Courts, tribunals beyond purview of RTI Act: CIC

: In a significant decision, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that judicial proceedings of courts and tribunals are beyond the purview of the Right to Information Act.

"A judicial authority must function with total independence and freedom, should it be found that an action initiated under the RTI Act impinges upon the authority of that judicial body, the commission will not authorise the use of RTI Act for any such disclosure requirement," the commission said.

Section 4(1) of RTI Act does not apply to judicial proceedings conducted by a court or tribunal as it refers only to administrative and quasi-judicial decisions of public authorities, the CIC added.

Terming any intrusion with regard to judicial work as "unnecessary", a full bench headed by chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah noted, "Judiciary is independent and all judicial authorities including all courts and tribunals must work independently and without any interference insofar as their judicial work is concerned."
Dismissing the applicant's plea that anyone seeking inspection of records should be allowed on payment of prescribed fees, the commission said the RTI Act gave "total discretion" to the court or the tribunal to decide as to what should be allowed for disclosure. The commission, which has remanded the case back to the president and appellate authority of ITAT to determine the issue of disclosure of information, made it clear that any remedy, if available, to the applicant shall only be under the Income Tax law.

Discussing at length the differences between the RTI Act and procedures prescribed by High Courts or tribunals in providing information, the bench observed, "Neither provision prohibits or forbids dissemination of information or grant of copies of records."

Police Torture and Human Rights voilation

An ordinary thief was tortured by the Police in Bhagalpur of Bihar which shocked the entire country at a time when the government of Bihar is trumpeting its achievements as good governance. A Human Rights organization People’s Watch has monitored and analyzed the case of police torture in four districts of Bihar i.e. Patna, Bhojpur, Nalanda and Nawada. In this study the cases included are Police torture, fake encounter, torture of women, custodial death, Lathi charge, Police firing and negligence in duty which took place between July 2006 to June 2007. The study reveals that out of the total victims in these cases of Police torture 76 percent victims are male and 24 percent are female But the way cases of police torture and Dalit atrocities are increasing is a big question mark to the existence of good governance in Bihar. Police torture is the worst forms of human rights violation which can not be tolerated. There is highly need for the government to take strong action to stop police torture. The Constitution of India guarantees the right to life, equality, liberty and dignity of individual to its people and the state has duty to protect these rights. The good governance can not be established till the human rights are protected.
From the line of caste it shows that 47.5 percent victims are from the Dalit community which is the highest followed by the backward community with 31 percent and 21.5 percent of higher caste. If one looks to all these cases in the occupation wise one finds that 45 percent victims are daily wage labourers. Beside them 9 percent students, 5.4 percent house wives, 3.6 service holders and 38.4 percent victims are from the other walk of life were subjected to police torture. The most startling fact is that in 47.7 percent cases, perpetrators (police or private persons) have lodged criminal cases against the victims. The 7.2 percent of torture victims have died up till now and 5 percent cases of police torture have been compromised. The study also reveals that highest number of torture case, which is 32 percent took place in the police stations. 27.5 percent at home, 22.6 percent in village or outside village and 17.3 percent elsewhere. The perpetrators are 57.8 percent constables 28.5 percent sub inspectors, 9.8 percent inspectors 2.5 percent Dy SPs and 1.4 percent higher officials. The data clearly shows that the lower ranks in police are responsible for the majority of torture incidents.
Here the question arises that why police inflict torture on the people? The State Director of People Watch and former District & Session Judge Abhaya Shanker Prasad discloses that the main purposes of police torture are to acquire information from the people, punishment to the accused, intimidation and teaching a lesson for future. According to him the police commit fake encounter to get overnight promotion in service, to get reward, and to get high amount of money but some time inhuman act of fake encounters are done under political pressure too.
The society is also not less responsible for the incidents of Police torture. It can be said that the society as a whole has become violent and believe in instance justice. The majority people whether they are Advocates, Teachers, Doctors or common men support the Police torture and also deny human rights without a second thought. They question, what for the police is if not for beating? In such a state how can only Police be blamed for torture? If police torture need to be stopped then every one should be made aware of human rights and torture. One must start practicing the human right within, in the family and in the society. There is a thrust need to work towards the accountable and transparent system of governance so that the very human rights of the people can be protected.

Common man most hit by corruption

Chief Justice of India Justice K G Balakrishnan on Saturday said the common man 'is hit hard by deep-rooted corruption' in the country and indicated that the public distribution system (PDS) was in shambles.

