Bombay HC heeds Voice of Victims, Upholds Ban on Pan-Masala along with Gutka

Mumbai, 15th September 2012: Many tobacco victims, and their anxious family members, will heave a big sigh of relief today. In a case that was keenly watched by public health activists and tobacco victims families, Bombay High Court today upheld Maharashtra's stringent ban on pan masala. The high court refused to give relief to eight big manufacturers of pan masala, gutka and allied products by issuing a stay order against the ban. Thus, the judiciary has vindicated the firm stand taken by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and other leading administrators to curb the menace of tobacco.

Advocate General Darius Khambatta and Additional Solicitor General Kevic Setalwad defended the state government's decision to ban pan masala. Senior advocate Rajni Iyer represented the intervenor, namely Action Council against Tobacco India (ACT-India), which is an NGO based in Tata Memorial Hospital.

Harish Bakshi, a former victim who was part of the team that campaigned with the administration for this ban, hailed the court's decision and congratulated the Maharashtra government and civil society groups that had fought together for this issue. “I would particularly like thank FDA commissioner Mahesh Zagade, who took such a bold step. However, I am a bit worried by the fact that the administration is not destroying the stocks of gutka and pan masala seized, worth Rs 86 crores. Because it means they can be sold somewhere else.

“However, I heartily congratulate all the tobacco victims and surgeons from Tata Memorial hospital, who, supported by NGOs such as Salaam Bombay Foundation, had together campaigned for Maharashtra's stringent ban, which is miles ahead of other states. This stay order was being sought by the banned gutka industry in order to enable a backdoor re-entry for gutka, in the guise of independent tobacco pouches to be sold along with pan masala but intended to be consumed along with it. Getting pan masala excluded from the scope of this ban would have essentially nullified the ban. Indeed, as a former consumer, I know of prominent places such as outside CST station where tobacco and such products are being sold in independent pouches for mixing together. The police must crack down on such places and close the loopholes,” urges Harish.

Read ban orders of some states: http://tiny.cc/Ban-Orders-Many-States”

Pan masala itself is not just an innocent mixture of arecanut cuttings, food flavours and sweeteners. It is a specialized product engineered for causing addiction, and as such, it is an ingenious mix of traditional items and chemicals such as magnesium carbonate., designed to deliver ever higher "highs" to addicts. The similarity in packaging and marketing of gutkha and pan masala is no accident; pan masala initiates unwary people and gets them to set foot on the slippery slope of addiction. Gutka, khaini etc. lie in wait further down that slope. Maharashtra FDA's ban order dated 19 July 2012 highlighted the risk posed by Magnesium Carbonate present in pan masala, which leads to hyper magnesia, and sometimes cardiac arrest. Even pan masala brands marketed as “tobacco-free” contain high levels of nicotine, as revealed by a study commissioned by the Ministry of Health. Laboratory analysis of randomly picked pan masala brand samples by the Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI), Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh has revealed that Rajnigandha pan masala contains 2.26 gm of nicotine per 100 gm of pan masala -- more than Goa 1000 Gutkha, a leading brand which has 2.04 gm of nicotine per 100 gm.

Among those who had eloquently made presentations to the Chief Minister, Deputy CM and sensitized the State Assembly was Sumitra Pednekar, wife of late Satish Pednekar, who had succumbed to oral cancer in 2011 at the age of 61 years. Satish Pednekar, a former Home and Labour Minister of Maharashtra, was fond of having 5 to 6 packets of gutka every day. This ban may have come too late for campaigners like Sumitra and her two daughters, who were emotionally and financially ruined by the death of Satish Pednekar. But if they are reading this, these campaigners may draw some comfort from the fact that their efforts were not in vain.

FOR MORE DETAILS, CONTACT:

• Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi, Associate Professor, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai -chaturvedi.pankaj###gmail(dot)com
• Ashima Sarin, Project Director - VoTV - +91-8860786604 sarina ###healis (dot)org
  (Pl replace ### with @ and (dot) with .)

RTI success : Tour details to be on websites

RTI success : Tour details to be on websites

It refers to welcome DoPT advisory issued at instance of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) directing all public-authorities under Central Government including even President Secretariat to put all details of tours and travels on respective websites, after public-authorities were flooded with RTI petitions seeking details of tours and travels at public-expense which even accounted for as much as of half the budget meant for PMO and council of ministers.

