[HumJanenge] Mass Dharana organized by RTI Activists in protest against Mal-functioning of Odisha Information Commission.

Mass Dharana organized by RTI Activists in protest against
Mal-functioning of Odisha Information Commission.

Bhubaneswar- 29.2.2012, Mass Dharana (sit-n Strike) by RTI Activists
under banner of Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan was organized
before the office of Odisha Information Commission, Toshali Bhawan,
Bhubaneswar to register protest against the illegal activities of a
mal-functioning Odisha Information Commission. They alleged that
Odisha Commission used to take around 3 years to open a case for
hearing and adopt a too prolonged course for its disposal by way of
fixing so many dates for it. In the process the RTI applicant gets
financially ruined and mentally exasperated. By the time the case is
disposed of, the information sought for even if made available would
lose its relevance and context from the applicant's point of view. A
band of complacent idlers as they are the Commissioners put only a
meager 2 hours a day to the hearing, from 11 AM to 1 PM covering
only 7 to 8 cases. Besides they don't hear any case on Saturdays, and
this is the main reason as to why we notice a staggering pendency of
cases with the Commission. Though the decisions of the Commissions
fall under the category of suo motu information which needs to be
publicised in local language, the Commission keeps on writing the
decisions and making correspondence with the complainants onlyin
English- another source of great resentment among the public at large.
Some RTI activists have already complained before before the Governor
and Orissa High Court against the acts of misbehavior by certain
Information Commissioners. Some Commissioner have even threatened the
complainants to get them arrested by the Superintendent of police. The
Commissioners are doing everything to give protection to the
defaulting PIOs from imposition of penalty in most of the cases.
Though the RTI Act has mandated every appointment in the Office of
Commission to be made through notification in the official gazette,
the Commissioners who care a fig about it have been giving
appointment to their own people arbitrarily and clandestinely. For
about a year the Commissioners have adopted an arbitrary method of
disposing the cases without calling for any hearing i.e by way of
remanding the pending cases to the 1st Appellate Authority and
closing the cases. Contrary to the provisions of RTI Act, the
Information Commission itself keeps on collecting fees from BPL people
towards cost of information and orders the State Govt. to do likewise,
resulting in loss of any interest among the poor people of the State
in RTI Act. Above all, the Commission in order to silence any voice
of dissent against its misdeeds, has lodged a defamation case against
two RTI activists and been pursuing it at the expense of the State
exchequer.

A meeting was held at Dharana site presided over by Mr. Pradip
Pradhan, Convener of Abhijan where Social Activists like Mr. Ashok
Dash, Mr. Bhavani Parija, Mr. Tapan Mohapatra, Mr. Bikram Swain, Mr.
Ashok Nanda, Miss. Mamata Samantaray, Mr. Kunja Bihari Patra and Mr.
Somanath Patnaik, together with Sri Pradyumna Satapathy Editor The
Subarta,, Mr. Jagatlal Mishra, Advocate, Odisha High Court and Mr.
Pradipta Nayak social activist had spoken at length dealing with
various issues arising from malfunctioning of the Commission.

A 5-member delegation comprising Mr. Bhavani Parija, Mr.Sanjeeb
Satapathy, Mr. RaJ Kishor Singh, Ms. Mamata Samantaray and Mr. Sanjay
Kumar Panda met Mr. Tarun Kanti Mishra, State Chief Information
Commissioner and presented a 10-point charter of demands for a
drastic reform in the functioning of the Commission. Mr. Mishra
after an hour long discussion with them assured the delegation to take
necessary remedial steps after consulting other Information
Commissioners and concerned Officers. The demands were as follows.

a. All the cases of Complaint and 2nd appeal cases should be
registered in the office of the Commission within two days of their
receipt and the registration No. should be intimated to the
Complainant/ Appellant immediately.

b. The Hearing of the cases should start at 10 AM and continue upto 5
o'clock each working day.

c. The Commission should refrain from meting out any misbehavior or
humiliation causing to the Complainants in course of hearing.

d. The Commission should refrain from collecting fees from BPL people
towards cost of information and direct State Govt. not to collect such
fees either as required under Section 7(5) of the RTI Act.

e. The Commission should hear Section-4 related Complaint cases and
take action against the PIO and Public Authority responsible for
violation.

f. All case-related Decisions and correspondence with citizens should
be made in Odia.

g. Despite notice issued by the Commission, if the PIOs fail to appear
personally in the hearing, the Commission should impose penalty and
recommend disciplinary proceedings against them.

h. Each case should be heard at maximum two times and disposed of
accordingly. If the Commission fixes further date for hearing, then
the it should award compensation to the complainant/appellant At the
rate od Rs.500/- per hearing.

I The Commission has filed a defamation case amounting to Rs.
1,00,000 against two RTI Activists in Bhubaneswar civil Court since
November 2011. The expenditure for the case in the court should be
borne by the concerned Information Commissioners personally ,not from
the State exchequer.

i. The State Commission should direct the State Govt. under section
25(5) of the RTI Act for withdrawal of ultra vires provisions like
compulsory Application Form-A, Submission of proof of Citizenship and
collection of appeal fee from Appellant etc made under State Rules of
2005 .

At the end the protestors took a resolve to resume their agitation
against the Commission and that too on a wider scale, if the above
demands are not fulfilled within a reasonable time.

Regards
Pradip Pradhan
M-99378-43482
Date- 12.3.2012