PIL in Orissa High Court urging enquiry into misappropriation of public money by Orissa Information Commission
(Source Oriya daily `Sambad', Cuttack Edition dated 5.4.2011, Page-3)
Dear friends,
A PIL case has been filed by an RTI Activist Mr. Raj Kishor Singh of Cuttack, Orissa appealing to Orissa High Court for a high level enquiry into alleged misappropriation of 3.25 crore rupees done by Orissa Information Commission in the name of awareness programmes, going against the mandate of the RTI Act 2005. Among others Mr.T.K.Mishra Chief Orissa Information Commissioner, Mr. D.N.Padhi, former State Chief Information Commissioner, Prof. Radhamohan, former State Information Commissioner and Mr. Jagadanand Mohanty, present Information Commissioner have been made opposites parties besides the Chief Secretary and Secretaries of Departments of I&PR, Planning and Coordination and Finance to answer the allegation.
The petitioner has raised a pertinent issue that though five years has passed in implementation of RTI Act in Orissa, the common people at grassroots level are hardly aware about its provisions, not to speak of deriving any tangible benefits from its application. In contrast, it was noticed that a lot of money from the public exchequer was squandered away by Orissa Information Commission in the name of RTI awareness generation across the state.
As per the Commission's own admission they have spent Rs. 3, 25, 61, 787/- during 2005-2010 alone on account of so-called IEC (Information, Education and Communication) activities, the impact of which is little known to any member of the public. Besides the very conduction of IEC activities by the Commission violated the Section 26 of the RTI Act, as per which the State Government through its nodal agency Dept. of I and PR, should have carried it out.
Again, the hectic involvement of the Commission in IEC activities resulted in gross negligence of its main duty entrusted by RTI Act i.e. adjudication of complaints and appeals from aggrieved citizens. As per the Commission's own admission, there are more than 8 thousand cases pending for disposal in its office as of today. The petitioner has therefore raised the question- how is it that the Commission which has no authority to spend the IEC money as per the law, was provided with so much of funds with the knowledge of 3 major Departments of the State, namely I & PR, P&C and Finance.
The petitioner has maintained that the Dept. of I&PR which in the capacity of nodal RTI agency should have conducted the awareness activities has not received a single rupee from any source on this account. The Departments of Finance and Planning and Coordination, which are involved in the allocation of money to different agencies, couldn't reply, in response to the RTI applications, as to which provision of law enabled them to allocate so much of money to Orissa Information Commission on IEC account.
Further, the fact that the Commission has dished out contradictory figures on the amount of IEC money it received, did also raise a grave doubt as to how the money was handled by them. While its website mentions total expenditure on IEC to be Rs. 3,25,61,787/- during last five years, its statement in response to an RTI Application puts the figure at Rs. 3,02,95,777/-. The petitioner has also challenged the arbitrary manner in which the Commission engaged its pet NGOs and agencies in the so-called
RTI campaign programme flouting all norms of financial discipline.
The petitioner has therefore prayed before the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court for directing the Orissa Information Commission to put its hands off from the awareness activities, the Govt. of Orissa to conduct them through its nodal agency I&PR Dept, and for instituting a high level enquiry into the misappropriation of IEC money by the Commission so as to fix accountability on the persons in the Government and Commission who were instrumental behind such illegal diversion of money.
Regards
Sankar Panigrahi
RTI Activist, Bolangir
M- 98619- 72607
Date- 14.4.2011
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