No Right To Probe Cops : RTI Activist Harassed By Police ?

Thirty-two year old Goverdhan Singh has paid a heavy price for running a campaign against corruption in his native district of Bikaner.

 

A 100 Right to Information (RTI) applications filed by him exposed corruption in banks and government departments, but things got uncomfortable for Goverdhan when he asked questions about the properties and assets of police personnel. Overnight there were nine FIRs lodged against him.

"As soon as I filed an RTI application against the police, they started putting cases against me, so that I stop my activism," said Goverdhan..

The police also raided his house, seized his car and locked his office. Goverdhan's family members say they are being constantly harassed.

"The police threaten us. They say they will kill my son in an encounter," says Goverdhan's wife The People's Union for Civil Liberties investigated the matter and came back with a report of extreme police high-handedness, forcing the government to transfer the Bikaner SP. But surprisingly, even now the role of the police is being investigated by the police themselves.

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"Initially the local police station was probing the case, now it will be probed by a Deputy SP," said Bikaner SP, Habib Khan Goran.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : source : NDTV

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Babus can't charge extra fee for RTI plea

New Delhi: In a decision that will have far-reaching consequences, prime minister Manmohan Singh has given a big relief to right to information (RTI) applicants.

He has directed that no fee be charged from an applicant on account of postal expenses or deployment of manpower for supplying information.

The department of personnel and training (DoPT) works under the PM. DoPT, which looks into RTI applications, has issued a directive saying a public information officer (PIO) cannot charge any extra fee for supplying information other than what has already been prescribed by law.

“It is hereby clarified that when a PIO takes a decision to provide information on payment of fee in addition to the application fee, he should determine the quantum of such fee in accordance with the fee prescribed under the fee and cost rules and give details of such fee to the applicant together with the calculation made to arrive at such a fee,” the department said in a late night order issued on May 24.

It said neither the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee & Cost) Rules, 2005 nor the RTI Act give powers to the PIO to charge any fee other than what has been prescribed in the fee and cost rules.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : source : DNAINDIA

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Info under RTI hard to come by within 30 days

Even four years after the Right to Information Act was enacted, getting information within 30 days as mandated under the law is not an easy task. PTI filed 20 applications in a span of five months between November 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010 with different union ministries and organisations.

 

Surprisingly, no department provided complete information within 30 day limit mandated under the Act. In three cases, applications were rejected within a month along with exemption clauses given under the transparency law.

Nine applications did not receive any reply in a month and the Central Public Information Officers replied much after the mandatory period was over.

In the remaining eight cases, the CPIOs either transferred the application or sent incomplete responses. In four of these information was provided after the intervention of higher authorities.

With thanks : source : Tribune : with a link in headline above for detailed news.

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RTI No Help: `Don't Reveal The Secret Of Others'

Your right to get information from the government has become slightly more difficult.The government has prohibited public information officers (PIOs) from providing information marked as confidential by another department with- out consulting the latter.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the nodal office implementing the Right To Information (RTI) Act, has curbed the power of information officers by invoking the "third party" clause for sharing inter- departmental information with RTI applicants.

The third party clause under the RTI was mostly applied in cases of an individual about whom an information would be sought.The RTI law clearly says third party information cannot be provided without prior consent of the concerned party.

But, there have been instances of a department pro- viding the information it received from another depart- ment as part of inter-depart- mental consultations to RTI applicants, apparently creating disharmony. So, the DoPT arrived at the conclusion that the third party clause under RTI law is also applicable to inter-government information.

Detailed news can be viewed from link in headline above.

With thanks : source : Hindustan Times

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Fix Time Limit For Response Under RTI

Chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah has advised the chief vigilance commissioner to fix time limits for getting responses from departments whose officials are being investigated by it.

"CVC may consider fixing time limits for responses by various departments to whom complaints are referred for investigation and report," Habibullah said in his order.

Habibullah offered the "advice" to Pratyush Sinha, chief vigilance commissioner, under section 25 (5) of the RTI Act "so as to bring the exercise of the functions of the CVC into greater conformity with the spirit of the RTI Act".

The CIC was hearing the plea of Anjani Bhushan who had sought to know from CVC the details of inquiries conducted against an employee of United India Insurance, but could not get them as the probe was still going on at the time of filing the application.

With thanks : Times of India

Detailed news can be viewed from Link in headline above.

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DDA Asked To Compensate Rs.15,000 To RTI Applicant

BY IANS :

NEW DELHI - The Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to pay Rs.15,000 as compensation to an RTI applicant who suffered because the housing agency provided the information after a delay of about four months.

