Dear friends,
On 26th August, 2012, in a press release issued by Mr. Jagadanand Mohanty, State Information Commissioner which has been published in a few local dailies ( attached ) , it was claimed that Mr. Jagadanand while adjudicating a complaint case filed by Mr. Judhisthira Rout of Jeypore directed Secretary, Department of Panchayati Raj , Govt. of Odisha to maintain transparency in implementation of all development programmes like MGNREGA, BRGF and Indira Awas Yojana and issue instructions to lower level officials to provide information about such programmes to applicants. Such a direction by Mr. Jagadanand as highlighted in mass media is not a single instance of its kind, but one of many where he issued such direction to the public authorities concerned and then simply forgot them, never caring as to the compliance by the public authorities to the said direction. As penalty is not imposed in these cases, the concerned public authorities seldom cared about such directions or sent any compliance report to the Commission. In the process the Commissioners bloat about their so-called success stories, but in practice nothing happens.
Let me share a case of mine, which will give you a true picture how the cases are heard and disposed and direction issued by Information Commissioner Mr.Jagadanand. On 23.12.08, I had submitted an RTI Application to the PIO, Department of Information and Public Relations, Govt. of Odisha seeking information relating to arrangement/ procedure put in place by the Govt. for proactive disclosure of information made under section 4 (1b) of the RTI Act, 2005. Finding no information, I lodged an 1st appeal to the First Appellate Authority and then being aggrieved by the decision of First Appellate Authority, I made a second appeal to the Commission in February, 2009. My appeal petition ( SA No- 49/2009) was heard twice by Mr. Jagadanand and disposed on 29.6.10 with a direction to Secretary, I and PR to issue a comprehensive guideline for inspection of proactively disclosed information under section 4 of the RTI Act. But astonishingly, I got the copy of the decision from Mr. Jagadanand after around 11 months ( officially issued on 7.3.11). Immediately, I submitted an RTI application for seeking a copy of compliance report if any submitted by the I and PR dept to the above order of the Commission. When I saw the so-called compliance report, I got astonished. The Secretary, I and PR Dept has issued a letter to all Departments to prepare their respective guidelines, but no Department had done anything about it till then.
Finding no Section-4 guideline in place in any Department in the state, I made an appeal to Mr. Jagadanand, SIC on 26.3.12 to reopen the case and take action against the authorities responsible for non-execution of the order of the Commission. In the meantime I have sent two reminders to Mr. Jagadanand for hearing the case. But Mr.Jagadanand remains unresponsive till date as ever before. Though more than six years has elapsed since the implementation of RTI Act started in the state, there is no guideline in place for facilitating the public authorities in respect of people's right to inspection of and access to proactively disclosed information under Section 4 of the Act.
It seems, the act of issuing directions by the Commissioners and the so-called compliance by the Public authorities are merely a drama played out by a clandestine understanding between the Commission and bureaucracy. As per this drama the Commission will just issue some directions as a routine affair and the bureaucracy will just submit a compliance report without doing anything. However, the dubious nexus between the bureaucracy and the Commission is getting more and more visible, only when some concerted public actions are taken by civil society groups, such as in the form of demonstration before the office of Commission, filing writs/PILs in High Court and submitting of complaint to Governor under section 17 of the RTI Act. But to save their face, the Commission has started using media to highlight the so-called important decisions, but little do they know that the members of public have already got a sense of the larger game-plan that lies behind such orchestrated decisions.
Pradip Pradhan
RTI Activist, Odisha
M-99378-43482
Date-31.8.12
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