‘RTI applications can soon be filed online’

System will be rolled out in phases

18/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, CHENNAI

The Tamil Nadu government will provide an online facility for people to seek information under the Right to Information Act from the next financial year, Minister for Personnel and Administrative Reforms D. Jayakumar announced in the Assembly on Tuesday.

Mr. Jayakumar said the facility, to be rolled out in phases, would enable people to file petitions and appeals online under the RTI Act. This would ease the burden of those filing the petitions either in person or by post, he said. The Minister also announced that government employees who have children with special needs would be provided special leave of six days per annum. A crèche will be set up for children of employees of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on the Directorate premises at a cost of ₹4.27 lakh, he said.

Mr. Jayakumar, also the Fisheries Minister, announced that fish landing centres will be constructed and upgraded in Kanniyakumari, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Tirunelveli and Thanjavur districts.

Private colleges told to disclose fee collected from students, under RTI

TNIC seeks explanation from colleges for skipping hearing

12/03/2020, S. VIJAY KUMAR,CHENNAI

TNIC directed five private colleges in Vellore to divulge details of fee collected and salary paid.

The Tamil Nadu Information Commission has directed five private colleges in Vellore district to share the details of fee collected from students in aided/unaided courses and also disclose the salary paid to faculty in self-financed courses.

The case arises out of a petition filed by I. Elangovan of Vellore in 2008 seeking details of fee and special fee collected from students in under-graduate and post-graduate courses since 2003 from Dhanabagiyam Krishnasamy Mudaliar College for Women (Autonomous), Sainathapuram, Islamiah College, Vaniyambadi, Mazharul Uloom College, Ambur, C. Abdul Hakeem College, Melvisharam and Vorhees College in Vellore district, under the provisions of Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

Not satisfied with the reply received from the Joint Directorate of Collegiate Education, the petitioner moved the commission which passed orders in 2009 directing the Public Information Officers of the respective colleges to provide the details sought under the Act. However, the colleges moved the Madras High Court by filing a writ petition challenging the order.

After hearing both sides, the court in 2019 passed orders directing the Commission to pass fresh orders after hearing all parties concerned.

In the fresh hearing that commenced later, the PIOs of Islamiah College and C. Abdul Hakeem College assured to provide details sought by the petitioner while the PIO of Mazharul Uloom College sought more time to furnish the same. The petitioner did not turn up for the hearing. The PIOs of Dhanabagiyam Krishnasamy Mudaliar College for Women (Autonomous) and Voorhees College also failed to appear in the hearing to present their arguments. The Commission recorded their absence with dissent.

Passing orders, State Information Commissioner S. Muthuraj directed all the colleges to send the information required by the petitioner by registered post and report compliance to the Commission.

He sought an explanation from the two colleges that did not appear in the hearing as to why disciplinary action should not be initiated against the PIO and the Principal under Section 20(2) of the Act.

MVA govt spent ₹2.79 crore on swearing-in ceremony: RTI
MUMBAI Updated: Jan 15, 2020 23:08 IST

Shrinivas Deshpande

The newly formed Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government spent ₹2.79 crore on the oath-taking ceremony of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and six of his cabinet colleagues at Shivaji Park, Dadar, on November 28, 2019. The event cost ₹1.81 crore more than what the Devendra Fadnavis-led government had spent when it was sworn-in in November 2014.

These expenses were disclosed by the government in response to a right to information (RTI) query by activist Nikhil Chanshetti.

Chanshetti had sought information about the expenses incurred on the oath-taking ceremony held in 2019, 2014, and 2009.

In reply to the query, the upper secretary of general administration department, RG Gaikwad, informed that the government had spent ₹27,907,374, of which ₹303,257 was used for floral decorations and ₹27,604,117 was the cost of electrification on the day of the swearing-in.

However, the government is unable to provide information about expenses incurred for the oath-taking held in 2009, citing documents were lost in the June 21, 2012 fire in the Mantralaya.