Making such aspects public will tend to make a self-imposed check by concerned ones to avoid misuse like was done by none other than former President of India Pratibha Patil when despite bitter-most criticism for already having spent rupees 205 crores, she went ahead with another such trip to South Africa etc in last days of her tenure cancelling earlier-fixed engagements just for a ferry-trip for her grand-children. There should be a total ban on taking relations and friends on official trips other than spouse even by President of India. However another lady family-member may accompany dignitaries like President and Prime Minister in requirement of protocol in case wife of any such dignitary may not be able to accompany.

Study should be made for other common queries put through RTI petitions, and all such commonly queried aspects should also be directed to be put on websites. All public-authorities should be directed to follow practice of Railway Ministry to put scanned copies of all RTI petitions and responses on websites.

SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL

(Guinness Record Holder & RTI Activist)

1775 Kucha Lattushah

Dariba, Chandni Chowk

DELHI 110006 (India)

Mobile             9810033711          Fax      23254036

E-mail  subhashmadhu@sify.com

Web     www.subhashmadhu.com

12.09.2012

DOPAT/E/2012/00740 

PRSEC/E/2012/14360

Maharashtra RTI Rules Amendment – The Process began in 2009, unknown to Civil Society

2 July 2012, Mumbai:  RTI activists of other states should take a lesson from the experience of Maharashtra RTI activists, and be very alert. Maybe they should all file RTI applications to their Law and Judiciary department and General Administration Department to find out what is going on. Because, by reading the documents procured under RTI from General Administration Department by RTI activist G R Vora (            9869195785      ,grvora1@gmail.com), we are surprised to find that the process of amendment was quietly going on for the past 2-3 years, unknown to all of us. See the dates circled on page 4 of part 1 of this RTI reply: http://tinyurl.com/GRV-Maha-RTI-Rules-Amndmnt-dox

[Note: GR Vora got 60 pages of government documents in English and Marathi, totaling about 45 mb. This is divided into two parts to facilitate download.]

Maharashtra activists were taken by surprise a couple of months earlier, when we learned about this amendment post-facto from an unofficial source – the March edition of a private publication sold outside Mumbai’s city civil court:http://tinyurl.com/Mrashtra-RTIRulesAmend-Jan2012   

The community of RTI activists and users of Maharashtra felt betrayed that the state government had not taken us into confidence by holding a public consultation. They reacted very strongly. Some activists have challenged this amendment in Bombay High Court.

We requests our fellow activists – especially those who are comfortable analyzing Marathi documents – to study these documents and share their understanding with all of us on internet. Quite probably, there will be lessons in it for RTI activists from all states on how to be more watchful, and not get taken by surprise in future.

Warm Regards,

Krish

            98215 88114      

thebravepedestrian?AT?gmail.com

Citizens & RTI activists: Useful Info in Mumbai Police RTI Disclosure on Internet

7th June 2012, Mumbai: Mumbai Police has made a genuine effort to be transparent. This PDF File is very informative for citizens and RTI activists: http://www.mumbaipolice.org/right_of_information/Right_of_Information.pdf

Useful features are highlighted in this file (i.e. same PDF file with highlights):http://tinyurl.com/Mumbai-Police-RTI-Disclosure

SEVEN USEFUL THINGS:

1)      THE LIST OF 97 REGISTERS MAINTAINED BY MUMBAI POLICE COMMISSIONER’S OFFICE on page 10-12 is very useful. RTI activists can simply ask for copy of pages of a particular register between two cut-off dates e.g. 1 Jan 2009 to 31 Dec 2011. Or they can ask for inspection of particular registers.

2)      PERIOD OF PRESERVATION OF EACH REGISTER on page 13 makes it easy to file RTI applications and reduce chances of arbitrary denial.

3)      POWERS & DUTIES of Mumbai Police Officers & Employees are explained from page 4 to 9.

4)      ORGANIZATIONAL CHART on page 3 makes the Mumbai police hierarchy clear to laymen.

5)      VARIOUS OFFICERS’ PHONE AND FAX numbers are given page 16 onwards.

6)      VISITING HOURS for citizens etc. are specified on page 88.

7)      PIOS, APIOS & FIRST APPELLATE AUTHORITIES’ phone numbers and addresses are given page 89 onwards.

This MAHARASHTRA POLICE WEBSITE also gives the official “mahapolice.gov.in” email addresses of 174 cops in Maharashtra: http://mahapolice.gov.in/mahapolice/jsp/temp/mail.jsp

[Note: I selected the email ids of 10 Mumbai police officers from this list. Four of the addresses bounced my message i.e. my emails were hopefully delivered to six email ids. Hope the cops are checking these email addresses, because many still prefer to use yahoo and gmail for official purposes!]

