[HumJanenge] Summary of Discussion with Orissa State Chief Information Commissioner

Summary of Discussions held on 5^th Sept 2011 between  RTI Activists with Mr. Tarun Kanti Mishra, State Chief Information Commissioner Orissa on Resolution passed in 6^th State Convention on Right  to Information

 

Bhubaneswar, 5.9.11-  A team of  RTI Activists had  met  Mr. Tarun Kanti Mishra, State  Chief Information Commissioner to apprise him about the Resolution passed  in State  Convention  on Right  to Information held  in Tirumala Tirupati Bhawan on 28^th to 30^th Aug.2011 under the aegis  of Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan, a platform of  RTI Activists, Civil Society Members  spearheading  campaign for  effective implementation of RTI Act. 

 The Team presented a Memorandum containing 16-point Resolution to the Commission for effective implementation of RTI Act  and proper functioning of  Orissa Information Commission. The discussions that followed with Mr. Mishra were   as follows.

 Firstly, it was mentioned by the RTI team that though more than six years have passed since the RTI Act came into force, such constitutional authorities as the Governor  and Speaker  have  not carried out its mandate for suo motu disclosures on 17 categories of information  under Section 4(1b) of the Act.Besides , no public authority under the State Govt. has so far complied with publication of any relevant facts while adopting important policies or decisions under Section 4 (1c) or of reasons behind its administrative or quasi-judicial decisions under Section 4 (1 d) of RTI Act. But  it has been seen from inception, that the  Commission  has neither  heard any complaint  cases  relating  to violation of Section 4 nor  taken any  action  against  any  public authority on account thereof. This act of ominous apathy of the Commission has emboldened the negligent public authorities to care a fig for complying with the mandate of Section 4. As we know, the Commission has not imposed any penalty  on any public authority   for non-compliance of Section 4 of the Act, and that is what is at the root of the disaster wrought to Section 4 in the State. In response, Mr. Tarun Kanti Mishra  said that  in the meantime,  the Commission has started  hearing complaint cases on Section 4 and issued warning to the  Public Authorities  to comply  with section 4 of the  Act.  He has  also instructed  all the  defaulting Public  Authorities  to  send in their  compliance report  within a stipulated  time period, failing which  he will take action against them.

 Secondly, on the demand for making all  official correspondences with the complainants or appellants  and proceedings  of the decisions of the Commission in Oriya,  Mr. Mishra said  that he has already started  the  process of implementing it, and badly needed an Oriya stenographer to be appointed in the office of the Commission very soon.

 Thirdly,  as  the  complainants  or appellants are  from  remote pockets  of the state and find it as such difficult to attend the  hearings in the Commission due to their poor economic standard and other kinds of hassles  , it was suggested by the team that the Commission should arrange  hearing of the  cases through  video-conferencing techniques. Mr. Mishra said that he would take positive steps in this direction  to hold hearing through video conferencing  at least district level.

 Fourthly,  It wass pointed out by the team that the office of the  Commission didn't register the cases of complaints or appeals for  years  together  and  there existed no practice to intimate  the  complainants or appellants  about   whether  their cases were registered  and what were the registration  nos.  of their cases. As a result, the complainants are kept in dark  about the cases they submitted to the office of the Commission. It was suggested to register all the cases within 3 days  of  their filing  or  receipt in the office of the Commission. On this issue, Chief State Information Commissioner said that  his office has taken decision to engage an agency  to  make  computerized registration of the cases  and  put it on website  and  thus to develop a  process to  intimate the  complainants  about Registration number.

 Fifthly, As per Rule -2 of Orissa RTI (Amendment) Rules,2006, " Each Public Authority shall maintain a Register for day to day records  of the members of the public  who visit its office  in connection with accessing  or inspecting  suo moto information  proactively disclosed  by the said authority under Section 4 of the RTI Act". This provision is neither enforced by State Govt. nor referred to by Orissa Information Commission for  directing  the State Govt. to comply with it. On this issue, Mr. Tarun kanti Mishra agreed to instruct the Govt. and the Public Authorities to ensure maintenance of such a Register for Section 4 in their offices.

 Several other matters of the Resolution including Information Commission's  pro-active role in  ensuring  protection of RTI Activists as Whistle blowers  and   Withdrawal of Defamation cases against RTI Activists  by OIC   could not be discussed due to paucity  of time.  But Mr. Tarun Kanti Mishra  assured to go through  all the suggestions mentioned in the Resolution and take appropriate steps  for addressing to the same in the interest of effective implementation of the RTI Act in the State. He thanked all the team members  for coming  and discussing the issues  with him. The team members were Mr. Pradip Pradhan, Mr. Nakula Swain and Mr. RaJ Kishor Singh.

 Written by

 Pradip Pradhan

M-99378-43482

Date - 6.9.2011