“The finance minister always says the condition of the state is so weak... Then why had the state government increased its spending on the swearing-in ceremony by almost threefold?” said Chanshetti.

In 2014, the BJP government had spent ₹9,837,950 for Fadnavis’s swearing-in ceremony which was held at Wankhede Stadium on October 31, 2014.

Warrant against Haryana official for not replying to RTI query

03/12/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,GURUGRAM

Taking a serious view of the District Town Planner (Enforcement), Gurugram, not replying to an application under the Right To Information (RTI) Act on unauthorised colonies, the State Information Commission (SIC) has issued bailable warrants against the official.

The panel also ordered the Director General of Department of Town and Country Planning to ensure that state public information officers (SPIO) attend the commission’s hearings so that appellants are not harassed.

The order came in connection with a RTI application filed by Ramesh Yadav more than a year ago seeking information on the No-Objection Certificates issued by the official concerned for registration of land and the action taken against mushrooming of illegal colonies.

In its November 15 order, the SIC said it had on August 2 directed the SPIO-cum-DTP (Enforcement) Ved Prakash Sehrawat, to facilitate inspection of relevant records on August 13 at 11.15 a.m. at his office, but the appellant, Mr. Yadav, in his email on November 14 informed that he was not provided any information.

In its four-page order, the SIC noted that Mr. Sehrawat “neither furnished any information to the appellant nor replied to the showcause notice”. “This shows the lacklustre attitude of SPIO,” it read. The SIC further noted that the SPIO did not attend commission hearings, “which shows he has no regards for effective implementation of the RTI Act”.

The commission has directed Mr. Sehrawat to furnish a reply to the RTI application within two weeks and be present at the next hearing on March 11, 2020, with the relevant record.

Mr. Yadav alleged that Mr. Sehrawat, had issued around 250 NOCs, mostly in violation of law, to facilitate unauthorised colonies.

He said that around 700 unauthorised colonies had come up in Gurugram, but no action was taken.

Mr. Sehrawat, however, denied all allegations saying that they were motivated by vested interests. He claimed that he had duly replied to the commission’s showcause notice and furnished the information to the appellant and it appeared to be a case of miscommunication.

Don’t withhold information sought under RTI : DGP

29/11/2019, GAUTAM S. MENGLE,MUMBAI

The office of the Director General of Police (DGP), Maharashtra, has issued instructions for information on ongoing cases, sought under the Right To Information Act, to be given out to applicants provided it can be established beyond doubt that giving out the information will not hamper the case.

The circular, signed by Special Inspector General of Police Milind Bharambe, Law and Order, on behalf of Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, DGP, refers to repeated observations about police officers refusing point blank to share information about ongoing cases, saying it will hamper the investigation.

“It has been brought to the notice of the State Information Commissioner that applications filed under the RTI that seek information about registered cases are summarily dismissed, with the only reason given being that the information can not be revealed as it is an ongoing investigation. Police officers have been observed to refuse or avoid giving information using this reason,” the circular states.

It further says that following these observations, instructions were issued by the State Information Commissioner about making information available about records, case diaries and reports, and CCTV footage as requested under the RTI.

The circular also instructs police personnel to save a copy of every footage released to applicants.

When contacted, Mr. Bharambe said,

“We have observed ample examples of RTI applications being filed for frivolous reasons, which is why it is important to consider each application based on its merit.”

Drugs worth Rs 1,081 crore seized in the last 19 months: RTI

PTI | Nov 15, 2019, 08.53 PM IST

MUMBAI: The Mumbai police has seized narcotic drugs worth Rs 1,081 crore in the last 19 months and arrested 1,073 people for drug-related crimes, an RTI query revealed.

The number of people arrested in drug-related cases more than doubled as of September 2019 compared to the previous year, the information obtained from the Anti- Narcotics Cell revealed.

The RTI query filed by activist Anil Galgali sought information regarding the number of drug-related cases, arrests, seized drugs and their value.

The police has provided the data from January 1, 2018 to September 2019.