The decision came on an application filed by Govind Prasad Aggarwal, a resident of Haryana, who had sought some information under the Right to Information (RTI) regarding a DDA flat in Mayur Vihar area of east Delhi.

Aggarwal had filed the RTI application Feb 29, 2008 but got information only after July 28, 2008.

Under the RTI Act, information is required to be provided in 30 days time. In other words, the information should have been provided by the end of March, 2008. However, there was delay of about four months, Information Commissioner M.L. Sharma noted in his order last month.

It is clear that this matter has passed through the hands of several officials, and, therefore, it is difficult to determine individual responsibility for the purposes of imposition of penalty under the RTI Act. The fact, however, remains that there has been delay of four months in responding to the RTI application, Sharma observed.

The DDA officers vehemently opposed compensation stating that the matter involved several departments/offices of the DDA, which naturally took time.

They also plead(ed) that delay was not deliberate…was inherent in the situation…The explanation given by the DDA officers is not found to be satisfactory. The appellant pleads that this has caused him detriments and he requests for compensation, Sharma said.

Delay of four months has occurred in supply of information to the appellant and thereby the appellant has suffered detriment… On a thoughtful consideration of the matter, we are of the opinion that the ends of justice will be met if compensation of Rs.15,000 is paid to the appellant, Sharma directed.

With thanks : source : Taragana

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Deputy Commissioner issued notice for refusing information under RTI

In the first such case of its kind facing the Delhi Government, Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has issued a show cause notice to a Deputy Commissioner seeking his explanation in a case of “dereliction of duty.”

In the order issued on Friday, which came in a case of short-listing non-government organisations for a Bhagidari project, the Information Commissioner has directed the First Appellant Authority and Deputy Commissioner (Central District) Akash Mahopatra, to send his explanation to the Commission before March 30 on “why the Commission should not recommend disciplinary action against him for dereliction of duty.”

The order assumes significance as disciplinary action is resorted to as a measure of last resort and fines up to Rs.25,000 are first imposed against officials.

In the immediate case, the appellant, Abha, a resident of Pushp Vihar, had in August 2009 sought information on the role of a district project officer, Sangeet Gaur, in the selection of non-government organisations. She had also asked of the office of the Deputy Commissioner if it had received any complaints against the DPO’s alleged corrupt activities and if so had demanded copies of the complaints. Also, she had asked if any complaints had been received then what action was taken. To this the Public Information Officer had replied that the query was “not applicable.”

FOR THE DETAILED NEWS PLEASE CLICK THE HEADLINE ABOVE. With Thanks : Source : http://beta.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/article201284.ece

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‘Beaten’ up for seeking info?

Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has asked the Delhi Police Commissioner and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Commissioner to probe an incident wherein RTI users were allegedly beaten up at the behest of a local councillor in the presence of police and MCD personnel.

“Prima facie it appears that there has been serious collusion involved herein,” Gandhi wrote on February 18 in his letters.

The incident referred to RTI users’ NGO Public Grievance and Welfare Society from Kishan Ganj in north Delhi.

The members have alleged that around 25 people beat them at the behest of local Municipal councillor Satbir Sharma. Sharma has denied the charges.

The society had filed an RTI application with the MCD about alleged unauthorised construction by Sharma. With the civic body not forthcoming, they approached the Central Information Commission (CIC). Gandhi asked the civic body and the appellants to conduct joint inspection on January 12.

Society president Surinder Puri claimed that MCD officials asked only two of their members to go for inspection. Hence, only Ajay Kumar, also the society general secretary and Manmohan Gupta, entered the area. “Sharma himself asked his men, around 25, to thrash us, which resulted in my fractured nose,” Kumar said, adding, “Neither the police nor the MCD officials helped us.”

Puri alleged, “The police registered an FIR on January 18, after we took up the matter with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. But to our horror, we found that on January 12, they had filed a false FIR against us in connection with a weapon found in our car.”

Sharma claimed he was not present at the site and added, “I was in hospital till 4 pm. My men were not involved in any kind of fracas.”

Further, calling the appellants “habitual trouble-makers”, he alleged, “A loaded katta (countrymade gun) was found from their car. The crime branch can testify about it.” He also denied charges of any encroachment or unauthorised construction done by him.

with thanks : source : http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/newdelhi/Beaten-up-for-seeking-info/Article1-511446.aspx

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RTI - for extracting right information

RTI is very Powerful tool that one can be use to get informatin and correct the dirty system or system misuse. Its just cost Rs. 10/. RTIINDIA.ORG has many such informations. Instead of going to argument on various issues like these with service provider, we must get real information on the proce to correct. Use RTI..

submitted by Mr. Ajith via Rejimon

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