of the Act;
- To order the OSIC to conduct the proceedings of its hearings, issue its orders and decisions and make all correspondence in regional language Oriya as required under Section 4(4) of the Act;
- To review all the decisions/orders made by Mr.T.K.Mishra as OSIC in which he has arbitrarily exonerated the guilty PIOs from penalty and deprived the complainants of the opportunity of hearing before disposal of the concerned cases as required under the Orissa Information Commission (Appeal Procedure) Rules 2006;
- To provide the undersigned complainant immediately with all information which he was entitled to receive, but which has been withheld from him by the concerned corrupt public authorities in connivance of Mr.T.K.Mishra as Chief OSIC;
- To explore all dimensions including the vigilance angle of the dubious nexus that is suspected to exist between the
corrupt officials and Mr.T.K.Mishra as Chief OSIC; and
- Order all the Commissioners of OSIC to behave politely with complainants and never to apply any language o threat or abuse against them during the hearings.
Looking forward to your intervention at the earliest,
Sd/-
Kunja bihari Patra, Date. 01.06.11
Address-Kunja
Bihari Patra,
At/po- Daspalla, Dist- Nayagarh, Odisha.
Mob: 08895823511,
09861656487
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