"We have recovered narcotics worth Rs 1,081 crore in the last 19 months (between January 2018 to September 2019) and arrested more than 1,000 people, which includes drug peddlers," said Shivdeep Lande, deputy commissioner of police (ANC).

As per the data shared by the police, a total of 1,363 kg of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, marijuana, MD and LCD were seized in the whole of 2018.

The drugs seized last year are valued at Rs 1,016 crore and 395 accused were arrested for drug-related crimes of which 194 were marijuana users, the RTI query stated.

From January 1 to September 30, 2019, around 169.4 kg of narcotic substances, worth Rs 64.64 lakh were recovered by the police, the data revealed.

The number of accused has doubled this year with 678 arrests, the query stated

"The ANC has been working relentlessly to curb drug menace in the city and it is because of our team's efforts that the number of arrests have increased this year compared to last year," Lande said.

RTI

RTI Reply: NEET Exam brought Rs 192 crore revenue to government, no account of how it was spent

Published on November 8, 2019 |

New Delhi: Exam fee for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the gateway to MBBS,BDS as well as AYUSH admissions in the country, earned the Ministry, through its exam conducting body, upwards of Rs 192 crores this year, a RTI reply has recently revealed.

However, the response which was given to the RTI query by Neemuch-based activist Chandrashekhar Gaud, was not able to give a reply on how this money was spent by the government.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that from this year (2019) government had replaced CBSE and constituted a new body National Testing Agency (NTA) for the purpose of conducting various entrance examinations for admissions to professionals courses in the country. Besides conducting NEET for medical entrances, NTA, which is a not-for-profit organisation and fall under Human Resources Development ministry also conducts various other exams including UGC-NET,JEE for engineering entrances and many more.

For Conducting NEET 2019,which was held on May 5 this year , the online application fees was fixed and charged by NTA at Rs 1400 for general and OBC category candidates and Rs 750 for SC/ST candidates. Around 15,19,375 candidates applied for the exam of which 14,10,755 candidates appeared

These calculations revealed that the Central government through NTA earned more than Rs 192 crore from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) fees in 2019, as per the information received under the RTI.

Replying to a RTI query from Neemuch-based activist Chandrashekhar Gaud, the National Testing Agency which conducts the NEET exam and comes under the Human Resources Development ministry, said it collected Rs 192,43,22,162 as entrance fees from the 15,19,375 candidates, who enrolled themselves for the exam in 2019.

Speaking to news agency IANS, The RTI activist said that the National Testing Agency must clarify how much it spent on the conduct of the exam in public interest.

Though the National Testing Agency, which conducts the exam claims to be a not-for-profit organisation that makes arrangements for the exams from the funds collected through fees, it is yet to give details of how it spends the Rs 192 crore it collected this year.

This is not the first time the Centre earned such a whopping amount from the candidates. The Medical Council Committee (MCC) in 2018 earned more than Rs 18 crore through the online counselling process while it spent only Rs 2.76 crore on the its conduct, the RTI revealed.

This means that in 2018, the MCC earned a profit of Rs 15.56 crore. What happened to this amount is not known.

The testing agency, when asked by the news agency, refused to give details about the fees determination process citing various rules of RTI.

RTI activists urge TN to take petition filing online

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai:31.08.2019

The Tamil Nadu government will have to respond to the Supreme Court on establishing a portal through which citizens would be able to file RTIs, after a plea was heard earlier this week. However, RTI applicants have been raising the demand for at least five years in the state, on the lines of what is available for central government departments.

The RTI activists have made a renewed demand for the same, but pointed out that the state government is loath to do it, as it would have to answer more queries from citizens. “Keeping the process manual is useful for government authorities as it can feign ignorance about receiving RTIs. Also, many people avoid filing RTIs as they have to go through the rigmarole of buying a court fee stamp of ₹10 or pay through demand draft, etc,” said Pavan K Gandhi, a law student and an RTI expert.

