On the occasion of World Human Rights Day on 10th December 2005, a Workshop on Human Rights and Corruption was jointly organized by the District NGO Coordination Committee and Criminal Courts Bar Association Cuttack in the afternoon at the Association Hall, involving the people from cross sections of city public, the bulk of whom were the slum dwellers on the Govt land threatened with eviction. The speakers on the occasion were from diverse backgrounds, law, social activism, education and media.
Sri Ashok Dalai, Advocate Orissa High Court who moderated the proceedings gave a brief introduction about the objective of the day. He observed that the observation of this day is not confined to India only but spread throughout the world.
The Chief Guest on the occasion was Sri Souri Chandra Mohapatra, President Criminal Courts Bar Association Cuttack, and the guest speakers were Sri Amiya Bhushan Biswal Secretary Utkal Sewak Samaj, Bishnu Barik a social and political activist, Shaik Kalim Ulla a College Lecturer, Narayan Ch.Jena a social volunteer, Samarendra Rout a media person.and Sri Arun Mohanty Secretary Criminal Courts Bar Association, besides Sri Lalit Kumar Mishra Convener Cuttack District NGO Coordination Committee.
Joining in as a panelist, Sri Chitta Behera, a noted social activist while mentioning a brief historical background of the Day in course of his speech, said that on this very day in 1948, a monumental document of our epoch ‘The Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ was adopted by the United Nations, and most of the nations of the world, who signed it swore to abide by its principles. Though the very definition of ‘human right’ and the role of the UN in maintaining world peace are still a hotly debated matter, it is salutary on the whole that thanks to the discourse around the term ‘human right’ continuing right since the day of the adoption of the said document, the peoples and nations of the world are getting more and more aware and organized to defend their rights through the international agency of the UN forum.
Sri Behera further said that the Universal Declaration stood inter alia for a very unique kind of right, i.e. freedom to seek information besides the freedom of _expression, which was not there available in the earlier international documents. Subsequently the UN in one of its significant documents described it as the ‘touchstone of all other human rights’. Quite some member countries, one after another adopted this right in their Constitutions or through laws separately made for the purpose. But India though a signatory to the Universal Declaration took about 58 years after its independence to translate this principle into a legal right, which has of late been realized in the shape of Right to Information Act 2005. Paradoxically, prior to the passing of this Act, the courts and legislatures of the country were largely open to the public view, while the offices of the executive were shrouded with secrecy. This new Act made by the Parliament of India which is on the whole a progressive piece of legislation, officially ended the regime of secrecy that continued from the British raj to this day, and entitles now a common citizen to ask for information from any public authority though through a procedure laid down by the law itself.
The Act came into full force on 12th October last through out the country including Orissa. Meanwhile the Central Govt and several States have made Rules to operationalise the provisions of the Act and the said Rules and the fees fixed under them are more or less congenial to the public as warranted by the Act. But the Orissa RTI Rules which was suddenly notified on 7th of October 05 bypassing the consultation with the civil society is not only thoroughly anti-people but also contradictory to the very letter and spirit of the mother law. Besides the exorbitant fees, which is the highest in the country, the Orissa Rules aim at harassing a person who would dare to apply at all, penalizing a person who would dare to ask for a sample under the Act and threatening away the aggrieved citizens by way of passing all the financial burdens of the hearing onto them, from lodging any complaint before the Information Commission. While the original Act has not prescribed any application form to be made compulsory, the Orissa Rules has imposed a long, vexatious 11-column application form asking inter alia for personal details, which the Act had clearly proscribed under its Section 6. Thus the Orissa Rules far from givng the public any access to official information, is now a sharp instrument in the hands of bureaucrats to harass, exploit and impoverish them in the typical colonial style in the name of implementing the central RTI Act. The civil society groups should boycott the ultra vires and anti-people Orissa RTI Rules and demand introduction of citizen friendly rules in their place, based upon the public opinion.
Sri Behera however proposed an alternative line of action for the people to pursue for vindicating their right to information until the appropriate kind of Rules for Orissa is in place under the Act. He suggested that the members of the public should avail the provision under Section 4 of the Act to access and inspect the information relating to their day-to-day needs, which are supposed to be proactively disclosed by each public authority in the form of 18 manuals as suggested under the Template for Information Handbook brought out by the Central Government.
Speakers like Sri Amiya Bhushan Biswal, Bishnu Barik and Lalit Mishra endorsed the proposal put forward by Sri Behera in course of their respective speeches made on the occasion.
The Seminar came to an end with vote of thanks to the guests and participants at 5 PM as scheduled.