The Maharashtra Police website also appears to have some other useful features e.g. tracking the progress of a missing person complaint, etc. But do these features actually work? Someone will have to test it and see.

Warmly,

Krish

9821588114

thebravepedestrian[AT]gmail.com

Latest Info Commission​er Selection: PMO played fair, Oppn Leader played foul

15 May, 2012: There is good news: documents procured by activists GirishMittal and Lokesh Batra under RTI indicate that the latest batch of CentralInformation Commissioners (Rajiv Mathur, Vijai Sharma and Basant Seth) wereselected by a more transparent process than earlier. The central government hasdefinitely mended its ways and set a good precedent for state governments.  By calling for applications and having applicationsscreened by a Search Committee, the government has yielded to two long standingdemands of RTI activists.

However, Leader ofOpposition Sushma Swaraj short-circuited the process, it seems. She put up twonames that were not selected by the Search Committee, and one of them became aCIC. New CICs Rajiv Mathur and Vijai Sharma were on a shortlist of nine personsafter a screening process for 214 contenders. But new CIC Basant Seth waseliminated by the Search Committee, and re-entered the shortlist as SushmaSwaraj’s candidate, it appears from the below documents.

THE PROCESS FOLLOWED THISTIME:

1)      OnOct 29, 2011, DOPT issued this circular inviting applications from all eligiblepersons, including civil society: http://tinyurl.com/DOPT-Circular-Nov2011

2)      Fromthe applications received before the final date, a list of all 214 applicants wasdrawn up: http://tinyurl.com/List-CIC-Applicants-Apr2012

3)      TheSearch Committee seemingly evaluated 214 applicants “on the basis of width,diversity, relevance and length of experience of the applicants, with some preferencefor legal background and strategic exposure”. Also, inputs were sought fromIntelligence Bureau and Central Vigilance Commission. All this is stated in theminutes of the Selection Committee meeting on 23 February 2012: http://tinyurl.com/MOM-PMs-Selection-Cmte-Feb2012

IT WILL BE WORTH GETTING THESE DETAILS UNDER RTI:

a)     Copies of all correspondence betweenDOPT and PMO concerning constituting Search Committee, defining its terms ofreference, etc.

b)     Copies of documents showing the criteriaand procedure used by the Search Committee for screening the 214 names andarriving at the shortlist of nine names.

c)     What inputs were solicited and receivedby the PMO, Selection Committee and/or Screening Committee from IB and CVC?Copies of all correspondence, reports received etc.

d)     Copies of all correspondence by OppositionLeader Sushma Swaraj with PMO, Search Committee, Selection Committee andcandidates for the CIC’s post.

WHAT IS A SEARCHCOMMITTEE?

Search     Committees guidelines 1994: http://tinyurl.com/Search-Cmte-Circ-1994  

Search     Committee guidelines 2007: http://tinyurl.com/Search-Cmte-Circ-2007

IMPROVEMENT OVER EARLIER SELECTIONS:

Notwithstanding possible deficiencies of the process followed inthis round of selections, it is far better than earlier selections when A N Tiwari (now retired) and Satyananda Mishra (now the Chief CIC), whowere both DoPT Secretaries, selected themselves for the post of InformationCommissioner.   Tiwari and Mishra disregarded dozens of applicationsaddressed to them and made the shortlist list so short that it reduced thePrime Minister’s Selection Committee into a mere rubber stamp. Girish Mittal’sRTI findings revealed this shocking abuse of position:  http://tinyurl.com/ANT-SM-Self-Selection

To understandethical and legal issues in selecting CICs, read this: http://tinyurl.com/CIC-Selections-legal-issues

The present changes in selection procedure are the result of anongoing struggle since 2009. Background material: http://tinyurl.com/CIC-Selections-background

Warm Regards,
KrishnarajRao
98215 88114
thebravepedestrian@gmail.com

Press Release: MAHARASHTRA RTI RULES AMENDMENT passed by Assembly. What lies ahead?

24 April 2012, Mumbai: We had a tiny window of hope that Maharashtra’s amended RTI Rules would not be tabled in the assembly. This hope was because many of us (led by Julio Ribeiro and Narayan Varma) had formally approached the Chief Minister and opposition leaders in both houses, and made submissions in writing. We had hoped that even if the amendment was tabled, it would be stalled by the opposition parties due to continuous campaigning by our activist colleagues such as Anil Galgali (            9820130074      ) and Bhaskar Prabhu (            9892102424      ).

