Co-operative housing society secretary is liable to act as a PIO: Khan

[karira]

As reported by Vinod Rajput in jagrancityplus.com on 31 March 2008:
Jagran CityPlus

Co-operative housing society secretary is liable to act as a PIO: Khan

Noida: In order to serve the purpose of providing information under RTI Act 2005, there is a provision to appoint public information officers in the offices of public authorities as per the Rule-5 of Chapter-2. Hence, under the Rules-5 and 19, according to the letter 3704/ prash-1, dated 27-12-2005, the UP Housing Avam Development Board appointed assistant housing commissioner/ assistant registrar as a PIO (public information officer) and joint housing commissioner/ joint registrar as first appellate authority in order to provide information to the general public about the co-operative housing societies in the respective areas of the officers. After the implementation of the RTI Act, officers at the headquarters noticed that information sought by the complainants were about land allotment, possession of the land, registry of the land, illegal activities of the secretary and chairman, and proposals related with the societies. On the contrary, higher authorities as well as applicants were facing high amount of inconvenience in providing and receiving the desired information.

Thus, access to the information needed to be easy for the applicants and to end the mounting hassles, Dr. MAA Khan, Housing Commissioner, issued a letter (Number 3273) following the article 2 (J) (III) along with 2(A) of RTI Act 2005, dated November 16, 2006 in which it was noticeably stated that the secretary of the co-operative housing societies is liable to work as a PIO to general public for absolute transparency in the system.

When Cityplus surveyed the co-operative housing societies of Noida then not even a single society is found which is following the RTI Act 2005, reason being that the Act is not being put into effect strictly, and lack of awareness among the masses. Co-operative housing officer of Ghaziabad Zone, Suresh Pawar told that there are around 55 co-operative housing societies in Noida and 52 in Greater Noida which are Government controlled as the land is given to them by the State. On asking veteran journalist and State Information Commissioner (UPSIC) Gyanendra Sharma that why the RTI Act has not lived up to its true verve even after more than two years of its implementation, he opined, "The understanding of the Act is lacking among the masses. There is a need to educate people about RTI Act in Western UP." He also informed that along with Sanjay Yadav (Information Commissioner), a three member bench is investigating the matter whether which co-operative housing societies come under the RTI Act 2005 in order to end confusion about the nature of societies that come under the Act.

On being asked about the letter number 3273 which was issued on November 16, 2006 by the Housing Commissioner to the co-operative housing societies whether it is into effect or withdrawn, then PK Singh, Joint Housing Commissioner Lucknow chips in, "There is no withdrawal of the order at all till now and it is definitely into effect and all the co-operative housing societies are liable to follow this order as it is in the constitutional spirit."

RTI Activist Commodore Lokesh K. Batra who creates awareness among people about RTI Act opines, "More than two years have passed since the RTI Act 2005 came into effect but still mass awareness is lacking. People needs to be educated about the Act." Transparency and accountability of officilas can be ensured only when the RTI Act will be implemented in its true spirit.”

"The understanding of the Act is lacking among the masses. We need to make public aware about the RTI Act 2005 in order to make the functioning of public authorities transparent.”
– Gyanendra Sharma, SIC

Copy of the above mentioned circular is with me and cannot be attached because the file (jpg) size is too big. If any one needs it, please pm me your email id and I will email it.

[shan]

This is a worthy news for me. Could you pl. e-mail a copy of this circular to me.

Shan

[kushal]

Use the drop down thread tools above to 'email,'print', 'subscribe'.

[shan]

Thanx Dr. Pathak. I have under the thread of housing society success story by SSN mentioned some of my query. Would appreciate if you could share ur thoughts on the subject.

Shan

[karira]

Originally Posted by shan

This is a worthy news for me. Could you pl. e-mail a copy of this circular to me.

Shan

It is very big to be posted here, since it is a image file.
As soon as I have OK from the site administrator, I will post that.

Otherwise pm (DO NOT post in the forum) me your email id and I will send the two images as a attachment.

[karira]

shan,

Attaching the circular. It is in Hindi.

[shan]

Thanx. But am unable to download & print. Could you guide me thru, pl.

