College Refuses to Receive RTI by Hand

A college (S V College) in Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh) refuses to receive RTI related papers by hand.

Police Knocks on RTI Applicants Door

An RTI applicant Yusf Khan is reportedly being harassed by the Public Works Department (PWD) of UP Govt in Aligarh with the help of local police. The RTI activist had sought information related to horrible condition of rural roads and expenses incurred in their construction for 2009-10. He had appended a BPL Ration Card along with RTI application which the administration is contesting is "fake". It is to be noted that the information seeker claims that he is regularly being supplied ration and other items since 2006 on the same BPL Card. The Public Information Officer (PIO) instead of replying to queries, which was his duty, thought it proper to approach the police so as to harass the information seeker and warned his to desist from asking such questions.

Maharashtra Citizens, take this Weapon and start Fighting Corruption

Dear fellow citizens,

Tagore wrote, “You can't cross a sea merely by standing and staring into the water”. In the battle against corruption, don’t you want to go beyond facebooking, twittering and sloganeering? Don’t you really want to have a movement? Guys, most of us have only talked the talk. If you want to walk the talk, then take this weapon and get moving. Like the Jan Lokpal Bill, this too is Anna Hazare’s brainchild; rest assured it’s not a rival product.

Since February 2011, Maharashtra has instituted a high-level Corruption Eradication Committees at Taluka, District and Divisional level. These committees are waiting to receive complaints and oral submissions from you. Bhavesh Patel, Anna Hazare’s man on one of these committees, informs us that In Mumbai, they now hold monthly meetings around noon on the first Monday of every month.

These are high-level committees chaired by the quasi-judicial officers at three levels -- Divisional Commissioners, District Collectors (a.k.a. District Magistrates with powers under Criminal Procedure Code) and Tahsildars (a.k.a. Tahsil Magistrates), and they have Anti-Corruption Bureau Superintendent of Police and Deputy Superintendent of Police as their members. Besides, chiefs of various government departments are the members.

This complaint mechanism can be used to target corruption by the smallest State Govt. chaprasi (peon), karmachari (worker) and karkhoon (clerk) to the most powerful State Govt. officer and Babu (bureaucrat).

It cannot be directly used to target corruption by netas (political leaders and elected representatives), mantris (ministers), constitutional appointees (such as Information Commissioners, Human Rights Commissioners etc), and private entities (such as individuals, cooperative societies, companies). This is because if, after investigation, the charges are found to have substance, they can recommend departmental enquiry and disciplinary action. Netas, mantris, constitutional appointees and private entities cannot be subjected to departmental enquiry and disciplinary action.

With all its limitations, this mechanism is still very powerful, because in the course of a departmental enquiry, the role of elected representatives and ministers is likely to come out, and the evidence gathered thereby has a good chance of landing with the Anti-Corruption Bureau and/or resulting in prosecution against all concerned – ministers and private parties also. The public servant is thus the weakest link in the chain of corruption, and it must be broken through our concerted action.

Click here to download Ready-to-use Complaint Format

Where to send complaint, whom to send, where to go for meeting?

Venues /contact phone nos. of these monthly meetings, where they receive complaints:

1) Mumbai City & North Mumbai (Suburbs)

2) Thane, Navi Mumbai, Ulhasnagar, Ambernath, etc.

3) Pune

4) Rest of Maharashtra

You can send your complaint to The Divisional Headquarters, District Collectorate or Taluka indicated in the above addresses.

Who do you address your complaints to?

Keeping in mind the jurisdiction, you have options and alternatives. You can address it to:

1) Divisional Commissioner, in his capacity as Chairman of Divisional Corruption Eradication Committee of one of the six divisions of Maharashtra, viz. Nagpur, Amravati, Aurangabad, Konkan, Nashik and Pune Division. You can also address it to Deputy Commissioner (Revenue), in his capacity as Secretary. This committee sits at Divisional Headquarters.

2) District Collector, in his capacity as Chairman of District Corruption Eradication Committee of one of the 31 districts of Maharashtra. You can also address it to the Resident Deputy Collector, who is the Secretary. This committee sits at District Collectorate.