As per government statistics, the state’s various agencies received nearly four lakh RTI petitions in 2015. Ironically, this is the latest data put out by the TN State Information Commission (TNSIC), whose annual reports for the past three years have not yet been made public. Making it online would increase the number of RTIs filed, which the government doesn’t want, said TNSIC sources. “A former chief information commissioner, in fact, recommended this to the state government, which has not taken it seriously,” said a source in the agency.

In Tamil Nadu, only second appeals can be filed online now. The process of filing RTIs and first appeals is still manual. Compare this to central government agencies, where one can file RTIs on rtionline.gov.in and pay digitally. The first and second appeals can also be filed online. The tedious process of printing out the RTI on paper, arranging payment of ₹10 and posting it is avoided and citizens feel encouraged to file more RTIs.

This process is more organized and people don’t need to take pains to keep track of it, said P Nakkeeran, treasurer of Arappor Iyakkam, who has used RTI to bring to light many scams. “Public information officers would become more accountable if the system is online. Government doesn’t want it,” he said.

RTI QUERY REPLY

K’taka govt says no bar on people sitting cross-legged in its offices

Kiran.Parashar@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:30.08.2019

Is sitting cross legged in government offices banned? No, says the Karnataka chief secretary’s office in reply to an RTI query.

After a police constable asked his advocate-friend not to sit cross-legged in front of a police officer’s chamber at a police station, activist T Narasimha Murthy sought from the state’s top bureaucrat “any order, guideline, notification, directive or announcement” that restricts citizens from sitting cross legged in government offices, including police stations.

The chief secretary’s office has replied in the negative and instead attached an answer available online to a similar question raised on Quora.com, a citizen-centric platform.

According to the online information shared by the chief secretary’s office, a boss, who is unmindful of a junior sitting before him or her cross-legged, is high on self-esteem. If a superior officer takes exception to a junior sitting cross-legged, then it exposes his insecurities. Murthy and his advocate-friend Sudha had recently visited Hennur police station in Bengaluru.

SIT AS YOU LIKE

What crossing one’s legs means

While there is something about raised blood pressure and poor posture in crossing your legs while sitting, across cultures, it is seen as disrespectful and rude or casual at the very least. Body language wise, crossing the legs in front of someone is seen as establishing dominance and displaying confidence. Coupled with crossed arms, though, it projects being closed to the conversation or interaction at hand.

RTI info: VNSGU VC charged twice for irregularities

TNN | Jul 18, 2019, 04.11 AM IST

Surat: Latest revelations about Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU) vice-chancellor, Shivendra Gupta, in replies to a Right to Information (RTI) application created ripples in the higher education fraternity in state.

Information received under RTI shows that Gupta was charge-sheeted twice for irregularities during his posting as an assistant engineer in the road and building department. Gupta was charge-sheeted for his unauthorized leaves of 1,038 days between 2002 to 2005. He also faced inquiry for alleged financial and operational irregularities.

RTI applicant Ajit Naik, a retired professor of a college affiliated to VNSGU, had earlier alleged that out of his service of 28 years, Gupta had remained on leave for around eight years. The RTI query also revealed that Gupta who joined R&B department as assistant engineer in 1980 remained on the same post till he took voluntary retirement in 2008. Naik demanded the details as per the service book of Gupta.

Apart from the latest revelations, qualification of Gupta, who was appointed as VNSGU VC in August 2017, are also being questioned. VNSGU did not reply to Naik’s queries about Gupta’s qualification and certificates to support it. Gupta claims he possess PhD in history and has vast teaching experience.

As per University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines, a VC should possess at least 10 years of teaching experience apart from being a PhD scholar.

“Gupta was facing inquiry during his job in R&B department and to avoid facing the probe, he remained on long unauthorized leaves. He was charge sheeted twice and punished for the irregularities,” claimed Naik. Naik has already approached the Gujarat High Court challenging Gupta’s appointment.

Praful Desai, a resident from Vadodara, has also approached the high court challenging Gupta’s appointment. The HC is hearing petition of both Desai and Naik jointly.

Despite several attempts, Gupta was not available for his comments.

