Seminar on RTI Act 2005 held at Astaranga

Seminar on RTI Act 2005 held at Astaranga, Puri on 14^th Dec. 05

under the joint aegis of Puri District Action Group and CASA

A Seminar on Right to Information Act 2005 was held in the Conference Hall of Astarang Block in Puri district on 14^th of December under the aegis of Puri District Action Group and CASA (Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action) Banamalipur, in which persons from various walks of life such as PRIs, NGOs, SHGs, media and Govt Offices actively participated by way of giving their views and opinions on the subject.

To start with, the participants gave their self-introduction. Then Smt. Kanak Lata Panda, Secretary WARD ( Women Action for Rural Development) welcomed all the guests and participants to the occasion. Then the Seminar was formally inaugurated by the Chairman Astaranga Panchayat Samiti Sri Mayadhar Mohanty, who was also the Chief Guest on the occasion. Sri Mohanty in his talk welcomed the efforts of the NGOs to spread awareness about the RTI Act, which is meant to eliminate corruption and inefficiency from our public life. He further observed that the persons belonging to BPL families in Orissa should enjoy exemption of all the 3 kinds of fees as mandated by the parent Act, in stead of only application fee as provided under the Orissa Rules, and the amount of fees charged on different heads be made affordable by the common people.

In his introductory note on the theme of the Seminar, Sri A.Prakash on behalf of CASA observed that since the RTI Act is a powerful tool in the hands of the common people to avail their right to access official information, it is very much necessary on the part of each social activist to see that the RTI Rules made by the State Govt is in perfect harmony with the letter and spirit of the mother Act.

The BDO Astaranga Sri Niranjan Behera participating in the discussion said that so far no application has been submitted to his office under RTI Act, but he is well aware about the obligations of the officials to give information to the citizens as and when they approach for the same. The Sub-Inspector of Schools, who has just been appointed as PIO of the Nimapara Block Office and was present on the occasion said that he was appointed as such only the previous day and has started learning as to how to operationalise the provisions of the Act and Orissa Rules in the Block.

Sri Khirod Kumar Rout, Joint Secretary Orissa High Court Bar Association, Cuttack who was a Resource Person on the occasion observed that the RTI Act as per its Section 23 sought to override all the laws and instruments of the State which were made by the British rulers to maintain their colonial rule by keeping the people in dark. But the Orissa RTI Rules which has been framed by the Govt of Orissa in an arbitrary manner, bypassing the mandatory consultation with the members of public and even bypassing the consultation with the District Collectors, who are at the cutting edge of the administration, is completely at odds with the citizen-friendly provisions of the parent Act. Citing the instance from the Orissa Rules he said that it was simply ludicrous to ask for the identity or citizenship of a person applying for information under the Act. Similarly ludicrous is the provision of the Orissa Rules that an applicant for sample shall have to compensate for the damage or loss to the public property, if any, caused during the sample collection by the PIO. Sri Rout concluded by saying that the Orissa RTI Rules deserve to be recast thoroughly in line with the provisions of the parent RTI Act.

Sri Gadadhar Biswal, Member Zilla Parishad Puri opined that the Application Form prescribed under Orissa RTI Rules asks for the name of the Father, Husband and Permanent Address of the Applicant, which are nothing but personal details, proscribed by the Act. If an applicant mentions these personal details in his application for information, then the mischievous people whose vested interests are likely to be hampered by the disclosure of the concerned information, might go to the extent of attacking his house and even murdering the applicant and/or his relations. Sri Biswal further said that a handful of officers who have framed the uncongenial Orissa Rules have kept the interest of the bureaucracy in view to the exclusion of the public interest at large, and this Seminar should send a rejoinder to the Governor Orissa for amending the RTI Rules in tune with the mother Act.

The Chief Resource Person on the occasion was Sri Chitta Behera, a social scientist who presented a comprehensive critique of the Orissa RTI Rules vis-à-vis the RTI Act 2005. In course of his talk he opined that the coterie of bureaucrats who have framed the Orissa Rules seem to be ignorant of the provisions of RTI Act, existing legal procedure for framing the Rules under any Act and as well about the ground reality. He said, ‘just look at the columns of the Form A (for Application). It gives an option to the applicant to receive the information by post or in person. Suppose an applicant wanted to receive the information by post. But as the Orissa Rules goes, all the fees against the cost of providing information (such as for Xerox, computer print-out, sample, map, CD/floppy etc.) have to be paid in cash, not by MO, PO or Cheque. It means that though the information pack shall be sent by post, the applicant has to come in person to the PIO to deposit the required fees in the shape of cash. Is such a Rule tenable at all?, asked Sri Behera. Then he said that contrary to the clear provision made under both Sections 19 and 20 of the Act that in any appeal proceedings the burden of proof shall lie on the concerned PIO who denied the request, the Orissa Rule-12 provides for advance deposit by an appellant citizen before the Information Commission of all the expenditure for evidence/witness required in connection with the hearing of his appeal. Similarly, while the Act has not envisaged any penalty or damage to be recovered from a citizen applying or appealing under the Act, the Rule-13 provides for realization of penalty from a citizen’s landed property. Sri Behera pleaded for complete withdrawal of the existing RTI Rules and its replacement by appropriate, citizen-friendly Rules, to be based upon the public opinion as required under the Section 24 of the Orissa General Clauses Act 1937.

The other speakers on the occasion were Sri Saroj Kumar Moharana, Additional Tahsildar Astaranga, Sri Subhransu Patnaik Additional BDO, Smt. Sushila Mohanty of SHG Federation and Sri Nakul Ku. Swain of Jagnyaseni Jubak Sangha.

The President Sri Mohanty concluded by saying that the Resolution of the Seminar for amending the Orissa RTI Rules as discussed should be sent to Governor Orissa for necessary action at his end. Vote of thanks was offered by the Secretary TYC ( Trimuti Youth Club) Astaranga, who was the local host of the Seminar.