But today is a sad day for RTI activists and information seekers in Maharashtra. Anil Galgali told us this evening that this small window of hope has closed. Galgali, who today met Mr Avrari, Under Secretary of General Administration Department (GAD), was informed that the rule changes had been passed in the state assembly. The gazette copy will be made available on Monday 30th April, Mr Avrari said.

• The new rules are: http://tinyurl.com/Mrashtra-RTIRulesAmend-Jan2012 

• These are in addition to the original RTI Rules: http://tinyurl.com/Original-Maharashtra-RTI-Rules

The original rules were modeled closely after the Central RTI Rules, and FACILITATED the use of RTI Act by the common man. The new rules CURTAIL the use of the Act, and give the public information officer (PIO) UNNECESSARY DISCRETIONARY POWERS to restrict and harass the RTI user. These new rules will therefore increase the scope for conflicts and lead to an increased number of appeals.

MAHARASHTRA’S NEW RULES SAY:

(i)                 Request for information must nor ordinarily exceed 150 words

(ii)               Request for information must relate to one subject matter only. If necessary, separate applications must be made if it relates to more than one.

(iii)             Public Information Officer (PIO) must allow the person inspecting the documents to take a pencil only. All other writing instruments must be deposited with the PIO.

OUR MAIN OBJECTIONS:

a)      THE GOVERNMENT ADDED THESE RULES SECRETIVELY without any discussion in the public domain. We did not come to know of this from any government source. We were informed by Advocate Vinod Sampat, who saw this notification in a publication he had picked up outside City Civil Court. There should have a public consultation of stakeholders, as mandated by Section 4(1)(c), which says, “Every public authority shall - publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing the decisions which affect public.”

b)      THE 150-WORD RULE may handicap the majority of Maharashtra’s people – less educated people living in slums and villages – who lack the skills for drafting an RTI application within a word limit of 150 words. We also object to the arbitrary nature of this rule change. (By what process was the 150 word-limit arrived at? Why not 250 words? Or 10 words for that matter? Unless it is based on study and judicious reasoning, this rule is arbitrary.)

c)      THE SINGLE-SUBJECT-MATTER RULE gives the PIO unnecessary discretionary powers. Different RTI applicants and PIOs may interpret “single subject matter” in different ways, and this will cause endless disputes and delays in getting information. For example: If an RTI applicant asks the Municipal Commissioner’s office for copies of complaints, and the papers showing action taken on them, relating to impure water supply in A, B and C wards. An uncooperative PIO can argue that this RTI application has three subject matters, as each ward is a separate “subject matter”. Another man in his position can argue that complaints are one subject matter, and the actions taken on complaints are a different subject matter. Sir, based on our common experiences, we anticipate that the PIOs and appellate authorities will be drawn into such hair-splitting, diverting their attention from the intent of the RTI Act.

MANY STATES, MANY RULES

Is Maharashtra the only state to have passed such restrictive rules? No. Similar rule changes have been passed in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, and attempts have been made in other states also, such as Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

What is objectionable is that many state governments and other competent authorities have framed rules that are against the letter and spirit of the Act. Two extreme examples are the state governments of Arunachal Pradesh and Orissa, which have invented bizarre reasons to put information beyond the common man’s grasp. The citizens of these states suffer from numerous disabilities while seeking information under the RTI Act.

• RTI Rules Arunachal Pradesh: http://tinyurl.com/Arunachal-Pradesh-RTI-Rules-05

• RTI Rules Orissa: http://tinyurl.com/Orissa-RTI-Rules-2005 

Rules must always facilitate the use of the laws. It is unlawful to make RTI Rules that restrict the use of the RTI Act. Competent Authorities such as State governments, State Legislatures and Judiciary are empowered by Section 27 to “make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act.” , The latest rules are against the spirit of rule-making.This is all the more surprising as Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan was Minister-of-State (MOS) for DOPT, the central monitoring body for RTI Act 2005.

RTI activists across the country need to unitedly push for uniform rules that are in harmony with Central RTI Rules per these directions issued by DOPT in April 2011:http://tinyurl.com/Harmonize-RTI-Rules-DOPT-GR

As long as RTI activists in different states do not support each other in the battle for information, state governments and other competent authorities will continue to frame RTI rules to hobble information seekers.

Warm Regards,

Krish

            9821588114      

thebravepedestrian{AT}gmail.com