RTI Happenings: UP govt likely to put Lokayukta out of RTI Act

[Sajib Nandi]

Reported by Indianexpress.com on Jul 31, 2012
UP govt likely to put Lokayukta out of RTI Act - Indian Express

The Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh is planning to place the office of the Lokayukta out of the purview of the RTI Act. A proposal to this effect is likely to be considered at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.

Sources said the government is of the view that the office of Lokayukta is an investigating agency and, therefore, there is a need to maintain secrecy in its investigation of corruption cases. A disclosure can adversely affect the course of the investigation, the government believes.

In the election manifesto, the Samajwadi Party had promised to take steps to strengthen the Lokayukta. In particular, it had promised to make it a multi-member body and place the economic offences wing of the police under it. So far, it has done neither. Besides, Akhilesh Yadav has ruled out bringing the office of the chief minister under Lokayukta’s purview.

Another proposal that may be taken by the cabinet is about the revival of Kanya Vidyadhan Scheme (KVS) under which Rs 30,000 will be given to girl students belonging to financially weaker sections on passing Class XII exam. This was promised by the party in its election manifesto. The new scheme will cover girls whose families’ annual income is not more than Rs 35,000. The money will be given to the girls even if they don’t pursue higher education. The beneficiaries will be selected by committees, headed by the district magistrates.

The KVS was first launched by the Samajwadi Party government when it was in power in 2003-2005 under the leadership of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Then a financial assistance of Rs 20,000 was given for pursuing further education.

After Mayawati came to power, she scrapped the scheme and launched “Savitri Bai Phule Balika Shiksha Madad Yojana” under which girl students from financially weaker sections were given Rs 15,000 and a bicycle after they passed Class X and got enrolled in Class 11. After passing Class XII, they were given another Rs 10,000.

The incumbent SP government has already scrapped Savitri Bai Phule Balika Shiksha Madad Yojana and some other welfare schemes of the previous government.

The cabinet is also likely to clear a proposal for renaming Kanshiram Urdu Arbi Farsi University, set up by the previous Mayawati government, after Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti.

[akhilesh yadav]

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UP govt keeps Lokayukta out of RTI purview


Reported by pti in ibnlive.in.com on 31 July 2012
UP govt keeps Lokayukta out of RTI purview, IBN Live News

Lucknow, Jul 31 (PTI) In a major decision, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet today gave its nod to keep the office of the Lokayukta out of the purview of the RTI. The Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, decided to keep the office of the Lokayukta out of the purview of the RTI Act, 2005, a senior official said. The government believes that since Lokayukta is an investigating agency there is need to keep its secrecy intact, official sources said. Any disclosure of on-going investigations could prove detrimental, they said adding the Lokayukta also has judicial powers.

[Sajib Nandi]

Reported by Ibnlive.in.com on Jul 31, 2012
UP govt keeps Lokayukta out of RTI purview, IBN Live News

Lucknow, Jul 31 (PTI) In a major decision, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet today gave its nod to keep the office of the Lokayukta out of the purview of the RTI. The Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, decided to keep the office of the Lokayukta out of the purview of the RTI Act, 2005, a senior official said. The government believes that since Lokayukta is an investigating agency there is need to keep its secrecy intact, official sources said. Any disclosure of on-going investigations could prove detrimental, they said adding the Lokayukta also has judicial powers. In another important decision, the Cabinet decided to implement the Kanya Vidyadhan Yojna for encouraging girls of economically weak families for further study, the official said. Under the scheme, identified girls would get one-time encouragement amount of Rs 30,000, he said adding the scheme would be implemented from this year itself. Girls passing class 12 this year or later and hailing from families having annual income of not more than Rs 35,000 will be eligible under the scheme. The girls will be selected by a committee headed by respective District Magistrates, the official said. MORE PTI SAB PG RKC

[Sajib Nandi]

UP to keep Lokayukta out of RTI ambit


Reported by Timesofindia.indiatimes.com on Aug 1, 2012
UP to keep Lokayukta out of RTI ambit - The Times of India

LUCKNOW: The state cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to place the office of Lokayukta outside the purview of the RTI Act. The cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav decided there was a need to maintain secrecy while investigating corruption charges levelled against officials. Since the office of the Lokayukta operates as an investigating agency, any queries about ongoing investigations, the government said, could hamper probes.

The cabinet decision appears to renege on the Samajwadi Party government's promise to strengthen the Lokayukta Act. In its election manifesto, SP had promised to take steps to strengthen the office of the Lokayukta, if it was voted to power.

However, since the SP has come to power, a series of changes effected by it have insulated the office of Lokayukta, instead of making it more transparent. First, the government increased the tenure of the Lokayukta to eight years, then it authorised the Lokayukta to penalise persons who were found pressing "frivolous'' charges against any government official. Now, with the cabinet approving a proposal to keep the Lokayukta outside the ambit of the RTI Act, concerns have been raised about the further dilution and politicisation, rather than strengthening, of the Lokayukta office.

Earlier, the SP government had suggested it would also make the Lokayukta office a multi-member body, apart from bringing the economic offences wing of the police under the purview of the Lokayukta Act. So far, however, it has done neither. Earlier, Akhilesh had also turned down a proposal to bring the CM's office under the Lokayukta's purview.

Apart from the decision regarding the office of the Lokayukta, the government on Tuesday also drew flak for its decision to rechristen the Manyavar Shri Kanshiram Ji Urdu, Arabic-Persian University, Lucknow as Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Urdu, Arabic-Persian University. The decision drew an angry response from the Bahujan Samaj Party with party chief Mayawati terming the act as "politically vindictive".

In a statement issued by the party, Mayawati also called the move "undignified and disgusting'', adding that the SP government should have opened a new university and given it a name of its choice, instead of renaming a university that was named after BSP founder Kanshi Ram to acknowledge his contribution to UP. She said: "Kanshi Ram's love for Urdu and his knowledge of the language is widely known. Therefore, the SP's decision to rename the university is most "unfortunate" and "condemnable".

[Sajib Nandi]

BJP questions move to keep Lokayukta out of RTI ambit


Reported by Timesofindia.indiatimes.com on Aug 1, 2012
BJP questions move to keep Lokayukta out of RTI ambit - The Times of India

LUCKNOW: Terming the state Cabinet's decision to remove the Lokayukta from the ambit of Right To Information Act as undemocratic, Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said that the move proves that Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party have struck a deal to go slow on the corruption cases during the Mayawati government. The alliance can be corroborated from the fact that how Akhilesh-led SP government accepted the demand of BSP leaders, who met the chief minister and gave memorandum, claimed state BJP president Dr Laxmikant Bajpayi.

Second such example of BSP-SP nexus is the fact that the removal of Lokayukta from RTI ambit was an attempt to save the corrupt leaders of BSP government, he claimed and added removal of Lokayukta from RTI's ambit will help corrupt BSP leaders, whose inquiry is pending before it. He said keeping Lokayukta out of RTI ambit was violation of Section 26 of RTI Act. It was because of Lokayukta inquiry that several ministers of BSP government had to resign and CBI inquiry was recommended by Lokayukta against senior BSP minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Bajpayi said.

However, the Samajwadi Party government has not taken any decision on the Lokayukta's recommendation, Bajpayi further said.