Tahsildar to pay Rs 30,000 for not providing information under RTI
Vishwanath, who represented then Mysore State between 1970-74, joined State Bank of Mysore in 1966 and voluntarily retired in 2001.

Published: 10th May 2019 07:09 AM |

By Yathiraju

Express News Service

BENGALURU: At first he asked nicely, when there was no information forthcoming, this 73-year-old, former Ranji Trophy cricketer refused to take no for an answer. After approaching the Karnataka Information Commission (KIC) in 2016, BS Vishwanath was finally successful in getting the commission to impose a penalty on a government official for his apathy.

Vishwanath, who represented then Mysore State between 1970-74, joined State Bank of Mysore in 1966 and voluntarily retired in 2001. In 2016, he approached Srirangapatna Tahsildar’s office, seeking information related to the sale deed of land that belongs to his relatives and other information under the RTI Act.

His first application was not considered by the Public Information Officer (PIO), who said the information was unavailable. Vishwanath then approached the Tahsildar, as he was the first appellate authority. Unsatisfied, he approached KIC.


The Commission issued notices to PIO H V Satyanarayana and Tahsildar Nagesh. While Satyanarayana appeared before KIC, Nagesh remained absent. The authorities agreed to provide information from 2006-2007 instead of 1996-97 and 1997-98 as sought by Vishwanath. They told KIC the information was unavailable.

This led KIC to impose a penalty of Rs 30,000 on Nagesh, now working in T Narasipura. State Information Commissioner S L Patil imposed Rs 10,000 penalty on Nagesh for each of the three appeals and ordered the Revenue Department to deduct Rs 5,000 every month from his salary in each case.
Taking serious exception to the answer that information was unavailable, KIC observed that it is the duty of the officials to keep permanent documents safely.

Sathyanarayana told TNIE that Nagesh was attending another court hearing. “We have registered a complaint in Srirangapatna Town police, who have issued only endorsement (NCR) and FIR is not yet registered,” he said.

Tahsildar Nagesh said he had been transferred due to the Lok Sabha polls. “I will consult legal experts for filing of appeal against the Commission’s orders,” Nagesh said, adding that he was not working in Srirangapatna when the Commission issued the show-cause notice in 2018.

Asked For PM's Degree, Delhi University Says RTI Reduced To Joke

The submission was made before Justice AJ Bhambhani who fixed the matter for further hearing on February 4, when other similar petitions were also listed.

 Updated: January 31, 2019 20:19 IST



Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Delhi University in Delhi High Court. (File)

NEW DELHI:

The Delhi University on Thursday contended before the Delhi High Court that the RTI Act has been reduced to a "joke" with queries seeking records of all students who had passed BA examination in 1978, including that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The submission was made before Justice AJ Bhambhani who fixed the matter for further hearing on February 4, when other similar petitions were also listed.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for DU, said, "The RTI Act has been reduced to a joke with such queries. Degrees of two public functionaries were sought. One is the honourable prime minister and the other is a minister."

Referring to some of the provisions of the Right To Information (RTI) Act, the law officer said personal information is never to be given unless there is some public interest.

"This (Act) cannot be used for some extraneous reasons," he said while giving an overview of the issue to the judge who was new to the matter.

He also said these degrees were already in the public domain at different forums and there was nothing to hide but "we should not reduce the Act to this level".

The court was hearing the DU's plea challenging a Central Information Commission (CIC) direction to allow inspection of the university''s records of all students who had passed BA examination in 1978.

The CIC had directed the DU to allow inspection of records related to all the students who had passed BA degree in 1978, the year in which, according to the university, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also cleared the examination.

The CIC had rejected the contention of the central public information officer of the university that it was a third party personal information, saying it finds "neither merit, nor legality" in it.

The court had on January 23, 2017 put on hold the operation of the CIC order.

In the affidavit filed through central government standing counsel Arun Bhardwaj, the DU had earlier said the result of a student once declared is accessible only to that student and is "personal" to her or him.

