( I.A.S.) , Secretary to the Chief Minister of U. P. / the appellate
authority of C.M. office returns the appeal of section 19 ( 1 ) in
original to the info-seeker without any discharge of information
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Though RTI act shall turn 5 in a few months from now , In Uttar
Pradesh the Government Machinery is taking this act too casually to
understand .
In this regard I am reproducing below the thoughts of one of the
fellow-activists chamaraj bangi ji
"Babu log are not taking RTI lightly and casually. They have taken it
as an enemy. They curse RTI Act. They are seriously trying to subvert
it. They never give straight replies. They have perfected the craft of
circumventing it. They are busy devising subtle ways to avoid it at
the same time, without inviting any of the penal provisions of RTI
Act. They are now masters in discouraging activists and frustrating
all efforts to make them accountable and answerable. Political class
is blessing the bureaucracy and the babu-dom.
In this country if one gives up scruples and says good-bye to values,
every thing comes his way without any effort. Otherwise, we have to
fight for every small matter. But how long this struggle ? There
should be light at the end of the tunnel. But we are groping in the
dark tunnel without any sign of any end or glimmer of hope, leave
alone light. There are several countries who started development much
later than India. But sadly, today we are lagging. "
The frustration of bangi ji is frustration of every rti-user in the
country. certainly there r good people n bad people both . the day
there are
all bad people the system shall collapse so shall it if there r all
good people. The system is working until n unless there is a balance .
I think so just to console myself , keep myself cool so that I should
keep on working because if I think otherwise , disheartened I shall
put my head against the wall. Fortunately or unfortunately I am in
uttar pradesh where the PIO/AA/Info-commissioner nexus has made
getting the info an uphill task . Perhaps our babus have learnt the
act very well. They know that information empowers citizens , then Why
empower the citizen ? so they are playing all dirty games in there
effort to escape discharge of info to the citizens. They Know that
transparency and accountability shall contain Corruption , so why do
anything to kill their holy-cow , the corruption that is making money
for them like anything. India may be lagging but it is not because of
active bad powers but
because of inaction of the good ones .How many active rti-activists
are there ? The act's intentions are that each n every citizen of
India should be an rti-activist because unless n until they know their
rights , they can not exercise them . So RTI act is the mother of all
past n future acts. If this happens , we shall have the real "Swaraj"
in INDIA. Right now it is a distant dream we all r fighting for .
Now from dreamland to reality-ground of RTI in U. P. Here babus are
leaving no stone unturned to strangle the act and generally whatever
order is passed by the PIO is being dittoed by the AA and the
info-commissioners irrespective of info-seekers valid objections .
Please read on
In one Case Mr. Vijay Kumar Singh , Anusachiv /PIO of Home ( Police )
section – 15 of Uttar Pradesh Government who vide letter no. 04
rajyapal/6-pu.-15-2010 Lucknow dated 20 may 2010 , has directed the
info seeker to file appeal in the Central Information Commission
against the order of the Uttar Pradesh State Information Commission
though there is no such rule in rti act till date. The copy of the
letter is available at given link also.
http://file1.hpage.com/002342/62/bilder/naseer_home_pio_cic_upsic.jpg
In Another Case , Mr. Navneet Sehgal ( I.A.S.) , Secretary to the
Chief Minister of U. P. / the appellate authority of C.M. office has
returned the appeal of section 19 ( 1 ) in original to the
info-seeker vide letter no. R.T.I.- appeal - 56/34 - lo.shi.-
3-9-16(527)/2009 lucknow dated 20 may 2010 , though as per the act he
was required to dispose it as per provisions of the act .
The PIO's reply on info-seeker's letter of section 6 of rti act is
available at given link. A bare perusal makes it clear that the PIO
has not given any info . neither the name of the official responsible
for the lost letter is given nor the record of last 3 years' lost
letters are given.
http://file1.hpage.com/002161/04/bilder/aish_ml_pio_reply.jpg
The scanned copy of returned appeal is available at given link
http://file1.hpage.com/002161/04/bilder/aish_ml_second_appeal_returned.jpg
The scanned copy of letter no. R.T.I.- appeal - 56/34 - lo.shi.-
3-9-16(527)/2009 lucknow dated 20 may 2010 is available at given link
. Thus returning the appeal without any discharge of information is
deliberate gross violation of RTI act by a senior I.A.S. . This
Situation is highly unwarrented.
http://file1.hpage.com/002161/04/bilder/aish_ml_second_appeal_returned_cover.jpg
I think these two examples are enough to express lackluster attitude
of Babus of Uttar Pradesh towards the RTI Act and its compliance .
When this is the case of Secretariats , one can easily understand the
state of affairs in other government offices of uttar pradesh .
But as a general saying " When the going gets tough , the tough gets going "
The struggle is on and shall continue. I thank the God almighty that I
am in Uttar Pradesh …………………..
Urvashi
9369613513
rti helpline 8081898081
rti helpmail aishwaryaj2010@gmail.com
--
Urvashi Sharma
http://yaishwaryaj.hpage.com
No comments:
Post a Comment