Right to Information and Uttar Pradesh

Right to Information and Uttar Pradesh

I sought info on 30th July 2010 , under RTI act 2005 from the Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister's Office on development related issues post
independence. The details are as given –
1- Yearwise & schemewise budgetary allocations , actual funds
released & funds consumed ( in rupees ) for all development
Schemes/projects by Uttar Pradesh Government for the period from
01st April 1950 to 31st March 2010 ;
2- Yearwise Total fund allocations , actual funds released by Uttar
Pradesh Government & funds consumed by M.L.A.s' ( in rupees )
against the head M.L.A.s' fund (M.L.A.s' Vidhayak Nidhi ) for the
period from 01st April 1950 to 31st March 2010 ;
It is expected of a democratic government that it should suo - motto
disclose these infos in the interest of the larger section of the
society but in reality , even when asked under RTI act , the
disclosure of the info is being obstructed by the highest office of
the state.

My letter of section 6 was returned back to me by Mr. Yatindra Mohan ,
Deputy Secretary & the P.I.O. of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's
Office vide letter no. I 750/CMI /10 Dated 10-08-10 . Scanned Copy of
this letter and the returned I.P.O. is available at given link

http://file1.hpage.com/000223/57/bilder/sec_6_letterdevelopment__returned_by_cmo_up.jpg

A perusal of this letter raises some serious points-
1- If the highest office of the Uttar Pradesh is really so much
ignorant about the RTI act that it should return the rti application
even after ( almost ) five years of enactment of the RTI act or do
they want to obstruct the disclosure of development related info ?
2- Why Mr. Yatindra Mohan the P.I.O. of the highest office of the
Uttar Pradesh has not transferred my point no. 1 to the Finance
Department and point no. 2 to the Planning department of Uttar Pradesh
Government under section 6 subsection 3 of the RTI act though he has
advised me that the can be obtained from these departments
respectively ? isn't it a conspiracy to demoralize the info-seeker and
gross violation of the act ?
3- Returning the letter of section 6 alongwith the IPO in original is
unwarranted and under no provision of the RTI act , this action can
be taken by the PIO. So shouldn't there be a formal training and tests
before the postings as PIOs ?

If these are the state of affairs in the highest office of Uttar
Pradesh vis-à-vis implementation & general understanding about the RTI
act, one can easily understand the state of RTI act 2005 in UTTAR
PRADESH .

The Scanned Copy of the returned letter of section 6 is also available
at given link

http://file1.hpage.com/000223/57/bilder/returned_sec_6_letter_development.jpg

--
Urvashi Sharma

RTI Helpmail( Web Based )
aishwaryaj2010@gmail.com

Mobile Rti Helpline
8081898081 ( 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. )