The varsity had said that disclosure of exam results of all the students could lead to "public embarrassment" of some or may cause "disturbance" of his/her routine life.

It had said the information was held in a fiduciary capacity and was exempt from disclosure under the RTI Act.

It had also said that a separate mechanism is available for other institutions which want to verify the results or degrees of a student who has passed out from the DU.

Despite TNSIC order, corpn refuses information under RTI

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai:04.02.2019

Despite directions from Tamil Nadu state information commission (TNSIC), Greater Chennai Corporation has refused to provide information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to an applicant who sought files related to tenders floated for bus route roads.

The corporation’s public information officer (PIO) and executive engineer of bus route road department denied information to the applicant citing a writ petition filed with the Madras high court. However, the injunction obtained in the court pertained only to a specific applicant and directed the corporation not to furnish information which was private, under section 8(1) of RTI Act.

RTI activist Ramiah Arya had sought details pertaining to tenders floated for bus route roads such as checklist for submission of bid, instructions for bidders, e-tender notification and list of roads. These are not private information as it is the same for all participants and not particular to any one bidder.

The issue comes in the wake of tenders worth around ₹185 crore being cancelled by the civic body after tender-fixing was alleged by a host of contractors and activists.

Ramiah had filed the RTI in January 2018 after conducting file inspections and asked for a host of information pertaining to the tenders. Since the information was not provided, he filed a first appeal under the RTI Act with the appellate authority. Since the information was rejected again, he approached the TNSIC.

Jayaram Venkatesan, of Arappor Iyakkam which has brought out many alleged irregularities in the tenders floated by the corporation, said the local body was working hard to stall RTI petitions after the expose. “Any RTI application filed with Chennai coporation or Coimbatore corporation is stalled citing these high court orders,” he said. The assistant PIO concerned did not respond to questions from TOI.

The corporation denied information to the applicant citing a writ petition filed with the Madras high court. However, the injunction obtained in the court pertained only to a specific applicant

Activists in Rajasthan get used condoms in RTI reply

Jaipur  17.01.2019

: They wanted answers under RTI but what they got were sealed packets of used contraceptives. This happened in Rajasthan where two petitioners sought answers under the RTI Act from their village panchayat on development projects.

Vikas Chaudhary and Manohar Lal, residents of Chani Badi in Bhadra tehsil of Hanumangarh district, had sent an RTI query to the panchayat on April 16 last year on alleged corrupt practices in the projects undertaken since 2001.

The RTI Act mandates that reply be given within 30 days but the petitioners said the reply came only recently. They said the reply was sent by the panchayat on the state information commission’s orders.

Choudhary was the first person to get a response. Apprehensive over the content of the other envelop, he and Lal called the BDO to their village so he could see what was in the other packet, Chaudhary said. “However, the BDO declined to come. Hence, we opened the packet in the presence of other villagers,” said Chaudhary.

The other packet also contained used contraceptives. The sarpanch implied the petitioners could have mailed the condoms to themselves. Navneet Kumar, zila parishad CEO, said there was a rivalry between groups who are trying to downplay each other.

IANS

Navneet Kumar, zila parishad CEO, said there was a rivalry between groups that are trying to downplay each other

‘Despite govt order, RTI replies not up on official websites’

TNN | Jan 5, 2019, 05.19 AM IST

MUMBAI: Activists in the state have asked chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to immediately direct all government offices under him to curb growing incidents of RTI violations.

In particular, they want the CM to direct officials to implement two government circulars. One which requires public authorities to upload RTI queries and responses on their websites. And secondly, allowing inspection of all public records on Mondays between 3pm and 5pm. This would help bring in transparency into the process and quash complaints of blackmail against activists, they said.

Activists have alleged that bureaucrats do not publish RTI queries and responses on official websites despite a state government order. Besides, officials do not follow directions to allow inspection of public records, said RTI activist and former central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi on Friday. “If information is available on the website, no one can be blackmailed. This needs to be done in a searchable manner and we would be happy to discuss it with the IT department,” he said.