Corruption's victim was the common man, who had no mechanism to redress his grievances, he said inaugurating the ninth All-India Lokayuktas/Lokpals/Upalokayuktas Conference 2007 here.

"It (corruption) is deep-rooted. We are not able to curb corruption in public life for various reasons," Justice Balakrishnan lamented, adding "beneficiaries" of corruption were blocking efforts to curb the menace.

He said that in some states not a single grain reaches the common man. He asked as to how long will this poverty continue. People should be sensitised and educated otherwise corruption will continue.

He said that good governance is required in the country. "Every citizen is entitled to have good governance. We should have good governance in all walks of life".

"Because of corruption and non-action of police, people have started to take law in their hands," he said.

In a message to the two-day conference, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government was committed to the policy of zero tolerance while dealing with corruption.

Delaying tactics under RTI Act

With best intentions, the UPA government passed an unprecedented piece of legislation in the form of Right to Information Act. It is a real step forward in the direction of peoples empowerment , transparency in the working of government offices and the accountability of the bureaucracy . But the bureaucracy has never been in favour of this kind of legislation. They have always thought themselves to be masters not the servants of the people. As a applicant under Right to Information Act we have varied experience sweet as well as sour. We found that in large number of cases they have reconciled themselves and are willing to share information they have. But in many cases we have also noted that they are not cooperating . In some cases they are adopting delaying tactics . Here we are giving some tactics employed by them where wish to stone wall themselves and refuse to accede the request. With more and more incidents of Government officials not acceding to requests under the Right to Information Act or not providing the correct information under the RTI Act, it is high time the state government imposes some more stricter penalties which will make these officials comply. For delaying the information these officials are adopting various tactics to avoid penalty prescribed under RTI Act. Some of the tactics being adopted by them to delay the information are as follows:

1. Documentation charges : Under Section 7(3) of RTI Act documentation charges is payable at the rate prescribed under RTI rules no 4 of RTI Fees and Cost rules . At present documentation charges is Rs 2 per page . It has been our experience in many cases that the obligation on the part of applicant to deposit fee is misutilised by most of PIOs. Some times PIO of a public writes a letter to the applicant just one or two days before the limit period of 30 days to deposit the documentation charges for “X” number of papers on adhoc basis even though the information in many cases are not ready for dispatch. In this process of writing letter and reaching the same to the applicant PIO gets extra time to gather the information thinking that applicant may not come forward to deposit the amount or if he comes then they will start compiling the information. In some cases like MCD once a applicant goes to deposit documentation charges as demanded he or she is asked to deposit fees at a office which is located at different place 4 to 10 kms away from the PIO office..

In some cases PIO will demand a huge amount as documentation charges from the applicant in order to furnish the desired information. In case the applicant demands to see the information before depositing the money in order to verify the contents of information as per his requirement or not it is bluntly refused.

Central Government Employees Welfare Housing Organisation : The interpretation given by PIO CGEWHO to the provision under Section 7(3) is quite different from others and interesting. In its reply to a application the office wrote a letter to applicant to deposit Rs 10600 as cost of collection and collating the information. As per their contention this cost includes the salary of those employees who will be deployed by them in collecting the information. As per their contention the cost of collection of information is in addition to the documentation charges prescribed under RTI Act.

2. Diverting of resources disproportionately: The exemption provision under Section 7(9) is being misused by many public authorities with impunity. If some one demands an information from a public authority for which the authority has to make some extra effort in digging out the information , many public authorities are taking refuge under this provision with a answer that providing of information will divert the resources of public authorities disproportionately. This plea is being taken not by any small company with little resources at their disposal but by big Fortune 500 companies like Indian Oil , BPCL, BHEL etc. In the Act there is no clarity as to what will constitute as diverting of resources disproportionately.

3. Commercial Confidence : Exemption under Section 8 (1)(d) gives power to PIO to deny information in the name of commercial confidence . This exemption provision is being misused by many renowned companies like Indian Oil, NTPC etc. Copy of Internal Audit which gives full account of internal deficiencies was denied by NTPC , Indian Oil under the garb of provision of commercial confidentiality . The RTI Act is very much clear on this issue . It states that commercial confidence matters are those papers by which the third party competitive interest is not affected . By disclosing the internal audit reports no third party interest is infringed but still information is denied .

4. Visit to office : In some cases PIOs instead of providing information insist for applicant visit to their office and clarify them the need for information. It is surprising that the same information is being supplied by other authorities without any difficult . This is only delaying tactic which many PIOs adopt.

