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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | State Information Commission to help harassed RTI activists-Faizan Ahmad

State Information Commission to help harassed RTI activists-Faizan Ahmad

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published Published on Mar 21, 2012   modified Modified on Mar 21, 2012

To make the RTI Act more effective and meaningful, the State Information Commission(SIC) has come out with a mechanism to help the activists being harassed and tortured for seeking information and take action against their tormentors. Working at the suggestion of CM Nitish Kumar, the SIC has decided to create a monitoring cell and deploy officials in its office and provide a helpline number for filing their complaints which will be personally looked into by the chief information commissioner.

This apart, the SIC has tightened its grip around the officials who are in habit of denying information. Some powerful bureaucrats, including a principal secretary and a DM and grassroot-level official like panchayat secretary, finally fell into the RTI net recently for withholding information with malafide intention and harassing the information seeker, Umadhar Singh, an ageing revolutionary of yesteryears and former MLA.

Recently, state information commissioner Farzand Ahmed had asked both the principal secretary, land and revenue, C Ashok Vardhan and public information officer (PIO)-cum-Darbhanga DM R Laxmanan to provide information to the petitioner within 15 days or face penalty as well as pay compensation.

On the same day, Darbhanga district agriculture officer Ramvilas Mishra was fined Rs 25,000 and was also ordered to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation to Singh.

The panchayat secretary of Meethsari under Bhagwanpur block in Begusarai district was produced in the court of Ahmed under police custody for denying information and evading appearance. This was the first case in the state in which an official was taken into custody under proviso of the Civil Procedure Code and produced. The BDO, who headed the police force that produced the PIO under custody, also informed the court that following the order, the PIO has been suspended by the DM.

Ahmed refused to discuss his orders, but said, "The RTI law is like a diamond-blade that cuts through the heart of the marble-hearted bureaucrats. No public authority is above this Act."

All these cases that dated back to 2008-09 revolved round alleged huge smuggling of subsidized fertilizers meant for the kisans to the neighbouring country, loot of land allotted to Mahadalit families, by influential landlords and status of the implementation of development schemes.

Singh, one of the founders of the Naxalite movement, told the court it was surprising that bureaucrats who are considered powerful have become so powerless that they could not dare raise their heads before the land grabbers. "How can they ensure transparency and accountability," he quipped.

The Times of India, 21 March, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/State-Information-Commission-to-help-harassed-RTI-activists/articleshow/12349196.cms


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