Activists arrested for protest against chief information commissioner
As Reported in Calcutta News.Net Friday 25th July, 2008 (IANS)
A group of Right to Information (
RTI) activists were arrested late
Friday for holding a sit-in against Chief Information Commissioner
(
CIC) Wajahat Habibullah outside his office in south Delhi to demand
that the health department be given to another commissioner.
"We have arrested some activists for staging a demonstration outside
the
CIC office in Bhikaji Cama Palace and obstructing public servants
from performing their duties," said Azad Singh, in-charge of the R.K.
Puram police station.
He declined to give the number of people arrested.
Arif, one of the protesters, said: "For the past four months, we were
demanding that Habibullah take the health department from IC
(Information Commissioner) Padma Balasubramanian and give it to
another commissioner. However, even after repeated assurances, he
never took the decision."
Besides Habibullah, the four ICs are A.N. Tiwari, O.P. Kejriwal, M.M.
Ansari and Balasubramanian.
The
RTI activists, who held the protest, were working on health
issues
in hospitals across the capital.
"She (Balasubramanian) is biased towards government officials and
never takes any strict action against them even if it can be taken
under the
RTI law," Arif alleged.
"We wanted the health department to be given to Kejriwal or that
Habibullah should take it under himself," he added.
The protesters said they had decided not leave the
CIC office till
Habibullah takes action.
http://www.calcuttanews.net/ story/386431