Above are only few instances of how public authorities adopt delaying tactics in furnishing the information . There are other methods also which are adopted by some authorities to skip the information. Under Section 7 (3) application has to be transferred within 5 days from one public authority to different public authority is case if application is closely related to another. We have found that in many cases application is transferred much after the prescribed 5 days , some times 15-20 days. Irony fact is that transferee public authority again takes 30 days for furnishing the information to applicant where as 15-20 days have already passed.

It has been found that in most of cases Appellate Authority also take the same stand as was taken by their PIOs. After rejection of information of appeal by Appellate Authority the next appeal lies with CIC. Here also it takes months to fix the date of hearing as thousands of application are already pending . In RTI Act there are provisions for deducting penalties from the salaries of errant officials. In very few cases penalty by way of deduction from the salary has been imposed by CIC . Merely deducting of salaries is not sufficient because if one considers the people who are involved or who are being penalized then this is a mere pittance. Either the state government passes a law that if the person continues committing the same offence either dismissal or a jail term. Government officials should be made aware that they have certain responsibilities to the people. That they are government servants and have to be responsive to what the people want. The fact that information is being sought under the Right to Information Act, indicates that something wrong has happened. So it is beneficial to all that the correct information is given immediately and correctly. By providing false information or delaying the process, the government officials are indirectly becoming accessories to that mistake which goes against the Right to Information Act. Therefore it is high time, that the state authorities strengthen the punishment and ensure that once punished these officials do not commit the same mistake again and is a lesson to others not to do the same.

Registrar office works only after RTI application is filed

Mrs. Leena Singh a resident of Delhi wanted to get her property at Rohini freehold.She approached DDA to get the all formalities completed . After making 5-6 visits to DDA and one and half year she was told that her property could not be made freehold because she did not have original leasehold papers which she lost with her . Her repeated plea to freehold her property and ignore the originals which ultimately had to be canceled was not accepted by DDA. She was asked to approach Sub Registrar to get a certified copy of lease papers. After that she made 3-4 visits to sub registrar office at Kashmere gate but of no avail. The officials told her that they were not able to trace the papers and are making all efforts to trace the papers. She understood what they wanted. She had decided that she would not pay a single paisa as bribe. After wasting two months she decided to file a application under RTI to know the status of her request. After one week only when her application reached the correct place she got a telephone call from registrar office asking her to collect the papers the same day. She went next day and collected the papers . Now she is thanking RTI Act which came to her help ultimately. She also got her property freehold without paying a single rupee as bribe but after a gap of nearly two years . Patience in such matters always pays.

Use SDJ RTI bank to combat corruption

For those who want to use the Right to Information (RTI) Act but are unaware about procedures, Society for Development and Justice (SDJ) a NGO plans to set up an RTI help desk for providing all relevant help to the prospective applicant. Due to increasing awareness on RTI, there is a growing urge in people to use it. But many are unaware of the process. SDJ is opening a RTI Help desk which would be a ready reckoner for such prospective applicant

SDJ is also planning to start a RTI Bank and keep the copies of all applications filed under RTI and keep the all information so collected under one roof for the information and use by others. It would also provide the names and addresses of PIOs , appellate Authority and assist the applicant in writing and submitting the application. SDJ will guide them in knowing the process of filing applications. It will also keep the applicant informed about the progress in their respective cases if application so filed through SDJ .

SDJ will file all the documents and save the copies under one roof like a bank. The citizens can have access to these documents to know the important information relevant to them . This will also help in reducing duplicity of queries. This will save people and administration’s time and energy as applications of similar nature would reduce. This could result in faster disposal of applications. In fact, having catalogues like a library would help people in locating the required records faster.
SDJ has already collected some of the important information such as details of projects/works/events undertaken ,Details of Work outsource including AMC/ housekeeping /installation,Details of expenditure on Road Carpeting/ Repairing/ Maintenance/ cleaning/ Horticulture/Road Divider(in the middle),Details of expenditure on Consultancy/Survey/ Experts/Professional services hired,Details of application received for grant/financial support to NGOs/individuals/groups/ companies ,Details of Expenditure on Advertisement/Publicity/Exhibition,Details of Expenditure on major welfare /educational /health scheme , details of expenditure/service provided on customer/Audit party/ Ministry officials/ Ministers/Ministerial staff,details of works order /Purchase order issued without inviting tender etc. from various PSUs , government departments and kept them under one roof. These information so collected can be seen and analysed by general public without paying a paisa. The information so collected is being analsed by SDJ team itself for taking further necessary action. It is requested to all law abiding citizens to see and analyse these information kept at SDJ office and help SDJ in digging out true information from these authorities. It will be a great help for a noble cause . Some of the important information so collected have been scanned and shown on website of SDJ http://rti.sdjindia.org . SDJ can be contacted on phone 011-43023127 or email rti@sdjindia.org

