[HumJanenge] Amendments to Central Right to Information Rules. File No. 1/35/2008-IR

To:
1) Shri P.K.Misra, Secretary/DoPT,
2) Shri Manoj Joshi, JS(ATA)/DoPT

BY EMAIL

In File No. 1/35/2008-IR

24-July-2012

Respected Sirs,

I am constrained to bring to your kind notice the following curious
facts concerning certain irregular actions by your Department /
officers, with the expectation that the situation shall be properly
enquired into and resolved.

As I am given to understand that the File No. 1/35/2008-IR is
presently with the Hon'ble Prime Minister who holds charge of the
Department, I request that a copy of the email is forthwith placed on
the concerned file for his information also.

1) As is contained on DoPT's website in the RTI Circulars section, on
21.05.2010 the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in WP(C) 12714/2009 "DDA
versus CIC and Anr." struck down the so-called Central Information
Commission Management Regulations, 2007 promulgated by the Central
information Commission as being bad in law. It is pertinent that I was
the 2nd Respondent in the above cited matter and I supported DDA's
stand that the CIC Management Regulations 2007 were wholly illegal..

2) On 15.09.2010, in a RTI hearing before the Central Information
Commission,. Advocate Rajiv Bansal nominated Counsel for Delhi High
Court, informed Mr. Wajahat Habibullah that in view of the above said
decision the CIC had no authority to constitute Benches to adjudicate
on matters. As recorded in CIC's order in File CIC/WB/C/2010/000030
dated 28.09.2010, the CIC recorded at page 15 therein "steps have been
taken by the nodal Ministry so that Commission can continue to
function in benches".

3) On 10.December 2010, the DoPT published an OM inviting comments by
email before 27.12.2012 on proposed Amendments to Central RTI Rules in
File No. 1/35/2008-IR. The email ID was that of Under Secretary(RTI)
DoPT.

4) That, as an affected party in the pending litigation now before
the Hon'ble Supreme Court, I submitted several detailed comments to
the proposed Rule Amendments, which Rule Amendments as are very well
known now were in fact submitted by the Central Information Commission
in coordination with the Centre for Good Governance Hyderabad, by
email well within the time period allowed. All my comments were duly
delivered to the designated email ID.

5) That along with me about 274 other persons, members of HumJanenge
online RTI forum, also responded by email to the said proposed Rule
Amendments, seconding and adding to my own submitted comments. These
were also duly delivered. I am given to understand that even persons
like Ms. Rita Sharma /Secretary NAC personally supported my/our
comments notwithstanding that the NAC's own response/.recommendations
often ran diametrically counter to ours.

6) It appears that due to pressure / extraneous considerations from
certain well known RTI "touts" in the NAC (National Advisory Council)
on/to senior officers of your Department, an administrative decision
was taken not to diarise / properly file the comments submitted by
email to this OM. It was further administratively decided by your
Department that only comments submitted through the NAC or through the
RTI "touts" in the NAC would be placed on the concerned file for
consideration. As an example, comments submitted by one ex-Chief
Justice A.P.Shah sent through the NAC was placed in the concerned file
well after the due date - which is highly unfair and violative of all
principles of natural justice for persons like me who applied through
the front door (instead of through the back door of the NAC) . It is a
matter of deep concern that Justice Shah was provided unofficial
copies of all comments submitted by email and several meetings were
held involving him at NAC sub-group meetings, where officers of DoPT
may have been present, to enable him to submit his / NACs views well
after the due date was over.

7) On or about 27-Jan-2011 I informed Mr. Rajiv Kapoor (former
JS-ATA/DoPT) that our submitted comments had been malafidely destroyed
from the said file. When I met Mr.Kapoor a few days later he told me
that my comments were not on file and were not being considered in
view of the NAC situation. In fact the entire public notice exercise
was only a hollow formality to enable the RTI "touts" / NAC to
manipulate the RTI Rule Amendments.

8) It seems that many other citizens who had submitted comments were
equally aggrieved by the approach of the DoPT concerning Amendment to
RTI Rules. One Cmdr (Retd) Lokesh Batra has been publicising copy of a
DoPT circular dated 25.06.2012 informing that the folder containing
the comments received is misplaced /. untraceable, and which is my
instant CAUSE OF ACTION. It appears that the said folder was
reportedly last with Mr. Rajeev Kapoor or Mr. K.G. Verrma (Director
/RTI) when the fact is that it was illegally taken out of North Block
to show the NAC / Justice Shah and provide informal copies to them.

9) As I was very well aware in advance that such practices regularly
occur in your Department, I had prominently stated in all my comments
that my comments were not to be disclosed to the NAC, or private
persons (like Justice Shah). I was very well aware that NAC has no
power to directly "summon" or requisition records from any Govt
Department, and certainly not documents or comments submitted by
private citizens in response to a public notice.

10) The disappearance of the file/folder containing comments from the
public is not a trivial matter in view of the provisions of the
Official Secrets Act. I am clearly alleging that the disappearance /
"untrace" of these documents was engineered by certain RTI "touts" in
collusion with officers of your Department to harm / cause damage to
affected citizens. As a victim/ affected person I desire that a
thorough enquiry / investigation be conducted into the disappearance
of this file / folder. No harm should ensure to me and the other 274
persons who seconded my comments. In particular I require equal
opportunity of hearing and consideration as was afforded to persons
who had filed their comments through the NAC by your Department. We
are all deeply concerned that "touts" have the free run of your
Department and enjoy extraordinary privileges whereas ordinary
citizens / "aam-aadmi" is made to run around.

11) I also demand that a Police Report / FIR be filed immediately in
connection with this missing file / folder so that the guilty officers
can be identified / prosecuted. I wish to place all facts in my
knowledge before the investigative agencies if this file/folder
continues to remain untraced.

I would appreciate an acknowledgment of this email which contains my
grievances - the substance of which has already been registered as
Public Grievance no. .DOPAT/E/2012/00589 on DARPG portal.

yours faithfully


Sarbajit Roy
B-59 Defence Colony
New Delhi 110024

Tel : 09311448069