AA Conveys Ggratitude to the Appellant

[colnrkurup]

As per Panchayat Raj Act it was incumbant on Municipal Councillers to hold ward meetings every quarter and failure to do so will make them laible for cancellation of their membership. The Secretary Municipality is responsible to report to government all cases where such quarterly meetings are not held. When I found that no such meetings are held in my ward, I had asked the PIO of the Municipality,

(a) Particulars of cases where the Councilors have not held the statutorily prescribed number of Ward Committee Meeting.
(b) Particulars of reports made by the Secretary to government in all such cases.
(c) Date and time for my inspection of all records connected with the holding of ward Comittee meetings

As the assigned date and time for inspection was for 2 weeks later I did not go for the inspection.. The information furnished by the PIO being incomplete, on first appeal, the Secretary has promptly furnished the complete information that none of the 50 councillors of the Municipality have held the statutorily required number of ward meetings and he has not reported this fact to government so far. ..

After furnishing the above information the AA, viz., Secretary, Municipality conveyed his gratitude to me as so far he could not compell the Councillors to submit the report of their ward meetings My above request for information enabed him to tell the Councillors that he is helpless and has no choice other than reporting their failure to government. This has put all the councillor in a spin and they were after the Secretry's representative to obtain his endorcement that the meetings were held in this quarter and he has attended such meetings. Of cource this appeard a cooked up one and they might have promissed to hold ward meetings regularly.

Yes. This shows the strength of the RTI Act 2005 .

[indus]

Do u mind giving me the list of questions u have asked I would like to ask our muncipality too

[colnrkurup]

I won't mind. They are:

1. Availability for my inspection and date and time of such availability the "Schedule of Ward Meetings fixed as stipulated in the amendment to the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act that came into force from 24-8-2005

2. Names of elected Municipal Councillors of Tellicherry Municipality who have not conducted the statutorily required number of Quarterly Ward Meetings during their current terms of office

3. Procedure adopted to ascertain the authenticity of the minutes of every such quarterly meeting submitted by the Councillors to the Secretary.

4. Action taken by the Municipality in cases if any, where the Councillors have not conducted the statutorily required number of quarterly ward meetings

5. The dates, place and time of the Quarterly ward meetings held in the last one year in Ward No.XXXXX

6. Meeting dates and Number of the wards where the Secretary, Municipality has attended such meetings in last 6 months.

[indus]

i doubt wheather this panchayat raj act is applicable in andhra pradesh

[Bijanray]

Originally Posted by colnrkurup

As per Panchayat Raj Act it was incumbant on Municipal Councillers to hold ward meetings every quarter and failure to do so will make them laible for cancellation of their membership. The Secretary Municipality is responsible to report to government all cases where such quarterly meetings are not held. When I found that no such meetings are held in my ward, I had asked the PIO of the Municipality,

(a) Particulars of cases where the Councilors have not held the statutorily prescribed number of Ward Committee Meeting.
(b) Particulars of reports made by the Secretary to government in all such cases.
(c) Date and time for my inspection of all records connected with the holding of ward Comittee meetings

As the assigned date and time for inspection was for 2 weeks later I did not go for the inspection.. The information furnished by the PIO being incomplete, on first appeal, the Secretary has promptly furnished the complete information that none of the 50 councillors of the Municipality have held the statutorily required number of ward meetings and he has not reported this fact to government so far. ..

After furnishing the above information the AA, viz., Secretary, Municipality conveyed his gratitude to me as so far he could not compell the Councillors to submit the report of their ward meetings My above request for information enabed him to tell the Councillors that he is helpless and has no choice other than reporting their failure to government. This has put all the councillor in a spin and they were after the Secretry's representative to obtain his endorcement that the meetings were held in this quarter and he has attended such meetings. Of cource this appeard a cooked up one and they might have promissed to hold ward meetings regularly.

Yes. This shows the strength of the RTI Act 2005 .

We had similar experience with Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). The executives of Town planning department were refusing info on legal status of a park land against our RTI even after best efforts of PIO. Finally when PIO arranged meeting with Chairman, BDA
on our request ( & his suggestion), the info was parted with=BK Ray

[taurus]

The power of RTI is slowing emerging. This is a very good example. The Secretary also deserves praise for his candid acceptance.

[jps50]

I salute U col Kurup. Things will change, though slowly but surely. RTI does work. Nice to read your story and we are motivated to take such pro people initiatives in our area also.

[opsharma]

Mr Jithender Reddy,
Every state has Panchayat Raj Act,for andhra check Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act,1994,and Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Amendment) act ,2007.

[The Great]

An amazing success story Col.Saab, my hats off to you.

[karira]

Originally Posted by indus

i doubt wheather this panchayat raj act is applicable in andhra pradesh

Originally Posted by opsharma

Mr Jithender Reddy,
Every state has Panchayat Raj Act,for andhra check Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act,1994,and Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Amendment) act ,2007.

Jitender,

If you do study the Act, please also put up your views and outcome here regarding the applicability in AP.

Some of our members from AP might like to use this tool effectively for better civic management.