Smells like a scam: ONGC dealt with 14 firms secretly

In a application filed under RTI Act it became known that ONGC the public sector corporation entered in with 14 different client / firms for allegedly "dubious" gas deals .The Central Information Commission and has pulled up the Navratna giant, Oil And Natural Gas Corporation which sold gas to 14 consumers or companies between 1985 and 1992 without taking sufficient financial security.The CIC is miffed because the ONGC declined to name these 14 companies, despite these owing ONGC a principal arrear amount of Rs 16.18 crores. The interest between 1992 and 2004 has gone up to a whopping Rs 55.04 crores.Thus the total that the companies owe to the ONGC is a staggering Rs 71 crores. In a strong judgment, CIC has also blamed the corporation for making no earnest effort to recover the money."There seems to be a willful default by these companies and lack of effort on part of ONGC to recover the loan,” said Information Commissioner MM Ansari.An appeal filed by an individual called S K Jain was upheld by the CIC where he had demanded the names of these 14 defaulters be made public along with the amount they owed the ONGC separately.The commission sees no reason as to why these names should not be disclosed. This is perhaps for the first time that a public sector big name is facing the wrath of the CIC.This judgment by the central info commission should be seen as a wake up call for all those public sector companies who have displayed laxity while dealing with public money. Clearly it's the larger issue of accountability and responsibility concerning public sector companies which is on the information commission's radar.

Asks Governor to withhold his consent

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) while describing the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill of 2007, adopted by the two houses of the state Legislature, as ‘half-hearted effort’, has urged Governor, Lt Gen (Retd) S. K. Sinha, to withhold his consent on the plea that the Bill had a number of lacunae.

The State Legislature has made some amendments in its existing Right to Information (RTI) Act, claiming to make it at par with Central Act. However, the rights body stresses that the amendments need lot more amendments.

In a communication to the Governor, the Human Rights body has requested Sinha to withhold his consent to the Bill under section 78 of the state constitution.

"The amendments to the RTI bill were inadequate and do not provide citizens seeking information from the public bodies in Jammu and Kashmir the same guarantees and protection available to people in other states,” the rights body remarked.

It has also been requested the Governor to withhold his assent till the state Legislature makes the Bill at a par with the central act passed in 2005.

Panel pulls up IFCI for dodging RTI Act

When a Mumbai-based lawyer filed a request with the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, a response wasn't forthcoming.

Industrial Finance Corporation of India produced a certificate from the government that said it wasn't a ‘public body'. Therefore, the company argued, it was outside the purview of the RTI and did not have to respond to the request.

But he persisted and went to Sebi, the stock exchange regulator. Because Sebi is a public body that comes under the RTI's canvas, it could be approached for information on another company controlled by it.

Having done that, he also went to the Central Information Commission (CIC) challenging the validity of the certificate issued by the government. In a recent ruling, the CIC pulled by IFCI, declared the certificate it held ‘invalid' and urged government departments and ministries to refrain from issuing such certificates. "Whether an entity is a public authority or not is to be determined only under the RTI Act," it ruled.

In July 1996, IFCI had made a public issue of five types of bonds. It collected about Rs 1,237 crore, including a green-shoe option from the bond issue. In 2003, IFCI decided to exercise its call option and asked bond holders to submit the bonds by a specified date.

State Bank of India cards under RTI net

The Central Information Commission has ruled that SBI Cards -- a joint venture between state-owned SBI and General Electric -- is a public authority, allowing customers to seek any information about the entity under the Right to Information Act.

Disposing of separate applications by SBI Cards customers Arun Kumar Verma and Dileep Ayachit, CIC has directed the SBI to take a decision on setting up a proper information redressal mechanism within 15 days.

The CIC has given SBI the option to either designate its own officers for providing information about SBI Cards or set up a separate mechanism within the subsidiary to provide information under the provisions of the RTI Act.

"...SBI, being a public authority, should ensure that some agency is available to answer the citizens when they seek information about their own cards. It can not wash off its responsibility after having allowed SBI Cards to use its brand name and logo," Information Commissioner Padma Balasubramanian said in his decision.

The card holders filed the application with CIC after SBI and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) turned down their request for information on the ground that SBI Cards was not a "public authority" within the meaning of the RTI Act.

The CIC ruled that SBI Cards was a public authority as SBI owns more than 51 per cent shares in the JV.