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by kushal | On our second Anniversary I said 'Let us Connect, Network and Reach out', the dream was not Myopic. On 27th September 2009 just over 3 years of our existence we are 100,000 member strong community. With more than 4 lakhs pages of community posts at our website, surely we are proud of our members who either posted a question, or an answer, or wrote a blog which made Right to Information worthwhile.
Do you have a success story to share with us: Now Post your video at RTI INDIA!
On this occasion we are introducing a new forum at RTI INDIA, RTI Community - RTI Videos at rtiindia.org which is meant for all our members to upload and share videos via YouTube. I invite all of our community members to take part in the forum.
We are also announcing the launch of RTI INDIA Video Channel at YouTube. Visit YouTube - RTIINDIA's Channel
We intend to share and bring together all Right to Information related videos at one place through this channel. To become more familiar with the functioning kindly visit the thread here.
Continuing our zeal to bring all cross section of people to be part of our community we have opened many more mediums to do so via social networking sites.
- Facebook: Join us via Facebook, become fan of our site here: RTI INDIA | Facebook
- Twitter: Follow us on twitter here: RTI INDIA (rtiindia) on Twitter. We post interesting threads selected at RTI INDIA website here. Also we intend to use it as our minor site announcement portal.
- Orkut: Join us if you are available at orkut, visit the link here orkut -
Very importantly, our core team has decided to accept the following members as our 'Community Builders' and we are happy to welcome them as our team members on this very important milestone event:
Dillip Kumar Mohapatra, Sunaab Sarkar, Jayeshbheda & Ajay Kumar Bhal
I am sure the hard work they have done to help the community grow till date, will surely enrich all of us in times to come.
Lastly, this official post cannot end without the acknowledgment of our team members untiring efforts, those voluntary monetary supporters who made their contribution towards running this site, and all those contributory members who by way of their knowledge and desire had been enriching all of us from the journey we performed from 1 member to 100000 members.
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by ganpat1956 | Today, September 28, is the International Right to Information Day. On this day in 2006, RTI India .Org was started by Dr Kushal Pathak, a physician by education, but who nevertheless took up Civil Services to a lucrative career in medicine. His penchant for curing the ills of the society and the encouragement provided by the younger generation of his like-minded friends in the bureaucracy, led him to float this web site. In the three years time, this site has now grown into a membership of 90,000 socially conscious persons throughout the length and breadth of this country, besides several NRI members. They hail from every walk of life—retired people, commoners, teachers, advocates, professionals, entrepreneurs, serving officers, house wives et al.
The founders of this portal being part of the civil services, there is an imperative need to ensure that this site is not used by anybody to demean the govt nor to conduct a crusade or campaign against it. To that extent, we believe in active moderation . This portal is only meant in a very strict sense to help citizens and others in the rightful interpretation of Act and helping in the queries they have, by the shared resource of the members at large. We are happy that by and large our members have understood the boundaries we have set for ourselves and have extended their due cooperation on this count.
RTI India has earned a niche for itself in the web world thanks to the dedicated efforts of all the activists. The site carries over 3,35,000 web pages of discussions, spread out in various sections and sub-sections. The search engines simply love this site and at any point of time one can observe the presence of not less than a score or two of various search engine bots and spiders crawling around for information. With the result, anything that gets posted here can be located through a web search in the next five to ten minutes. This has led to increased new member registrations, which are in the order of 300 to 400 everyday, making the task of our Community Builders, a challenging one. Site statistics reveal that about 80% of the visitors to our portal every day are new entrants.
From a handful of Info Warriors who started it all in 2006, we were 1100 at the time of our first anniversary, 12000 on our second anniversary and now with a 90000+ vibrant membership, we are marching ahead to the six digit figure, which we shall be reaching before the end of this year.
To repeat the words of our Chief Dreamer & Architech, " We are proud of our Members who had made our community efforts a success, either by way of a question or by posting a solution or simply being here with us. We are also thankful to those who contributed by way of assimilating news about Right to Information and shared with all of us in the RTI News section. Many appreciation would go left unnoticed if we did not mention those who contributed in the blogging, guide and directory segment. Again a Big Thanks to all those who made monetary contributions for meeting the bandwidth cost and thus reaffirmed their faith in our community work."
Discuss this Announcement Here:
"http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/31322-...niversary.html" | | |
by ra_10 | | Since past few years the State Urban Development authority had been pumping sewage water into our land, which was having an ill effect on the quality of our land. We filed an RTI application seeking information on the intended route of the sewage water, why it was diverted to our land, the compensation we would be granted for the harm done and the penalty to the officers responsible. The reply to the application stated that there was no such thing being done - no sewage water was being pumped and no further action was to be taken on this. Although the reply wasn’t directly helpful, RTI helped because the authorities completely diverted the route of sewage water away from our land and it has stayed like that since. Hence, we achieved the desired results.:) | | |
by karira |
26-yr-old visually challenged man will receive first Rahul Mangaonkar RTI Award
Ratna Ala, a visually challenged 26-year-old youth, who used RTI to expose the improprieties of the local administration and got development to his village, will become the first recipient of the Rahul Mangaonkar Award for Best Use of RTI for Common Cause.
The award was conceptualised to cherish and perpetuate the legacy of TOI journalist Rahul Mangaonkar, who had pioneered the use of Right to Information in journalism. Ala will be felicitated at Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry Auditorium on Sunday at 10.30 am.
A native of Rangpur in Wankaner taluka of Rajkot district, Ala is visually impaired. He used the RTI to replace a stony path connecting his village to the main highway by a two-kilometre pucca road. His family belongs to below the poverty line.
Ala, a class X passout, used RTI to get information on several schemes that the panchayat had claimed it had implemented but had not done so.
Rahul Mangaonkar, an activist-journalist, passed away on May 5, 2009. He used RTI as a tool to expose irregularities in the local administration and provided a non-confrontational attitude to the RTI movement.
The award is not just a tribute to Mangaonkar but an encouragement to common citizens who use the tool to make a difference to the society at large.
As reported in ahmedabadmirror.com on 19 July 2009:
26-yr-old visually challenged man will receive first Rahul Mangaonkar RTI Award , News - City - Ahmedabad Mirror,Ahmedabad Mirror | | |
by kushal | On 15th May 2009, RTI INDIA reached the registration count of 50000 members. Please join us on our celebrations here!
Our immediate goal is to make rtiindia.org an even more welcoming place and make it easier for users to find the information they're looking for regarding Right to Information.
Over the past few months, we've been actively ramping up team and reorganizing it so the team can be bigger, faster, and better than ever before. In the same effort we are pleased to announce following active members as our team members:
- Sandeep Baheti (sandeepbaheti): Has been given additional responsibility as 'Moderator' of RTI INDIA.
- Atul Patankar (Atul Patankar): Has been inducted in our team as 'News Digger' at RTI INDIA
- E.V.DEVENDRANATH (evdnath), G.MARUTHI (GM VISHNU) & Prabhakar HL (prabha.hl) has been inducted as 'Community Builders' at RTI INDIA
We think the new additions to our team are great assets to rtiindia.org - something we think you'll agree with as you get to know some of our new team members over the coming months. Please visit our Team Members Page here.
While in the past discussions were a bit freewheeling, we're going to renew our effort to keep discussions focused, in accord with our published posting guidelines. Polite discussion and constructive criticism will be welcome, but we are going to be better about moderating discussions to keep them on topic.
With Best Regards,
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by aparnakarmarkar |
My name is Aparna Karmarkar. I live in Pune and practice as an architect. I had filed my Income Tax Reaturn for the Finincial year 2007-08 on July31st ,2008. I had claimed a refund of Rupees Four Thousand and Thirty Six rupees.
I waited patiently for the refund till June,2009. No action from Income Tax Office. When I told this story to Mr.Atul Patankar, he was very kind to introduce me to the idea of RTI !!
He made the application ready, we filled in the necessary details and filed the application on June 10th, 2009. I was surprised when the sleepy department started calling me. The concerned officer told me that he has posted the cheque and could I please widraw the application? Again Mr.Patankar advised me not to do so , till I had a cheque in my hands.
Thanks to RTI and Mr.Atul Patankar, I received my cheque on July 2nd, 2009. What's more, I did not pay a single paisa as a bribe!!!
With best regards,
Aparna Karmarkar
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by dhanabalan |
RTI Act is really helpful to me. Police officials were misused the FIRs. Each FIR contains 6 sheets. Police used only 3 sheets to register the case. Other 3 sheets were used to threaten the innocents to get the bribe and then destroyed the 3 sheets. I unearthed through RTI.
FIR printed numbers and Crime numbers are not tallying. In some cases FIRs were reserved for later use. In some cases, crime numbers were reserved. Further, 5 crime numbers were booked in one FIR. Some FIR copies were not sent to court. Some FIR copies are not available in station, in DSP office and in court. I unearthed all this through RTI. Now I filed a petition in High court to direct the Vigilance & Anticorruption to register FIR against the police officials.