3) Deputy Collector in his capacity as Chairman of the Tehsil Corruption Eradication Committee. Or you can address it to the Tehsildar in his capacity as Secretary. This committee sits at Taluka/Tehsildar office.

4) You can also address it to the Chief of the Vigilance Squad in your district, and send it to the District Collectorate.

Who they are, what are their powers, duties & obligations:

· The officers who are ex-officio on these high-level committees, click here:

English Marathi

· The action that they are required to take on your complaint, click here:

English Marathi

· To read about Vigilance Squads & its Duties, click here:

English Marathi

What you need for filing Complaint:

1) Specific knowledge to expose a wrongdoing and/or a corrupt government employee/employees.

OR

2) RTI documents as evidence of delaying tactics, non-acceptance of complaints, and inaction amounting to deliberate dereliction of duty, negligence etc.

OR

3) Evidence of Disproportionate Assets, information from reliable sources etc.

4) Your complaint need not necessarily be against any individual. You can point out wrongdoings of a department as a whole if you have knowledge of how a certain scam works.

Note: It is not necessary for you to have conclusive proof of the wrongdoing. Remember, you are only a well-meaning citizen, not an investigating agency or private detective. Information that can establish prima facie guilt is sufficient for you to trigger the statewide mechanism ofVigilance Squads, which will independently investigate based on your complaint, and report to the respective Corruption Eradication Committee.

Examples of such information or evidence:

a) RTI documents that show undue favours and abuse of discretionary authority

b) Correspondence that indicates unwillingness to perform their official duties as per the law

c) Photographs or recordings of soliciting/accepting bribes

d) A video-recording of touts in and around offices such as RTO, Octroi collection checkposts etc.

e) Knowledge of disproportionate assets owned by government servants

Optional reading: Read about the recent GR that mandates the formation of Corruption Eradication Committees and enables the citizens to action against corruption. RTI activists will find it quite easy to take action as they would already have large amounts of evidence of wrongdoings at their disposal, and because they are used to doing paperwork.

Warm Regards,

Krish

98215 88114

sahasipadyatri.AT.gmail.com (replace .AT. with @)

PS: This document contains over a dozen web links and downloads. If you cannot see the download links in this email, please open the attached word file.

RTI Act to be amended to extend CIC's term

The nodal department of personnel and training has recommended to the
Government of India that the path breaking Right to Information Act be
amended to effectively allow a minimum 2 year term for the country's
Chief Information Commissioner.

The amendment will align the posts of Information Commissions to those
of the Election Commission of India. The Election Commissioners enjoy
a term of 6 years in office or till 65 years (extendable by 1 year if
appointed as Chief information Commissioner).

The first beneficiary of this amendment is expected to be the present
Chief Information Commissioner Shri Anugraha Narayan Tiwari who
previously he

RTI Applicants, Read this Govt Manual about Record-keeping & Disciplinary Actions

Dear fellow activists,

A good RTI application asks for copies of specific documents and records. For this, we need to understand what sorts of government documents exist, how various kinds of records are maintained and acted upon, what each of these things are named, and whose responsibility it is to maintain them.

So it is worth reading the Central Govt.’s Manual of Office Procedure, which is generally followed throughout the system. Download this: http://www.box.net/shared/yx8mgzyufe

The first 30-40 pages are very important. In addition, I have highlighted three sorts of useful points:

1) Blue highlights are for record-keeping: How different sorts of files and records are maintained, catalogued, referenced and destroyed.

2) Yellow highlights are for disciplining and penalizing govt. employees: Matters concerning various kinds of disciplinary proceedings, suspension etc. of different classes of officers. Also, monitoring compliance with court judgments, orders of Central Administrative Tribunal, audit objections etc.

3) Green highlights are for follow-up of citizens complaints, representations, petitions etc: The methods used for the government departments to take cognizance of citizens’ concerns.

Please use this for filing precise RTI applications. You can use it to demand information on the status of your petitions, complaints etc. Also, if information is falsely denied or evasive replies are given, use it for strengthening your grounds of appeal.