A signature campaign has been launched to draw the chief minister’s attention to non-compliance to government circulars. A memorandum of demand from the state’s RTI and social activists is being circulated among prominent citizens to garner a wide support in the form of a 1,000 signatures.

Gandhi said recently a BMC ward office put up a banner flashing photographs of four people barring them entry into the office premises. He said this apart, verbal abuse is very common in government offices.

Rs 3 lakh fine on 12 officials for delaying RTI replies

TNN | Dec 25, 2018, 08.33 AM IST

 

BIJNOR: The state information commissioner on Monday imposed a cumulative fine of Rs 3 lakh on 12 officials from Bijnor, Moradabad and Amroha for causing delay in replying to Right to Information requests filed in their respective departments.

State information commissioner Hafiz Usman, who was in Bijnor to attend a hearing on complaints related to RTIs, imposed a fine on 12 officials for delaying replies, while letting off 10 others with a warning.

The officials who were asked to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 each are district magistrate of Sambhal, district education and training institutes of Kanth in Moradabad, registrar of Vilaspur in Rampur district, basic shiksha adhikaris of Sambhal and Rampur, district inspector of schools in Sambhal, block development officer of Haldaur, supply inspector of Kundarki in Moradabad, executive officer of Milak civic body in Rampur, child development project officer of Najibabad, accounts officer of basic education department in Sambhal and block education officer of Junaavai in Sambhal.

The commissioner heard a total of 55 cases pertaining to RTI requests.

Ludhiana Municipal Corporation returns RTI application without even opening it

TNN | Dec 20, 2018, 01.01 PM IST

LUDHIANA: What may be termed as the careless attitude or the lethargic approach of the officials of Zone D office of Municipal Corporation Ludhiana, an RTI application filed to seek some information from the tehbazari department was returned to the application without even opening it.

An application was filed seeking information under RTI Act by a city resident Satyendra Prakash Srivastava was returned to him by civic officials and officials did not mention any reason of not opening it. They only mentioned on the envelope that there are several Public Information Officer in the Zone D so applicant should write complete address of concerned PIO.

A resident of Civil Lines Satyendra Prakash said, “I had demanded information regarding total challans being done by Tehbazaari wing of MC and since MC Commissioner sits in zone D I simply wrote Zone PIO over letter.” He said it is duty of MC to guide people about RTI as well but there are no boards in MC office where names of concerned PIO or APIOs should be mentioned clearly.

However, the applicant rued that by returning the application, civic officials show a ‘who cares’ attitude about the RTI Act but he will file first appeal in this case.

When contacted MC Commissioner KP Brar on the issue, she admitted that civic official should not have returned the application this way, and the application should have been transferred to the concerned PIO. She revealed that MC had RTI Information cell which was not properly functional but now the working of the same cell would be streamlined.

Meanwhile the city based RTI activist Rohit Sabharwal said that civic officials cannot return the RTI application even if it is not concerned with any branch. As per the RTI manual, it is their duty to transfer the application to the concerned PIO under section 6(3) of RTI Act. “It is a kind of refusal by the civic officials and now a first appeal can be filed by the applicant” he adds.

The RTI activist rued that MC has appointed so many PIOs and APIOs just to confuse the public and nothing has been done to educate people about RTI.

He advocated that MC employees care too hoots about the RTI Act and they need to be taught about the act be arranging special classes.

Another RTI Activist Kuldeep Khaira alleged that MC officials always try to befool the RTI applicant to hide their poor working and they always make such lame excuses when it comes to supply information sought under RTI Act.

Maharashtra allows citizens to inspect government records under RTI

PTI

Devendra Fadnavis - PTI

MUMBAI, DEC 3

Residents of Maharashtra can now inspect government records in district-level offices and local bodies under the Right to Information (RTI) Act for two hours every Monday.

A government resolution (GR) to this effect was issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) last week. However, the GR would not be applicable to Mantralaya, the state secretariat.