One person murdered his illegal second wife and the body was destroyed in fire without informing to police and Village Administrative Officer. That person paid bribe to police for not registering FIR against him. I sent application under RTI. DGP replied "on enquiry she died due to eating of poison". The ADGP destroyed the file connected with the reply of DGP. I filed a petition at High Court to register FIR. FIR was registered under IPC 176, which is non cognizable offence. Even the FIR was not sent to the JM court. ADGP and other police officials would be booked for not registering FIR under section IPC 201.
Police received bribe from the criminals and FIR was not registered for the theft complaints from 2005. I complained to IGP. IGP directed to register FIR. Afraid of departmental action by the IGP for the refusal to register FIR, police officials received signature from the petitioners in blank empty white paper and they later filled as they like. Some petitioners complained to the IGP and SP. No action. I sent complaint to DGP. No reply. Appealed at Information Commission. Enquiry was conducted by Information commission. PIO gave a non speaking, incomplete and evading answer. I again appealed to the Commission.
RTI Act is a powerful tool. But the Information Commissioners are very lienient. The PIOs are exploiting the leniency.
Thank you.
Dhanabalan
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by sujy40 | dear all,
I would like to share my experience of getting IT refunds which had been pending for 10 Assessment Years ie from1996-97 till date by using the RTI Act. I am indebted to this website for the information provided without which the refunds would not have marerialised. During the process i have gained insights which i would like to share with all members.
Numerous representations and meeting IT Dept officers yielded no results. After seeing this website I filed an application under the RTI Act. Information regarding status of my refunds was denied by the ITO(Income Tax Officer) under Sec 8(1)(j) stating that info sought was of a personal nature and was not inthe larger public interest. The letter also stated that the application would be treated as a Grievance petition and action taken expeditiously.
I filed an appeal against this to the First Appellate Authority on the following grounds . I based my reasons for appeal on a judgement given by the delhi High Court which i found on this website and is reproduced below.
] Judgement of HON’BLE HIGH COURT OF DELHI
in WP(C) No. 3114/2007 decided on 03.12.2007 :
“………As is reflected in its preambular paragraphs, the enactment seeks to promote transparency, arrest corruption and to hold the Government and its instrumentalities accountable to the governed. This spirit of the Act must be borne in mind while construing the provisions contained therein. Access to information, under Section 3 of the Act, is the rule and exemptions under Section 8, the exception. Section 8 being a restriction on this fundamental right, must therefore is to be strictly construed. It should not be interpreted in manner as to shadow the very right itself.”
I also gave the following grounds for my appeal.
1.denial of information by the PIO(public Information Officer) amounted to denial of justice of a genuine grievance.
2.Transparency was lacking since no reason whatsoever was given for the inordinate delay.
3. the IT Dept and and its instrumentalities had not been accountable to the governed.
4. The letter of the law was being followed while the spirit of the law was being ignored.
5. This went against the High Court judgement qouted above.
6. The assessing officer had failed in carrying out one of his main functions which is to ensure that all taxpayers grievances are attended in time and redressed in a fixed time bound manner.
Within 20 days of the appeal cheques for the entire amount of approx Rs 3 lakhs were received by me in Regd Post/Speed post letters.
To strengthen my arguement, I had included following details downloaded from the IT Dept's website :
.
EXTRACTS FROM CITIZENS CHARTER (IT Dept Website):
WE BELIEVE :-
ØIn transparency and fairness.
ØIn encouraging and assisting taxpayers
WE AIM :-
ØTo redress/dispose off a complaint/grievance within two months from the end of the month of its receipt.
Functions of Assessing Officers . (Extract from IT website)
No 3 &4 are relevant.
(1)
1.Allotting PANs wherever required
2.Making IRLA operational and ensuring that all demands are entered into this system
3.Seeing that all tax payers grievances are attended in time and redressed in a fixed time bound manner
(1) 4. Ensuring timely collection of demands and issue of refunds.
5.Selection of cases for scrutiny in time and ensuring their timely disposal
6. Controlling all computer hardware and software of the range and ensuring its maintenance replacement and updating. Providing technical support
and guidance for operation of the computer system.
(1) 7.Taking all necessary steps for widening of the tax base.
(1) 8. Internal Audit functions.
9.Ensuring that appeal effects are given and central scrutiny
(1)reports are submitted in time.
10.Statutory functions.
St
(1)I would advise following steps to ensure refunds materialise quickly :
STEP I . Forward a grievance petition to the ITO where the IT Return has been filed. Wait for 60 days. This 60 day gap is required since IT dept has stipulated 60 days as time by which grievance petitions are to be disposed off.If no response-go to STEP II.
STEP II. File an application under RTI Act to concerned PIO (Public Information Officer). Usually it is the ITO of the concerned ward Where the IT Return has been filed. Make sure to state at the end of the application " If you are not the concerned officer, please forward it to the concernrd officer in accordance with Sec 6(1) of the Act. If no reply for 30 days, file an application to the first Appellate Authority. If info sought is denied under Sec 8(i)(j) then also appeal to First Appelate Authority stating grounds which i have listed earlier. Download forms available in this website for filing applications as these forms are comprehensive and the PIO cannot wriggle out on techncalities.
The refund will materialise.
Happy hunting.
Col S V Sundar
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by vijaygarge59 |
I think Information is the power.
and in true sense it is the confidence
we can serve humanity and nation through it.
thanks to rtiindia.org..
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All About RTI RTI Buzz Forums Start A Thread | RTI News & Discussion |  Mobile towers in hospital campus | |
Are mobile towers permitted to be erected in the hospital areas? especially hospital treating cancer patients? Are the rules and regulations different in such cases?
Kindly help me with the same.
Regatds,
Rekha Gour
| | Yediyur lake encroachment leaves BBMP red in the... | |
As reported by Vinay Madhav at timesofindia.indiatimes.com on 9 February 2010
BANGALORE: To clear or not to clear. That is the BBMP's dilemma as it views a report on encroachment over 8 acres around Yediyur lake in Jayanagar VI Block.
This issue has cropped up time and again, and though the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) submitted three reports to BMP (the erstwhile BBMP), no action has been initiated. Most often, the BBMP ducked the issue saying the land was tank bund area and the ownership lied to the revenue department. Now, it requested the BDA to look for the land documents going back to the 1940s when the City Improvement Trust Board acquired the land.
The issue came to light in 2004, when RTI activist L Shankarlingaiah sought details on the encroachment by some individuals around Yediyur Lake. The issue was referred to the BMTF, which got a survey done by the Land Revenue and Land Records department and submitted a report to the BBMP.
The survey stated that 8 acres, 2 guntas of land had been encroached upon around Yediyur lake, which falls under Yediyur and Dasarahalli villages. While the original lake area shrunk from 18 acres, 2 guntas to 15 acres, 23 guntas, there was further encroachment of 6 acres around the tank bund area.
Besides, the encroached land has changed hands over the past 30 years, either through sale or through divisions in the families which owned it. During the past 10 years, a number of apartments have cropped up on the encroached land. In 2005, the then urban development secretary S V Ranganath directed the BBMP to initiate action against the encroachment.
The BBMP replied the land belonged to the forest department as it was a tank bund area. The BBMP assured it would hold a meeting with the revenue department over initiating action, but the meeting never took place.
However, in 2009, Shankarlingaiah applied for more information from the BBMP over a piece of land, which was part of the encroached land. The BBMP, in its reply, admitted that the land owner was 'Corporation of City of Bangalore' and said it was leased to V Krishnamurthy.
Shankaralingaiah then lodged one more complaint with the BMTF, which got the third survey done. Even this report confirmed encroachment of 8.02 acres around Yediyur lake and on this land, private parties had constructed apartments.
Source: Yediyur lake encroachment leaves BBMP red in the face - Bangalore - City - The Times of India
| | Prized IIT seats lying vacant | |
As reported by Aditi Tandon in tribuneindia.com on 09 February 2010:
The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Main News
Prized IIT seats lying vacant
In a revelation that may dishearten those who could not make it into the IITs in recent years, several high-in-demand seats at these premier institutes have been found lying vacant session after session. In the Joint Entrance Exam of 2006, institutes and branches that were more in demand were artificially shown as filled though data later procured under the Right to Information Act showed that these seats were actually not occupied.
Again in JEE 2008, hundreds of seats, even in General Category, were vacant across IITs despite the fierce competition for entry. Reason -- IITs, until the last year, were conducting a single round of counselling even if it meant allowing prized seats in plum branches to go unclaimed despite demand.
Even today, five to 20 per cent seats in General Category are estimated to be vacant in IITs, if the recent data supplied by the Ministry of Human Resource Development under the RTI Act is anything to go by. Data also hints at instances in the past, especially until 2005, where IIT seats at certain locations were being filled through faculty wards, who never qualified for JEE.
