RTI activists pin hopes on Guv's directives for action against CIC
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Lucknow: There might be some action coming against the Uttar Pradesh
chief i n fo r m at i o n commissioner (CIC) Ranjit Singh Pankaj. At
least that is the hope running high among the RTI activists who had
been fighting tooth and nail to get the CIC removed.
The activists are spirited up over a letter sent to them from the
governor's office informing that the administrative reforms department
(ARD) has been directed to take immediate and necessary action against
the CIC. The ARD is the nodal department for the implementation of the
Right to Information (RTI) Act in the state.
The letter dated March 9 and under signed by special secretary to
the governor, M Devraj, is something that activists are now holding
their hopes on to. "If there comes an action nothing like that", said
activist Urvashi Sharma.
The activists went up in arms against Pankaj after the Allahabad
High Court slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on him for "misleading the
court and extending favours to a lessee involved in illegal mining"
during his previous tenure as the mining secretary in the state
government. The order of the court was delivered on November 13.
After this the activist organisations sent a memorandum to the UP
Governor BL Joshi demanding the suspension of Pankaj from the post of
UPCIC. It was in June last year that he was appointed as the same.
The organisations and individuals had demanded action against him
under section section 17 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and his
suspension "with immediate effect". The memorandum submitted by
various activists to the governor invariably mentioned that it is not
acceptable that CIC is conducting hearings into the State Information
Commission (SIC) even after being fined by the court.
--
urvashi sharma
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