The move is aimed at increasing transparency and to cut down the number of RTI applications and appeals in the government offices.

“This provision to allow inspection of records will not only ensure transparency, but it will also reduce the number of first and second appeals filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act,” stated the GR dated November 26.

“Residents can inspect government records in district level offices and local bodies such as municipal corporations and councils between 3 pm to 5 pm every Monday. In case of a public holiday on Monday, the inspection will be allowed on the next working day,” it stated.

When contacted, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told PTI that the move was aimed at ensuring transparency and reducing applications under the RTI Act.

RTI activists have welcomed this initiative of the government. “Citizens must use this facility extensively and consistently to ensure its implementation,” former chief information commissioner (CIC) Shailesh Gandhi said Monday.

Mumbai-based activist Anil Galgali said they were awaiting such a move. “Success of this much-awaited initiative depends on its smooth implementation by the state,” he said. Another activist Manoranjan Roy said the order should have applied to all departments of the government. “Leaving out higher offices like the state secretariat would hardly serve its purpose,” he argued.

Hyderabad high court: Not all shrines fall under RTI ambit

TNN | Dec 9, 2018, 05.53 AM IST

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad high court has held that religious institutions like temples, churches and mosques that are not funded by the government do not fall within the purview of the Right to Information Act-2005 (RTI).

Justice Challa Kodanda Ram pronounced the judgment after hearing nearly 100 temples and their trustees from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, who had challenged the decisions of their states' endowments departments, which had asked these religious entities to furnish information regarding their administrative activities under the RTI Act.

Stating that these temples and their officials do not fall under the definition of public authority, as defined in the RTI Act, the judge said the question of these entities following the directives issued by endowments department officials in respect of RTI does not arise.

The judge also set aside several such directives of endowments department officials asking these temples to designate some of their staff as public information officers or assistant public information officers.

‘RTI Act needs to be amended’

The judge agreed with the contention of senior counsel R Raghunandan Rao, who argued the case for temples, that for a temple to be called a public authority it should be either set up by the state, statute or controlled by it. Since none of the temples are established by the government, they cannot be brought under RTI Act, he said.

Though the two state governments are exercising some control over these temples by appointing trust boards, resolving temple staff disputes through endowment tribunals, among others, does not bestow on the state the power to bring these temples under the purview of the RTI Act, Justice Kodanda Ram said.

However, the judge said nowadays since religious institutions receive enormous donations from various sources, it is desirable to amend the RTI Act to at least bring all the registered temples and religious institutions having income over and above a particular limit under the RTI Act.

Mumbai University evaluators not punished for wrong marking: RTI query

TNN | Oct 3, 2018, 04.32 AM IST

 

MUMBAI: While a large number of Mumbai University students are erroneously failed each year, requiring them to apply for re-evaluation, no action seems to be initiated against paper checkers. An RTI query has revealed that the university, between 2015 and 2018, did not take any action against defaulting evaluators for failing students, who were found to pass after applying for re-evaluation. 

In March 2017, TOI reported that between 2014 and 2016, 73,000 students were wrongly failed in examinations but cleared the red after they filed for revaluation.

The RTI application, filed by activist Vihar Durve, has also revealed that there is a provision for action against erring evaluators in the Maharashtra Public University Act, 2016.

According to section 48 of the act, the board of examinations and evaluation shall constitute a committee of not more than five persons to investigate and take disciplinary action for malpractice or lapses on the part of candidates, paper-setters, examiners, moderators, referees and teachers who are connected with the conduct of the examination. The committee must submit its report to the vice-chancellor, who can instruct the authorities to take disciplinary action.

Durve said, "A student's career depends on the marks they score during their years at the university. Also, several times, revaluation results come much after students take the supplementary examinations. All of these things put students through great agony and hence paper checkers must be made accountable. Until that is done, there will be no onus on examiners to ensure there isn't a mistake during evaluation."

He has also demanded that the university return the revaluation fees to students who are failed wrongly. "The university collects crores from re-evaluation applications and must not be able to get away with it," he added.