It was for the first time in 2009 that the issue of vacancy of seats in the much-desired IITs came to light when it was found that 50 to 100 vacancies were allowed to exist every year despite there being a mad rush for entry to these technical institutes. Documents with The Tribune show that in IIT Kanpur, one seat in computer engineering was vacant (top 60 rankers get this branch); textile engineering and biotechnology seats were vacant in IIT Delhi; IIT Kharagpur had the highest number of vacant seats in five-year MSc courses, including in preferred streams like physics and chemistry (these seats go to candidates ranked between 500 and 3,000). IIT Roorkee also had vacancies.
It was only after the information on vacancies in coveted branches became public that the IITs, following Supreme Court’s intervention last year, conducted a second round of counseling. Some seats continue to go waste in the absence of a fully online counselling and a wait-listing provision.
In normal course, a candidate’s option should be recorded during online admission counselling and he should be instantly allotted a seat on the basis of his preference and the availability, if there is one. In case the candidate wishes to be on the upward sliding (in the event of vacancies in future), he should be allowed to avail the option of sliding his admission preferences, with a possible constraint that the later stages of sliding may be effective in the respective institute in which he has already started studying. Those who don’t get a seat should be put on the waiting list, and multiple rounds of admissions conducted for them.
| | Orissa admits no record of transfers of... | |
As reported in indianexpress.com on 09 February 2010:
Orissa admits no record of transfers of officers
Orissa admits no record of transfers of officers
Despite an Orissa government circular on guidelines for transfers and postings of officials, the state government has admitted that no written record is prepared or maintained on the decision-making process of transfer and postings.
“On many occasions, no written record is prepared or maintained on the decision-making process of transfers and postings except in rare cases of transfer on administrative grounds or transfer for personal reasons.
Personal difficulties and problems have no relationship with public activity,” the state General Administration department said in its reply to an RTI petition by rights activist Biswajit Mohanty.
Mohanty had asked the basis of transfers and postings of all-India service officers like IAS, IPS and IFS and whether or not the reasons of law were recorded.
The Public Information Officer (PIO) in the department initially rejected the petition saying the “disclosure of information will endanger the life and physical safety” of a person. The appellate authority then said there is no written information.
| | SC notice to registrar generals of high courts on... | |
As reported at dnaindia.com at February 8, 2010
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today sought response from Registrar Generals of all high courts on the issue of providing information on appointment and transfer of judges under the Right to Information Act.
"We need to have views of the Registrar Generals (RGs) of High Courts as they have been getting applications on the issue," a bench comprising justiceB Sudershan Reddy and justice SS Nijjar said while issuing notices to all the RGs.
The court was hearing the appeal filed by the Supreme Court Registry challenging the directions passed against it by the Central Information Commission (CIC) to disclose information on judges appointment to the apex court by superseding seniors.
The apex court had also put on hold the operation of the CIC order directing it to divulge communication between chief justice of India KG Balakrishnan and justice R Raghupathy of Madras high court on alleged interference by a Union minister in a sub-judice matter.
The court has already issued notice to the RTI applicant on whose plea the CIC has passed the orders.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the RTI applicant, had assailed the decision of the apex court for directly moving before itself by sidelining the Delhi high court and said the Supreme Court, which favoured the transparency law for others, is stepping back when it comes to itself sending a wrong impression.
Attorney general GE Vahanvati had sought stay on the CIC's direction saying several important questions of law arise in the matter which required urgent hearing. Bhushan had said all major issues relating to the case was decided by the apex court in another matter.
The CIC, in a series of orders, has held that office of the CJI comes within the purview of the RTI Act and information held by the CJI should be revealed. However, Balakrishnan has consistently been maintaining that his office does not come under the ambit of the Act.
The Supreme Court had on December 1 moved before itself a petition challenging the order of CIC which had directed it to divulge information relating to appointment of judges to the apex court and communication between CJI and justice Raghupathy.
The registry has assailed the CIC's order contending that the material (information) held by the CJI was kept under fiduciary relationship and should be exempted from being made public under Section 8(1)e of the transparency law.
Interestingly, deviating from the normal practice which was adopted by it in an earlier case on the assets declaration issue, the apex court this time sidelined the Delhi high court where appeals against the CIC's order were filed.
The same legal issue on whether CJI's office comes within the ambit of RTI or not is pending before a full bench of the Delhi high court after a single judge had rejected the apex court's plea that all the information with CJI cannot be revealed under RTI.
Source: SC notice to registrar generals of high courts on RTI issue - dnaindia.com
| | Disclose Haj agreement between India and UAE: CIC... | |
As reported at dnaindia.com on February 8, 2010
New Delhi: The Central Information Commission has directed the external affairs ministry to disclose the details of bilateral agreement on Haj between India and UAE after severing the quota of pilgrims mentioned in it.
The application of one RTI applicant AM Attar seeking details of the agreement was rejected by the ministry on the grounds that its disclosure would affect the relations between the two nations and other Muslim countries.
"The earlier exemption sought under Section 8 (1)(a) of the RTI Act 2005 had already been dealt with on the previous occasion, hence the same need not be reiterated. However, the seeking of fresh grounds to justify non disclosure of information by the Respondent Public Authority does not provide additional merit to the case.
"However, interestingly no additional documents have been submitted by the respondent at this stage to substantiate their contention or justifying the non furnishing of information despite clear directions of this Commission. The remaining information in the Bilateral Agreement does not pertain to any sensitive data, as agreed by the respondent (MEA) also and the same should accordingly be provided to the Appellant," information commissioner, Annapurna Dixit held.
She directed to remove clause two and four of the agreement. While clause two specifies the quota of the Indian Hajis, clause four mentions the figures (data) depicting the number of Hajis.
Source: Disclose Haj agreement between India and UAE: CIC to MEA - dnaindia.com
| | Website on information under RTI Act | |
As reported in expressbuzz.com on 07 February 2010:
Website on information under RTI Act
Website on information under RTI Act
KOCHI: The Centre for Public Policy Research(CPPR) will soon launch a website which will provide information gathered by way of the Right To Information (RTI) Act.
The website will provide user-friendly access to the information on a digital platform that can be reproduced in any other form for future analysis.
The new interactive website - view link - will be a digital platform similar to Wikipedia, where anyone can submit the information they gathered as reply to the application they filed under the RTI Act.
“With the enactment of the RTI Act in 2005, seeking information has become the right of every Indian citizen. Unfortunately, there has not been any consolidated effort to recognise, acknowledge and dedicate a space for the information generated through the RTI Act,” said Digital RTI Mission project coordinator Sreeja Chandran.
The new website is part of the `Digitalisation of RTI’ project, which involves collection of information from all the points where applications are filed under the RTI Act and consolidation of the information.
The information gathered will be regularly updated on the website.
“Using this platform, one can generate various indices of transparency, evaluation of policy implementation, cost and the expenditure incurred under various government programmes. This analysis can further be utilised to compare the performance of the programmes,” she said.
The project also aims at evaluating the various government programmes, with regard to their performance on the basis of the defined criteria and operating at different levels of governance - at the village, district, state and national levels.
The copies of the RTI applications and their responses will be obtained from the Public Information Offices and the State Information Commission.
| | Rs445 crore yet to come in, BMC land keeps going... | |
As reported by Ashutosh Shukla in dnaindia.com on 8 February 2010:
Rs445 crore yet to come in, BMC land keeps going out - dnaindia.com
Rs445 crore yet to come in, BMC land keeps going out
Mumbai: While the cash-strapped BMC is toying with the idea of opening up vast tracts of land to developers, it is yet to recover a whopping Rs445 crore from builders, the capitalised value of tenanted land it had given to them for redevelopment.
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<!-- lhs-col --> This has been revealed in the reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by activist Mahendra Dharod, who was pursuing the case of his own trust’s land.
The BMC used to charge 10% of the land value (as per the ready reckoner rate) when giving a commencement certificate to start work. The remainder would be recovered while issuing the occupation certificate.
As per available data, the BMC gave 98 plots to builders across the city between 1995 and 2009. The demand for money raised in this period added up to Rs1,095 crore. Of this, it received only Rs274 crore. The outstanding amount is Rs821 crore.
This includes money from projects that are yet to be completed. Owing to changes in plans, mostly illegal, many of the projects involved may never get occupation certificates. As a result, the BMC stands to lose out on the money. Of the 98 projects, only 27 have paid up in full so far.
So, last year, the BMC changed the rules, demanding 20% while giving a letter of intent (initial permission to undertake redevelopment) and 60% when giving the commencement certificate. As per the data, 38 projects are yet to pay up, not including 12 whose allotted time is yet to get over. These 38 projects alone account for an outstanding of Rs445 crore.
“The BMC should review its policy,” said Dharod. “We are just losing land and not getting anything in return. The concept of capitalisation value is based on incorrect principles and officers do not seem interested even when the BMC does not have money.”
The only other income of the estates department is the Rs23 crore it earns annually from property lease.