[karira]

Just right click on the image, scroll down to "save link as....." and save on your desktop.
Then open with double click.

[shan]

God Bless....

[karira]

shan,

Can you please translate the above into English and post it here OR just post a synopsis/gist of the circular.

It will be helpful to those members/guests who do not understand pure Hindi.

[shan]

Noida: In order to serve the purpose of providing information under RTI Act 2005, there is a provision to appoint public information officers in the offices of public authorities as per the Rule-5 of Chapter-2. Hence, under the Rules-5 and 19, according to the letter 3704/ prash-1, dated 27-12-2005, the UP Housing Avam Development Board appointed assistant housing commissioner/ assistant registrar as a PIO (public information officer) and joint housing commissioner/ joint registrar as first appellate authority in order to provide information to the general public about the co-operative housing societies in the respective areas of the officers. After the implementation of the RTI Act, officers at the headquarters noticed that information sought by the complainants were about land allotment, possession of the land, registry of the land, illegal activities of the secretary and chairman, and proposals related with the societies. On the contrary, higher authorities as well as applicants were facing high amount of inconvenience in providing and receiving the desired information.

Thus, access to the information needed to be easy for the applicants and to end the mounting hassles, Dr. MAA Khan, Housing Commissioner, issued a letter (Number 3273) following the article 2 (J) (III) along with 2(A) of RTI Act 2005, dated November 16, 2006 in which it was noticeably stated that the secretary of the co-operative housing societies is liable to work as a PIO to general public for absolute transparency in the system.

I have copied the above from your post , karira. The synopsis is in bold letters. This all information can be sought from the secretary as per the circular. If any objection is raised this copy can be shown to the secretary of the co-op society.

Let us wait for feedback on this one.

shan

[shan]

Where to download the appln. form. Can you guide me how & whom to file the RTI in case of co-operative housing society.

[abhijeet]

In this particular case land/flats were provided by the Govt. , that way it is controlled by the Govt. So RTI act is applicable here. But when the land of the Coop. Housing society was purchased from private party is RTI Act also applicable ? In West Bengal , though these Hsg Societies are some how controlled by the Registrar concerned, but any
query related with the Coop Soc is not accepted by the Registrar's office PIO and thus we are not receiving important information from any where. Would any member suggest how to have information? Any way when Registrar has got certain control, why the concerned PIO can not provide required information obtainig it from the Coop.Housing Societies ?

[shan]

In our case the managing commitee was suspended by the govt. for mass irregularities done by them & the Registrar appointed as the secretary. Would this inf. help in deciding how & what to use under RTI>

[shan]

Well based on the above notification, a RTI was filed with Sehkari Adhikari ( Awas )dt 29/04/08 & the response was dated 13th May that since the inf. is not available with us & that since the secretary is liable to act as a PIo , the response was solicited from the secretary/ PIo of the society. A copy of the same was marked to the applicant.

Now, my query is that since it is 40 days & there is no response from the secretary/ PIo, how long to wait & then what is the next step.

Seek response/ advise from all the veterans on this great portal

[karira]

Shan,

Just wait a few days more (to account for postal delays) and then submit a First Appeal against "deemed refusal" of information.

A general First Appeal format for deemed refusal is attached to the following post:

Disregarding RTI Act

In your "prayer" or "relief sought" you may add another point about the information being supplied to you "free of cost" since the PIO has delayed the reply beyond the mandated 30 or 35 or 40 days, if it is applicable to your case.

[jps50]

I think in UP also, like gujarat/maharashtra, coop housing societies are controlled by Sub-registrar of Coop Societies. If this is so U can simultaneously ask for required info from the concerned sub-registrar under sectio 2[f] of RTI act.In case if coop housing societies in up are not controlled by sub-registrar, U can file RTI application with any other dept/authority that controls such societies.

[shan]

Originally Posted by karira

shan,

Attaching the circular. It is in Hindi.

as per this circular , the secretary is liable to act as a PIO. Now , the PIO of UP awas vikas has forwarded the appln to the secretary for sending the inf. to the applicant. A copy of which is marked to the applicant.What would be the relevance of this circular if the secretary does not reply within the stipulated time period & if we go for the first appeal.

shan