Warm Regards,
Krish
98215 88114

Four golden rules for writing effective RTI Applications

Dear fellow Activists,
We often sit down to draft an RTI application in an angry and unrealistic mood. When we write RTI applications, our focus should be on getting information. Instead, we are thinking about stopping some wrongdoings, getting some officials and corrupt contractors penalized, making the authorities “answerable” for negligence etc, etc. At such times, we fail to think clearly about the items of information that we need.

Right to Information Act 2005 is a law, and effectiveness in legal work depends on using the law without anger, resentment and wishful thinking.

While asking for information, the 4 golden rules are:

1) Point to various specific documents. Your application should look like a shopping-list of documents.

2) Name documents using words from Sec 2(f) and Sec 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act – reports, logbooks, emails, advices, rules, regulations, manuals etc. Only after exhausting these should you use other similar documents e.g. quality audit reports, correspondence etc. In case this information is denied, the similarity of wordings will help you to convince appellate authorities that your requested information is “records” and “information” that must be mandatorily given.

3) Don’t ask questions, don’t demand explanations, and don’t make allegations. Don’t make your application sound like a letter of complaint or a letter-to-the-editor. Don’t preface it with a covering letter or an introductory paragraph. RTI applications should be emotionless and bland.

4) Avoid vague expressions and requests such as

(a) “What is the status of my complaint? What further action has been taken on my complaint/letter? Give me action-taken report.” Words like “status” and “action” are open to interpretation, and usually fail to point towards any particular document; they can mean different things to different persons like applicant, PIO, APIO and appellate authorities. In most cases, there is no such document called “action-taken report” in existence, and therefore, the PIO cannot be rightly asked under RTI to generate such a document in reply to your application; PIO can only be asked to give you copy of a document that exists. The right way is to ask for signed and stamped copy of all correspondence till date in the matter of your complaint, including memos, emails, covering letters for forwarding your complaint etc. Ask for copy of logbook or any other book where details of your complaint are entered, marked to specific officers for their investigation and action. Ask for a copy of all their remarks, feedback, reports etc. If the case on your complaint is closed, ask for the closing remarks of the officer concerned.

(b) “Give particulars of the project to build XYZ.” What “particulars” do you want? Engineering drawings? Budgets? Financial projections? Feasibility reports? Consultants’ studies? This is not clear. Don’t leave it to the PIO to decide what documents to include and what to leave out. Be specific and name the documents that you want copied. Make it difficult for the PIO to loosely interpret your request.

Also read:


B. Seven surprising tips for writing good RTI applications

C. Five psychological reasons for failure-prone RTI Applications

D. Examples of success-oriented and failure-prone RTI applications

Warm Regards,

Krish

098215 88114

MCD AVOIDS RTI APPLICATIONS–RETURN THEM BY INNOVATING NEW WAY

When you sent an RTI application to Municipal Corporation of Delhi, please address it properly as the MCD is returning applications addressed to the CPIO, MCD. Subhash Social and RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agarwal sent an RTI application by speed post on 22nd April addressed to the CPIO, MCD, Townhall, Delhi-6 which was returned to him on 28th with the remark that “no such post at MCD Townhall”. Under the government directives, RTI application can be sent to the CPIO through the Head of the Department to his/her address. RTI Act also states that such application should be transferred to the concerned PIO within five days and reply time for such applications is 35 days instead of 30. For sending RTI application to the correct addressee at MCD, exact name, designation and address can be taken from the MCD website. Bureaucracy is making some innovation daily to avoid the RTI applications. In one case, one PIO has refused to part information saying that the applicant is ‘terrorist’ though his son has laid his life for the country as he was in the defence services. Now, the applicant is approaching the Prime Minister on the issue. The News Services Division, All India Radio has stopped calling the writer on the temporary duty and when he asked the reason for this, he was, interalia, informed, “his bonafides are doubtful”. His fault, he filed some RTI applications sensing some fishy things in the working of the AIR and one such issue was awarding the contract to a private placement agency for providing casual stenos to AIR. When he asked the basis to conclude this, PIO has given an affidavit that no further information is available in the records.

Returning the application of Mr. Agarwal is a fit case of complaint u.s. 18 of the RTI Act to the Central Information Commission.

(With news inputs form Dainik Jagran, 10.5.2010)

Report by Shri M K Gupta
mkgupta100.AT.yahoo.co.in