When contacted, deputy municipal commissioner Rajendra Vale said, “There are times when tenants do not cooperate and things get delayed. But we have already issued notices to four or five of them and plan to revoke the permission of nine projects. The files have just come to me.”
| | 29 lakh fake ration cards seized last... | |
As reported by Clara lewis in timesofindia.indiatimes.com on 8 February 2010:
29 lakh fake ration cards seized last year - Mumbai - City - The Times of India
29 lakh fake ration cards seized last year
MUMBAI: The state government last year weeded out 29 lakh bogus ration cards across Maharashtra, according to information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The highest number of bogus rations cards were found in Mumbai (6.5 lakh), followed by Pune (3 lakh), Nashik 1.5 lakh, Nagpur and Ahmednagar 1.1 lakh respectively.
Following the huge number of bogus ration cards, the Election Commission had deleted it from the list of proofs that could be submitted to be allowed to vote. But after protests from political parties, it was re-introduced.
Social activist Anil Galgali, who obtained the information, said the numbers showed how easy it was to obtain a ration card with false proof or none at all. “In the Kurla slums on the airport land, there are several touts offering to make pre-dated ration cards so that a person becomes eligible for a free house,’’ he said.
Anil Deshmukh, minister for food and civil supplies, said the scrutiny of ration cards this year is likely to yield another 10 lakh bogus ration cards. “Along with the form that is to be submitted, we ask for the electoral roll number which is unique for every voter, a copy of the electricity bill, house rent bill and income tax receipt. It becomes easy to trace bogus ration card holders,’’ he said.
With the huge number of bogus cards coming to light, the scrutiny will be made an annual feature.
Lack of awareness on the documents required for obtaining a ration card was the key reason why people approach touts, said Vinita Singh of NGO Satark Nagrik Sangathana. Ration card is really a food card but is mixed up as an identity card, said Singh. This was the reason why even those who did not purchase foodgrains from the PDS obtain a ration card. “When there is a government resolution that allows homeless people to have a ration card, why should there be an insistence on proof of residence? The result is that in the slums, a lot of people are forced to approach a tout and hence the high rate of bogus cards. The current going rate for a ration card in the slums is Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 per card,’’ she said.
Meanwhile, the state has extended the date for submission of ration cards for scrutiny up to February 15. The scrutiny is being done for below poverty line (yellow card holders) and above poverty line (orange card holders). White card holders or those who do not avail of foodgrains from the PDS have been excluded.
According to the data obtained under RTI, nearly 22 lakh of the 29 lakh bogus cards were from above poverty line category. “We are also planning to introduce the Irish Biometric system, in which a person’s thumbprint is captured as proof for identity,” said Deshmukh.
| | VIP security an added strain on Mumbai police... | |
As reported at ibnlive.in.com on 28 January, 2010
Mumbai: Even as Mumbai remains one of the top terror targets in the country and the need to protect public places and sensitive installations is unfulfilled because of shortage of policemen.
An RTI filed by activist Chetan Kothari reveals that hundreds of policemen in Mumbai are being deployed for private security for VIPs. This is putting additional strain on the force. Experts say this is a waste of resources.
Former Commissioner of police Julio Rebiero said, “Do they really need the security, in many cases we see that security has become only a status symbol.. most VIPs do not need police protection at all. "
What is shocking is that the VIPs who have been provided police security have not even been paying the Government the fees for the security. 22 VIPs in Mumbai owe the Government over Rs 42 lakh.
"What I have suggested to the minister is that a private force should be set up and any VIP who wants to use it should use the service and then pay for using that security,” said Julio Rebiero
Though for security reasons the names of the VIPs who get police security are not revealed, it is clear that there has been a steady increase in the number of police officers put on VIP security.
VIP Security:
In the year 2007, total number of officers deployed was 328.
In the year 2008 The number went up to 360.
In the year 2009 this no went up to 457.
About three thousand constables are deployed for VIP security every year.
But police officials claim they keep taking help from other forces to counter the terror threat and shortage does not affect them.
Joint Commissioner, Mumbai Police Himanshu Roy said, "Public places are properly protected.. we have asked for SRP and other forces from outside to protect vital installations and places like railway stations, airports etc."
Officials may not want to admit it but for a force already facing a huge shortage of trained security men, VIP security has become an additional burden. The number of VIPs protected also continues to increase over the years making the problem serious.
Source: VIP security an added strain on Mumbai police force
| | Awareness programme on RTI Act conducted | |
As reported in thehindu.com on 07 February 2010:
The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Awareness programme on RTI Act conducted
Awareness programme on RTI Act conducted
Role of students in national growth highlighted
5th Pillar to hold programmes in schools/colleges
Coimbatore: Fifth Pillar-Corruption Killer, a movement to eradicate corruption, conducted an awareness programme on the salient features of the Right to Information Act, an effective tool to fight corruption for the benefit of 200 students from the PSG Institute of Management recently.
A release from Rajraj Kumar, Secretary of 5th Pillar, said that true to the objective “encourage, enable and empower every citizen to eliminate corruption at all levels of society, the organisation was focusing on every potential group, especially the student community.”
Social activist and businessman Viswanathan spoke on how well informed is the society and the role of students in national growth and the significance of Right to Information Act.
Former Dean of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University K.K. Krishnamoorthy spoke on the 5th Pillar’s activities in training youth on Right to Information and Anti-Corruption activities, RTI application procedures and administered a pledge to the students.
Self-entrepreneur and social activist Dhandapani spoke on handling corruption and success stories and told the students to insist on receipt for every rupee paid at government office, invoke RTI and ask reasons for delay and highlighted the role of vigilance in laying traps on corrupt government officials.
IT professionals Ravi Sundar and Suresh Kumar gave a presentation on RTI Act and gave guidance on writing a sample RTI application.
Colleges and schools are invited to call the 5th Pillar for conducting awareness programmes by writing to cbe@5thpillar.org or call Secretary Rajraj Kumar at 97894-75816/94438-41602.
| | Make use of RTI Act in proper way:... | |
As reported in thehindu.com on 07 February 2010:
The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Guntur News : Make use of RTI Act in proper way: official
Make use of RTI Act in proper way: official
Forming RTI clubs in colleges favoured <hr color="lightblue" noshade="noshade"> Information Commissioner visits 11 Government offices
Manuals in Telugu and English containing 17 aspects checked
link inside
Big occasion: Information Commissioner Dileep Reddy conducting an interactive session with students and people at Government Women’s College in Guntur on Saturday.
GUNTUR: Government is implementing the Right To Information Act with an investment of crores of rupees and a lot of time of the officials, which should be made use of in a proper way by understanding the provisions properly, State Information Commissioner R. Dileep Reddy has said.
Interacting with students of Government Women’s College in Guntur on Saturday, he was very particular that in addition to people at large, students must be made aware of all the provisions of Right To Information Act so that they could become part of the country’s policy making process by getting to know everything that was in the public domain.
He emphasized forming RTI clubs in the colleges so that before they become responsible citizens of the country, they also know where and how to get information pertaining to them and put a check at the right time.
Several Non-Government Organisations and people in general participated in the interactive session. The College Principal N. Geetanjali was also present on the occasion.
The Information Commissioner visited 11 Government offices along with Joint Collector Gaurav Uppal to check how many applications they received and how they disposed of all of them.
The official found that all the offices put together had received 533 applications during the current financial year and of them had disposed of 495 to the satisfaction of the applicants and another 38 were pending.
The manuals in Telugu and English containing 17 aspects were checked by the Commissioner at Guntur Municipal Corporation, Prohibition and Excise, Rural Water Supply, District Medical and Health Office, Forest and Women and Child Welfare Offices. The names of Public Information Officer, First Appellate Authority, and Assistant Public Information Officers were not mentioned in majority of the office, which he took as an objection.
Teaching was a noble profession and telling students about the importance of the law would enable them to know the facts related to anything from Gram Panchayat secretariat to President’s Office. On this occasion books on RTI prepared by Abhyudaya Mahila Sangham were distributed among the students.
| | If gun doesn’t get them, virus does | |
As reported by Niranjan Kaggare in bangaloremirror.com on 06 January 2010:
If gun doesn?t get them, virus does, News - City - Bangalore Mirror,Bangalore Mirror
If gun doesn’t get them, virus does
It’s not poaching that is the biggest threat to tigers. Information obtained by Bangalore Mirror under the RTI Act shows that 16 out of 30 big cats which died had succumbed to deadly maladies
Even as the state forest department has successfully conducted the first ‘scientific’ census of big cats in the four tiger reserves across the state, the very existence of tigers is threatened by diseases. Several microbial diseases, besides prowling poachers, are eating into the lives of tigers. Of the 30 tigers that died in the past few months, 16 have succumbed to deadly diseases like septicaemia and hypoxia.
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The shocking revelation has come out in a reply to an RTI filed by Bangalore Mirror with the forest department seeking details of tiger deaths in the national parks and sanctuaries. As many as 16 tigers have died due to various diseases from 2006 to 2009 in Mysore and Chikmagalur divisions. While one tiger was killed by crocodile in D B Kuppe range, two tigers were poached at Nagarahole and Kallahalla range in 2008 and 2009.
The documents obtained from the forest department reveal that diseases like septicaemia, hypoxia, progressive anorexia and parasitic pneumonia have caused the deaths. The incidences of these diseases were sporadic in the beginning, but became frequent with the death of a two-year-old tigress in the D B Kuppe and Kakanakote Range in 2008.
A serious medical ailment
According to veterinary experts, some tigers died of septicaemia or the systematic inflammatory response syndrome. The disease finds its way into the tiger’s body through an infection by microbes present in blood, urine, lungs, skin or other tissues.The common symptoms of the disease include nausea, vomiting, increased heartbeat, neurological dysfunction and renal dysfunction.
The tiger may appear normal but internally it would be experiencing a burning sensation with constant bleeding of organs, leading to haemorrhage and shock. This would lead to the death of the tiger, explains Sanjay Gubbi, a wildlife biologist. In addition, another disorder hypoxia, which results in inadequate supply of oxygen to body, has also struck the tiger population.
Though these diseases can be treated if detected at an earlier stage, the occurrence of these diseases in the wild remains unnoticed because it is very difficult to track tigers with disease symptoms in the wild. Further, fights between the wild animals also result in wounds and these wounds can lead to septicaemia and hypoxia, explained yet another renowned wildlife conservationist.
While there were few death of tigers due to diseases till 2008, the casualty rate increased alarmingly in the last one year. The latter part of 2009 witnessed as many as five tiger deaths in Bandipur as well as Hunsur wildlife divisions. The tigresses are more prone to the infections compared to the male tigers.
| | Communidades reluctant to give out information... | |
As reported at navhindtimes.in on 06 February, 2010
MAPUSA: The Right to Information Act is a weapon that is now commonly used by many people to seek the desired information from many government departments. However, it is a moot question whether communidades come under the purview of the RTI Act as many communidades in north zone have been reluctant to give out information under the act claiming that they are not bound by the RTI Act.
But the matter of fact is the North Zone Communidade administrator, Mr N M Gaad is the public information officer for the 74 communidades in the zone.
As stipulated in the RTI Act, an applicant is supposed to receive the information sought within a period of 30 days. The guidelines of the Act on one side and refusal of many communidades to give out the information has put Mr Gaad in a peculiar position.
Last year, the North zone communidades office received 160 applications under the RTI Act from different persons. Accordingly, the administrator sought for the desired information from the respective communidades. However, many refused to oblige and passed resolutions that communidades are private bodies, and as such, not bound by the RTI Act.
The communidade of Pilerne even held a general body meeting to pass a resolution denying the information sought. According to the RTI Act, as it is mandatory to provide information within 30 days, Mr Gaad claimed that in such a situation he is left with no alternative but to issue a memo to the respective escrivao and warn the communidade committees that they have to give the desired information or else face action.
Notwithstanding such delays, Mr Gaad has also been pulled up by the appellate authority for such delays that are not within his reach.
Interestingly, the North Zone Communidade office in Mapusa has staff strength of just 24 employees with many clerks holding charge of more than one communidade. There are just two clerks in the office. All these employees receive their salaries from the processing charges of files and ‘derema’.
In the absence of any government funding, the communidades have to sustain themselves with their own resources. It is probably this fact that many communidades take recourse to while claiming that they are private bodies and not bound by the RTI Act.
Source: Communidades reluctant to give out information under RTI Act
| | APPSC asked to post selected candidates’ list on... | |
As reported in thehindu.com on 06 February 2010:
The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : APPSC asked to post selected candidates’ list on website
APPSC asked to post selected candidates’ list on website
HYDERABAD: The AP Information Commission has directed the State Public Service Commission to post on its website the names of selected candidates for every exam conducted by it, including Group I and II services and lecturers posts.
This will go a long way in ensuring transparency, said P. Sunand of Bal Reddy Nagar, Tolichowki, who sought information regarding the candidates who appeared for interviews conducted in 2006 for Group I and II Services. He was himself a candidate.
Mr. Sunand received an order from the Principal Information Officer after 109 days (as against the stipulated 30 calendar days) of filing of the RTI application that the information sought by him could not be divulged as it concerns third- party information. He had filed the second appeal, following which the Commission issued the directive to APPSC.
| | | | Ask for RTI Query | | List of Credit Card Defaulter | |
Hi,
I would like to know if my name is existing in Credit Card Defaulter List. Please help me in accessing any such database.
Thanks & Regards
Sheshadri
| | Air ticket refund??? | | | | Amount of my PF balance | |
please help me knowing the current balance on my PF account ?
| | Regarding Provident fund | |
I want to check my provident fund a/c statment. Please help me on that.
| | pf website inquiry | |
Dear SIr
I want to inquire about the balance of provident fund.But the site epfopune.gov.in is not available from past 1 month so i am unavailable to get the balance.Please help me.
Thanking u
vinay
| | Regarding passport | |
I'm an indian citizen working in uae. my wife and 6 months old kid is in india. me and my wife are having passport. i wish to take a passport for my kid. i may have a visit to india in a couple of months. i wish to get my kid's passport in the new address where we are residing now. what all are the document i shall produse to get the passport.
please be kind enough to reply soon
thanking you'
BINU JAMES.
| | Disciplinary matters | |
Whether dismissed employee can ask preliminary investigation report (internal), and other office order and other disciplinary matters from employer-public authority under RTI..? Whether employer is under obligation to disclose those things...?
| | Epf -pension | | | | community certificate | | | | Licence Required for Physically... | |
hi
i am shiva, i am a physically challenged. i have knock knees, but i can drive normal manual car. i have got the certificate from the rehabitation center (KK Nagar) doctor. i would like to know how to get a licence. when i approched the chimyanagar RTO, they say they will not give licence to us even if we have certificate. can any one please help?
| | MOBILE stolen, should go by RTI | |
My mobile was recently stolen and i loged FIR. poice said it will take around 7 days for them to forward my mobile IMEI to the operators... Please tell me how should i go about the RTI..
Waiting for the response
Syed Awsiya Hassan
XXXXXXXXXXXX
xxx@yyy.zzz
Deleted mobile number and live email link - posting against forum rules
| | provident fund balance | |
i want to know the balance of profident fund
| | Want to know about Post office Identification... | |
How many days should it would take to issue the Post office Identification Card to the Public ? They are saying it would take more than 1 month. If it is more than the expected deleiverable date then what should the public do ?
Please let me know.
Thanks in Advance,
Vasanth
| | interpretation of section 7 (9) of RTI... | | | | Issue of Pattadar PassBook (lost ) | |
Hello Sir,
Please Provide me with the right information here with regard to the lost/stolen Passbook by my uncles.Before bringing the actual Problem statement You need to know about the brief history of my problem.
This dates back to 30 years even when I was not born then,My mother was away at her Parents home for delivery.My Father was an epileptic patient(Fits/Seizures).Once When he was hospitalised for fits, His own father (my Grand father)sedated him and got his signatures on a blank paper and cheated him of his property of around 8 acres of land.My father is elder son & has an younger brother who is a wicked fellow and he got all that property from my Grand Father.
Knowing this,my mother was shocked and rand to my inlaws village along with some of the elderly people from her village and asked for justice but her efforts went invain. She was not allowed to stay at her inlaws home and was mistreated hence she came back to her parents home with me and my sister(elder to me).But my father didn’t accompany us & continued to stay there only and fight with his father and brother for his share of property.But he was also mistreated and was tortured by his brother in his last days as he was asking continuously about his property.
After few years my Grand father passed way. Once again after few years , my mother along with some of the Village elders approached my Grand ma ( Father’s mother) and asked about our share of property.
Unable to resist the offences from all people in the village , my grand mother promised that she will give two acres of land to my dad , but she did n’t register the same towards him. She told like that and my babai(Father’s brother) only is only reaping the harvest.
Mean time , Govt.sent revenue Dept.people to check about the people’s property in the village & issue them with Pattadar Pass books.
My Father too was issued a passbook for those two acres of land and it was in the custody of my babai (Father’s brother).The land tax was also paid on father’s name for nearly ten years until 2001 when he passed away.
Once again from 2001, my babai is paying the tax for this two acres of my father’s land and reaping the harvest .
As we were away (My mother was weak & I was away for my studies) and even when we went there we were not allowed to claim our two acres of land by my greedy babai .
Recently my Grand mother expired on 26th Dec 2009. We went and asked our babai about my father’s share & and requested him to atleast give that two acres of land which was promised grand mother.But he refused.
Then I went to the VAO of the village and asked him About the tax information etc for the last twenty years.He revealed certain surprising facts
1)He told he only issued the Pass Book to my Father and It was issued after revenue dept. Verification of property in the village when they collected data for 1B Record .
As his name was there in the 1B record against those two acres of land, my babai cann’t cultivate that land and has no rights he opined.But because of his muscle power, he is cultivating the land.
But now I don’t have the PassBook to say that this land is mine.My father passed away.When I approached the MRO office (Muppalla mandal of Guntur district) and asked them to look in to the same and issue a Duplicate ID card, they told we have burnt our ROR record and there was no proof to say that this land belonged to your father. So we cann’t issue a passbook to you.
My Query
1) Can’t I be issued a duplicate passbook for my property which the revenue Dept. has already gave long back and now saying there is no evidence to issue the same.(The old passbook was torn by my Babai in to bits & pieces)
2) How unregistered properties will be inherited to the offspring as happened here in my father’s case.(My Grand ma told that she will give Two acres of land to my father & the revenue people issued him a Passbook. VAO over here said that , on enquiry in village regarding who is cultivating which land , the data will be collected and based on this data , a passbook will be issued.
3) Can’t general Public have the access to ROR. Can any MRO office can burn their ROR records
| | Start A Thread |
| RTI Success Stories | | Copy of rules regarding acceptance of additional... | |
Point No.8's Query:
Query:No. 8: Kindly provide the copy of rules for issuing circular ticket to the passengers. How much money the Reservation Counter Clerk is authorised to accept in addition to the cost of the tickets for issuing Circular tickets.
PIO's reply: Rules regarding issuance of Circular Journey Tickets are published in Public Time Table. Reservation Clerks cannot accept anything over and above the cost of tickets.
Point Query No. 27: Kindly provide the name, address and contact details and the minutes of meeting in which such rule has been passed that if the passenger has booked the ticket from the Agent then he can get claim from Agent only. As the amount goes to Agent's account and he is not authorized to get refund from Railway Reservation counter.
PIO's reply: Refund and cancellation of e-tickets and I-tickets is not done at regular reservation counters. These tickets can be got cancelled through internet only. Detailed rules in this regard are published in Public Time Table.
=====================================================
I got the above-mentioned decisions regarding my application under RTI Act 2005.
link inside
Rajneesh madhok,
B-xxx/63. Nehru Nagar,
St. No. 2, Railway Road,
Phagwara (Pb)
| | RTI replaces Investigation in Corruption... | |
Dear Colleagues :)
Glad to be here after a long time. The absence was for pursuing the RTI Act in the right direction and gathering information on Misappropriation and Corruption in a Central Government Organisation based at Hyderabad known as the "Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics" (CDFD) under the Dept of Biotechnology.
I had addressed over 50 RTI applications (over a period of 4 years) to this Organisation and other organisations connected to this CDFD. In all with skillful drafting of the questions under RTI, I was able to get convincing replies from the CPIO, CDFD which revealed irregularities committed by Ex-Director and present Vice Chancellor of Hyderabad Central University, present Director, Senior Scientists and other officials. The misappropriations pertain to the period 1999 to 2008. The total misappropriation amounts to around Rs 55 crores. This amount could go beyond too by the time I file the complaint next week.
I feel very happy that with the RTI Act I was able to get the statements of the accused officials wherein they have admitted to the inappropriate actions which has cost the Government Exchequer heavily. Now with these admissions of inaction from the officials themselves, the need for an investigation is totally replaced. I feel very contended that now I can right away file the complaint in a Criminal Court and their would be no need for any investigation or scrutiny of records since that job has already been done and reported by the CDFD itself to my queries. So its straight criminal trial and punishment against the said officials unless some agency stays the proceedings. The accused list reads who's who of the top echelons of the Government right from an Ex-Secretary of Dept of Biotechnology to the present Secretary of Dept of Biotech to the Vice Chancellor of a Central University to a former Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research to a Former Director of Indian Institute of Science and a bunch of more.
I expect full support from all my friends on this Forum and advice. I shall post the complaint on this site as soon as my Complaint is filed in an appropriate Court some time next week. With regards. Dr Rao.
| | Road tax refund from RTO | |
I moved my vhicle from Bangalore to Pune about 1.5 years back. As a procedure I was supposed to re-register my vehicle in Pune after paying life time road tax. I have already paid the tax in bangalore which i was eligible for refund. getting my vehicle re-registered was a frustuating process. finally when i got it registred in Pune after paying huge sum as tax. I applied for a refund from bangalore RTO. As I was aware it was difficult task to get the money refund from RTO. lot of the people on websites has written there plea dealing with refund. I decided that I am not going to give up till I succeed with this, no matter whatever it takes.
After waiting 4 months for the refund, I filed RTI with transport department of karnataka for the status of my refund and reason for delay. To my surprise I got the reply within a month along with the refund orders.
The reply was very sincere and they mentioned the delay was due to non-communication from Pune RTO about genuinity of the registraton. As the process of refund they verify the genuinity of new registration from the state. I was really shocked to see that pune rto did not reply to 2 reminders and letters from bangalore RTO.
As part of reply I got the detail of communication between pune RTO and bangalore RTO I am planning to raise an RTI to pune RTO asking why they did not reply and how many such reply are pending. may be this will help people who are waiting for ever due to this reason.
This was my first RTI application. I am sure without RTI and help from this forum this would have not been possible. Thanks to the founders and members of the forum for all the help, leads and support.
This has given me a confidence and motivation to fight for common cause and I am planning to continue with my efforts.
Thanks again
Gagan
| | Elections are lucrative for officers but cost a... | |
Democracy at a Price-I
LS poll cost UT Rs 1.38 cr
Rs 22 lakh honorarium to officials raises eyebrows
Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 24
The conduct of the May 13 Lok Sabha election for the local parliamentary seat cost the Chandigarh Administration dear, with about Rs 1.38 crore being spent on it and surprisingly, a substantial part, amounting to over Rs 41 lakh, went for the payment of remuneration to the polling parties and honorarium to the staff on election duty.
However, the “across the board” payment of the honorarium of about Rs 22.24 lakh to the staff, including senior officials, in addition to their salaries, has raised many an eyebrow. While Rs 22.24 was given for officials’ honorarium, the minimum amount of Rs 34,072 was spent on the purchase of service stamps.
A perusal of the information obtained by Sector 27 resident RK Garg through RTI shows that the administration spent over Rs 8 lakh on refreshment. As much as Rs 1.44 lakh was spent under the miscellaneous expenditure.
Interestingly, the administration also a hired a consultant, who was paid Rs 77, 581.While the administration has a fleet of vehicles, nearly Rs 2 lakh was spent on the hiring of private vehicles.
The Chief Electoral Officer-cum-Adviser to the administrator tops the list of beneficiaries with Rs 80,000 honorarium followed by the Returning Officer and the then the Deputy Commissioner with Rs 61,540. The joint Chief Electoral Officer has claimed an honorarium of Rs 13,800. The 12 AROs - junior IAS officers, PCS and HCS officials- were richer from an amount of Rs 13,388 to Rs 33,490.The highest amount among the AROs was claimed by the then Assistant Estate Officer.
Besides officials, 40 trainers of EVMs have been paid honorarium of Rs 6,000 each, while 13 master trainers had been given honorarium of Rs 8,000 each. To top it all, 15 officials, who worked in various cells for the conduct of the general elections, pocketed Rs 10,000 each.
According to information, 124 drivers and other staff were paid honorarium of Rs 5,000 each. As many as 12 other staff deputed for the elections were given Rs 8,000 each. Besides, there was wide disparity in the amounts - ranging from Rs 11,875 to Rs 43,125 - kept at the disposal of the 12 AROs for disbursal among the supporting staff. “Though the payment of the honorarium may be legal as the officials were directly associated with the election work and ‘were working round the clock’, yet the question of ethics has come into play since they were also paid their salaries for the respective period," RK Garg, who sought the information through the RTI, said.
Garg claimed that from March 2 till the completion of the electoral process, the entire administrative machinery had come to a standstill as they were engaged in the election-related work. When the officials were performing only election-related work then why should they be paid both salary and the election honorarium, Garg asked? A senior official asserted that since almost all officials, particularly the police officials were engaged in the electoral work, the payment of honorarium to the “select few” smacked of favouritism. The “non-uniformity” in the payment of honorarium led to heart burning among the officials, who were not paid on the pattern of their colleagues, he added.
(To be continued)
link inside | | Panchayat and rti | |
I had some success with government machinery in a southern state by use of rti act. I spoke to my panchayat member regarding the poor condition of road in front of my home, her reply was very indifferent and told me that govt had not granted any funds and later on further enq told no contractor was willing to undertake the contract. I sent a rti application to them asking for the details of repair undertaken in last four years and copies of tender notifications and name and date of news papers in which they had given the tender notifications. Later the whole panchayat office descended at my residence and told my father that it will be very difficult for us to pull on if such applications are sent. He told them that if you try to threaten us then you will have to reply to that also. I got a reply within 30 days that they could not identify which road i was referring to. I informed my father that if they keep on giving such stupid replies then i will have to ask them for a copy of road register of their office. Within next 10 days repair work commenced and a new concrete road was laid. After that i too did not press ahead with rti. Anyway they now know the power of rti and others in my village tell the members to be truthful to their jobs or face rti quieries. Jai hind jai rti;)
| | Condolenscene for Mr Satish Shetty, RTI... | |
Hi All,
Please join me in offering deepest condolences to the family of martyr & RTI activist Mr. Satish Shetty, who was murdered in cold blood at Pune, 2 days ago.
He was a eminent RTI activist and had exposed many corruption cases through info obtained from RTI. However, his sacrifice should not be invain and need more consolidated effort from all of us esp to increase awareness of RTI in public, to seek its effective implementation, and bring positive change in society at large. Thanks.
| | Chief Justice of India in RTI ambit | |
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=articleheader>The Telegraph, 13th January, 2010
HC vetoes SC, asks ‘sunlight’ to be let in
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleauthor>SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY</TD></TR><TR><TD class=story align=left>New Delhi, Jan. 12: Delhi High Court today sought to beam a burst of unwelcome “sunlight” into the portals of the Supreme Court, rejecting the highest court’s plea against opening the Chief Justice of India’s office to public scrutiny under the Right to Information Act.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” the high court told its superior court, adding that the judiciary could not buck the global trend towards openness.
Giving the most powerful court a lesson in democratic principles, the three-judge bench said: “The source of the right to information does not emanate from the RTI Act… it emerges from constitutional guarantees under Article 19(1)(a). Its overreaching purpose is to facilitate democracy by ensuring that citizens have the information required to participate meaningfully in the democratic process and to help (make) the governors accountable to the governed.”
The high court added: “In construing such a statute, the court ought to give to it the widest operation.”
The Supreme Court, however, has decided to challenge the judgment by filing an appeal with itself, PTI added. If the court now decides the case in its own favour, it would hardly boost its image at a time public opinion is overwhelmingly in favour of transparency.
On September 2 last year, a single-judge high court bench had upheld an RTI applicant’s petition that asked whether Supreme Court judges do declare their assets.
The apex court, echoing the CJI’s stand that the ruling would end up eroding the judiciary’s independence, had appealed against the order before the three-judge bench — making judicial history since the high court is lower than it in the pecking order.
The larger bench had granted a stay but today its 88-page judgment offered the apex court little sympathy.
The high court shrugged off the Supreme Court’s fears that by its logic, notes or jottings by judges or their draft judgments too would fall within the purview of the RTI.
“Notes taken by judges while hearing a case cannot be treated as final views expressed by them. They are meant only for their (own) use and cannot be held to be a part of a record ‘held’ by the public authority,” it said.
However, if the judge turns in the notes along with the rest of his files to be maintained as records, they may be disclosed. The mere marking of a document as “confidential” would not override the binding provisions of the RTI.
The most damaging observations came in relation to the apex court’s stand on two resolutions it had itself taken many years ago. One mandated an ethical code for judges and the other asked them to reveal their assets annually.
The Supreme Court had contended that such resolutions were not binding, but the high court said the argument could not be accepted “if proper functioning of the judiciary as an institution has to be ensured”.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
| | RTI Redirection finally succeeds | |
dear team members ,
i know ,i am yet to qualify posting my story under rti success thread.
I am on the process of fighting against a major exploitation private managements in refunding of fees. for that i needed a copy of an inmportant agreement.
with the guidance of many of you including col kurup sir(i had sought his advice through personnel emails},I had filed 7 rti applications to various authorities of kerala govt. and one FAA too. Finally the authorities were compelled divulge most of the information asked. Eventhough,i am yet to receive some more information.with the available information,.i can move ahead.
I am optimistic about the final outcome. Because of inordinate lititgation time,i may have to wait some more long time before i would be able post a real success story.
however,i thought to note my gratitude for the guidance provided to me by this great forum so that it would be an inspiration for others also
| | Redtapism and Corruption overcome by using the... | |
:) Dear Members,
Vannakkam.My friend was denied of genuine refund of the deposited amount Rs:50,000/- for a period of four years. He had made so many personal visits to the Prohibition & Excise Commissioner's Office. He was dragged on to pillar to Post. But all his attempts were in vain even he opted to pay corruption around Rs: 15,000/- apart from the expenses towards his travel charges.
I happened to accompany him twice during his visit to the said office. I advised him two years back to apply the provision of RTI Act,2005. After his bitter experience he approached me and put him on the right way to file RTI Application U/s 6(1) of RTI Act,2005. Two months back I guided him to file the Application before the SPIO in the Commissioner's Office, Chennai, seeking information about the fate of the refund request filed by him four years back. As usual the SPIO did not send the reply even after 45 days.
Then without loosing hope my friend has filed the First Appeal before theAppellate Authority in the Government Secretariat viz., an Additional Secretary in the Department of Home Affairs.
The Commissioner Office Official contacted my friend with the request not to proceed with further action on the non receipt of reply for the information sought, and sent the refund order to his address which is on the pipe line.
Is this not a success?
Balu A
| | Got IT Refund after filing RTI... | |
I got refund withing 1 month of filing RtI application which was pending for 2 years.
Follow RTI process, great tool :-)
Bhaskar
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| | Compensation of Rs 50.000 imposed by SIC, West... | |
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p> </o:p>
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on">WEST BENGAL</st1:place> INFORMATION COMMISSION<o:p></o:p>
Bhabani Bhaban (2<SUP>nd</SUP> Floor), Alipore
Kolkata -700 027
Telefax(033)2479-1966
Website : view link
E-mail : scic-wb@nic.in <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Dr. Nazrul Islam
-Vs-
Home Department
Facts on record:<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
In pursuance of Commission’s order dated 20.11.2009 communicated vide No. 3017 (11)(Order)/WBIC/RTI/946/09 dated 20.11.2009 asking the public authority of Home Department to show cause as to why the Commission should not pass an order to compensate Dr. Nazrul Islam for the detriment and harassment suffered by him for non furnishing of information for a period of more than two years, the SPIO, Home (Political) Department vide No. 375-H/RTI/1A-33/07 dated 03.12.2009 has since furnished a reply to the said show cause notice on behalf of the public authority.
The Commission has considered the reply and has decided to pass the following order:-
Order:<o:p></o:p>
2. It is evident from the reply and from the records available with the Commission that the RTI application preferred by Dr. Islam on 04.06.2007 was received by the SPIO, Home Department within due time. As a matter of routine the SPIO sent the RTI application to the Chief Minister Secretariat since the said application had originated from a letter written by Dr. Islam to the Chief Minister on 23.05.2006. The Chief Minister’s Secretariat, which was also an office under Home (Political) Department informed the SPIO that the said application of Dr. Islam was not received in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. Apparently nobody in the public authority made efforts enough to verify whether or not the advance copy of the letter was in fact received in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat and whether the original letter reached the Home (Political) Department through proper channel.
3. It was later revealed that the Chief Minister’s Secretariat did in fact receive the advance copy and no record was kept about it and the Home Secretary i.e. Home (Political) Department, did also receive the original application through proper channel from the Director General of Police.
4. When confronted, the Chief Minister’s Secretariat regretted for the lapses, so did, the Home
(Political) Department and the Director General of Police, though precious time was lost in the process and the spirit of the RTI Act has been frustrated. The most disturbing part of this entire episode is that neither the original letter nor the advance copy addressed to the Chief Minister could be traced in the office of the public authority.
5. Additional copy was procured from Dr. Islam and sent to the Home Department by the Commission. The officials of the public authority, however, did not learn any lesson from the previous episode and tossed this copy of the original application to different officers without showing any apparent urgency to dispose of the matter and furnishing Dr. Islam with the information he sought. Though Dr. Islam was generally informed through endorsements about the movement of the matter to different officials, but the crux i.e. disposal of the RTI application was elusive. In fact, the RTI application of Dr. Islam could not be disposed of by the said officials because no action was taken on the original letter, or on the copy thereof, addressed to the Chief Minister.
6. The RTI Act provides specific time frame to all the officers of the public authority to dispose of the RTI application. The Act also provides power to the Commission to take punitive action against the erring officers if they fail to comply with the provisions of the Act. Thanks to the perseverance of Dr. Islam and the constant persuation by the Commission, it has ultimately transpired from the letter No. 796/PAR (AR)/O/3B/2/2008 (Pt. I) dated 21.10.2009 from the SPIO, PAR Department that no action appeared to have been initiated on the allegations made by Dr. Islam in his letter under reference. Therefore, the other queries regarding endorsements, file notes, orders etc. were also not available in the office of the public authority of Home Department and PAR Department.
8. What the SPIO in his reply to the show cause notice has tried to put forth is in fact a chronology of the various correspondences made in a routine manner in the matter which belied any sense of taking utmost effort or urgency in the disposal.
9. This is highly irregular, improper and very casual way of dealing with a query under Right to Information Act, the provisions of which are mandatory, time specific and exacting in nature. The objective of bringing in a practical regime of right to information for citizens to ensure access to information under the control of the public authorities for promoting transparency and accountability in their working has been frustrated in this particular case.
10. The Commission considers that the Home Department, being one of the most important departments of functioning in the Government, shall have to pay a price for such procrastination. The inaction of the public authority in the instant case appears to be impersonal because the officers involved in the process acted within their limited spheres without showing any urgency to go beyond to implement the spirit of the Act in practice. Here the public authority failed to understand and implement the provisions of the Act in its true spirit which it could have if it had gone beyond normal bureaucratic practices.
11. The Commission therefore orders in exercise of its power conferred upon it by the provisions u/s 19(8) (b) of the RTI Act, 2005 that the public authority of Home (Political) Department shall, within a period of one month, pay a compensation of Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousands) to Dr. Islam in the form of a demand draft / banker cheque for the detriment and harassment caused to him.
A report of compliance shall be sent to the Commission immediately thereafter.
Sd/-<o:p></o:p>
Date:15.12.2009 (ArunKumar Bhattacharya)<o:p></o:p>
State Chief Information Commissioner
<o:p> </o:p>
No. 3307 (4) (Order)-WBIC/RTI/946/09 Date: 15.12.2009<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Authenticated true copy forwarded to:
<o:p> </o:p>
The Additional Chief Secretary & Principal Secretary, Home Department, Writers’ Buildings, Kolkata-700 001.
The Appellate Authority, Home (RTI) Department, Writers’ Buildings, Kolkata-700 001,
The State Public Information Officer, Home (RTI) Department, Writers’ Buildings, Kolkata -700 001.
Dr. Nazrul Islam, A.D.G., Traffic, Bhabani Bhaban, Alipore, Kolkata-700 027.
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Secretary & Acting Registrar<o:p></o:p>
<st1:place w:st="on">West Bengal</st1:place> Information Commission
<o:p> </o:p>
| | Due to RTI Application the Halt at Mngalore... | |
Dear Sir,
Train Number 6518 Runs from Mangalore Central to Yeshvanthapur.
Originally the Train used to Halt at Mangalore Junction. Railways with the vested interest Had Stopped the Halt at Mangalore junction. I tried to Contact railways officials including Railway Minister, Kum.Mamatha Bannerji regarding this. Idid not get any reply even after render III.
It is pertient to note that The Sleeper Class Ticket from Mangalore Central to Bangalore City Cost Rs.224/- Whee as the Cost Between Mangalore Junction to Banagalore City is Rs.212/-. So I presumed that To grab Rs.12/- From the passengers the Railways had stopped the Halt at Managalore Junction.
When actually traveled in the train I was astonished to note that The Train Actually stops at Mangalore Junction.
On enquiry It was seen that The train Stops Regularly & Many passengers entrains At Mangalore Junction.
At next Booking The Booking Officer also told that The train Stops at Mangalore Junction But He can not Make reservation from Mangalore Junction since The halt has been stopped as per time table.
To overcome this I used the RTI act by asking following Questions to Shri.A.BALACHABAR<o></o>,Chief Public RelationOfficer<o></o>,cum PIO,Head Quarter Office,<o></o>South-Western Railway,Hubli-580023<o></o><o></o>
1.What are the circumstances that lead to Stopping of Halt at Mangalore Junction for the Train Number 6518?<o></o>
2.What is the use of said stoppage of Halt for Passengers?<o></o>
3.What is the use of said stoppage of Halt for Railways?<o></o>
4.Although the Halt for 6518 is stopped at Mangalore Junction, the Train Number 6518 Still Stops at <o></o>Mangalore Junction & lot of passengers Entrain. So why the Halt should not be reconsidered?<o></o>
To this application South-Western Railway,Hubli- vide letter No.P.180/RTI/242/HSG/09-10 dated 17.12.209 had intimated that TheMangalore junction falls under Southern Railway & I have to seek info from them only.
To this I had replied that the train No 6518 belongs to South Western Railway & they are bound to reply to my RTI Query.
I am yet to hear from them.
Mean while as soon as I had filed RTI Application the Halt at Mngalore Junction was restored.
Although I have got the relief I have not got the answer for the Questions asked under RTI.
Any suggestions please
With Regards
Govardhana Rao
9.x..x.x.x.x.x.x.x(mobile numbers not permitted in the forum)
| | Refund from builder - success due to RTI ... | |
Posting this on behalf of a member who had some difficulty posting it:
We booked a flat in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1>Bangalore</st1></st1:city> in mid 2007 for delivery in June 2008.<o></o>
This was towards the tail end of the real estate boom. While it lasted, developers used cash from new sales to fund construction of already sold projects.<o></o>
Apartment sales cannot increase month after month at ever escalating prices.<o></o>
The global recession exposed this business model as unsustainable, and turned our dream apartment into a nightmare.<o></o>
Desperate for cash, the developer's sales staff asked us for the last payment, even though the apartment was not ready for delivery.<o></o>
With no means of verification, we paid the last installment in good faith, thinking we would take possession in June 2008.<o></o><o></o>
As the due date came and went, and months went by, we grew increasingly worried as a significant portion of our life's savings stood desolate, a half complete concrete shell.<o></o>
We were devastated that trust had been violated - we felt cheated.<o></o>
Dealing with the developer directly till the end of the year bore no results, either in project completion or refund of our money.<o></o>
We grew thoroughly fed up and frustrated with the constant evasion and follow up. And the worst possibility seemed eminently probable: No apartment, all the money gone.<o></o><o></o>
We therefore sought legal counsel in March 2009 to recover our investment. <o></o>
Upon lawyer's advise, we filed a law suit, and also lodged a complaint at the police station as we were cheated out of the last installment.<o></o>
We breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that the law of the land would work it's due process, and that we would soon recover our savings.<o></o><o></o>
Nothing happened.<o></o><o></o>
We now found ourselves chasing after our lawyers and hanging outside the police station, enquiring, asking, following up, and seeing scant movement towards a resolution.<o></o>
We got an introduction to a senior police official in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1>Bangalore whom we approached for </st1></st1:city>advise and guidance.<o></o>
Rather than assistance, at the very least, encouragement, we were offered the advise to "forget it, you will never get your money back. don't waste you time (and mine)"<o></o>
Coincidentally, right before my appointment with the police official I was speaking with my old friend, CJ Karira, recently turned RTI activist and expert.<o></o>
He was telling me about RTI - the Right to Information Act, and how useful it had been to so many people. I interrupted him "Just going in to see the top cop. Will call you later."<o></o>
Six months later and it was August, and "nothing happened" was the unchanged remark in the status column.<o></o><o></o>
Just as we were about to lose all hope, I remembered that long-ago conversation with Karira about the RTI.<o></o><o></o>
We called the Karnataka Government asking about RTI procedures. Folks at the other end of the line were immediately considerate and polite, deflecting us from RTI. <o></o>
Asking us instead to write to senior Government officials.<o></o><o></o>
A letter to the Additional Chief Secretary In August caused a letter to be sent to the Police Commissioner in September.<o></o>
The Police Commissioner's office never replied to our follow up letter. Our acquaintance, the "top cop" had further advise, "write to the PM, you'll feel good, but you won't get anywhere."<o></o><o></o>
Around the middle of November we filed RTI petitions seeking further information about the case from the Police and Home departments in Karnataka. <o></o><o></o>
None of this would have been possible without the assistance of the rtiindia.org organization, and the patient personal help of CJ Karira. <o></o>
The government web sites, phone lines and media channels are masters of obfuscation, masking important data, making it impossible for the common man to get to the right information.<o></o>
Who do I contact ? How do I approach them, what is the procedure ? These are hidden, and well guarded state secrets that the rtiindia group deciphered for us.<o></o><o></o>
By the end of November, the police mediated a discussion between the developer and ourselves, leading to satisfactory resolution within 30 days.<o></o><o></o>
December - case closed<o> !</o><o></o>
Our good fortune may be attributed to a number of factors:-<o></o>
Value system of developer - basically a good guy.<o></o>
Change in market conditions<o></o>
Change in Business<o></o>
Better Funding availability<o></o>
All of the above may be true, I have no conclusive proof, but I believe that if I had not gone the RTI route, it would still be unresolved.<o></o>
I think that the filing of the RTIs caused the right conversations among the right people, leading to appropriate actions.<o></o><o></o>
In the meantime, the "bundle" of papers pertaining to the Civil suit lodged in April 2009 in the High Court were discovered to be "lost" in November. <o></o>
Our lawyers were raising Cain at the high court and trying to get the paperwork reconstructed and reinstated in December when we told them to drop proceedings.<o></o>
The reaction was stunning. No happiness or joy in their hearts. Instead, a stern lecture on poor professional conduct on our part for not keeping them abreast of our parallel activities.<o></o>
Hearing between the lines, I could sense the disappointment at the disappearance of a five year long revenue stream. I apologized.<o></o><o></o>
All's well that ends well. A heartfelt thanks to Karira and the RTI for it gave us hope, it offered us a chance, when all other avenues were cul-de-sacs.<o></o>
Ravi Visvanathan
| | we should publish the outcome | | | |
