Tuesday, October 30, 2012

[rti4empowerment] Fw: Info panel spares govt officers the rod

 



V

Info panel spares govt officers the rod

 



Staff Crunch Delays Reply To RTI Queries

C D S Mani TNN

Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief information commissioner K S Sripathi believes in giving a long rope to public information officers (PIOs).He told TOI that the state information commission (SIC) does not believe in punishing PIOs,who are dependent on various departments to collect information and reply to applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.We cant bow to pressure of RTI activists to take action against a PIO without examining all the issues involved, he said adding,the demoralizing effect on that the officers concerned has to be to considered.
He attributes the delay in replying to RTI queries to manpower constraints and process.The SIC,which had just one chief information commissioner and one information commissioner since its inception,has inducted five more information commissioners this September,he pointed out.Lack of trained staff who are computer savvy and can handle the inflow of around 56,000 papers received by the commission in a calendar year,slows down the process of sifting through the petitions,appeals and references from various departments,he explained.
However,RTI activist C Selvaraj demurs saying,the replies to queries have to be given within 30 days as mandated by the Act and the commission should work intelligently by prioritizing the petitions instead of attempting to respond to all the representations if there is a manpower shortage.V Gopalakrishnan,who has filed a legion of RTI applications,has problems with lack of sincerity of PIOs in doing their constitutional job and does not buy the official line regarding manpower constraints.
Expressing inability to reveal the number of RTI applications received in a calendar year,Sripathi explains that the SIC only receives second appeals after applicants have made the first appeal to the concerned department from which information has been sought.Out of 12,000 to 13,000 second appeals received in a calendar year,the SIC disposes of moer than 8,000 plus appeals which makes TN one of the leading states in this regard.The commission receives only second appeals on alleged denials of information or delays in getting replies to RTI queries.
On an average,about 100 show cause notices are issued in a calendar year to PIOs in Tamil Nadu and fines are imposed only after malafide intention is established.Usually the complaints are against departments like police and revenue with which the people tend to have more interaction, he said.
Section 20 of the RTI Act empowers the commission to impose a penalty of Rs 250 per person per day of delay subject to a maximum of Rs 25,000 while deciding an appeal complaint.It can recommend disciplinary action against any erring PIO.

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[rti4empowerment] Income-tax Department Seeks To End Corruption

 



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: editor@itatonline.org <itatonline.org@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 1:03 PM
Subject: Income-tax Department Seeks To End Corruption
To: editor@itatonline.org


Dear Subscriber,

Income-tax Department Seeks To End Corruption

The Income-tax Department is conducting a "Vigilance Awareness Week" from 29.10.2012 to 3.11.2012 in order to "sensitize its officials to the need for improving quality of public service rendered and mitigating the potential area of corruption". An interactive session will be held on 2.11.2012 at 3.00 pm to understand the "potential areas of corruption" and how to mitigate them. The ITAT Bar Association has been requested to depute its representatives to participate in the said interactive session.

 

If any professional would like to contribute his thoughts on the issue, the same may be sent by email to manager (@) itatonline.org as soon as possible.


(Click Here To Read More)


Regards,


Editor,


itatonline.org

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Latest:

Eminent Senior Advocate & Tax Expert Is Law Minister



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[rti4empowerment] sripathy, chief commissioner of Tamilandu information commission remarks and rti [2 Attachments]

 
[Attachment(s) from gopala krishnan included below]



A Request to ascertain the published news



To
                                                           Date:
29-10-2012

Thiru. K.S. Sripathy

Chief Information Commissioner

Theynampet

Chennai- 600018.



Sir,

Your kind attention is drawn to the news column published in the
Times of India dt. 22-10-2012. Especially the first para needs more
attention.

The real intention of the CIC is exposed to the effect that he is more
interested to protect and safeguard the stained interests of the PIO
who fails to honour the RTI Act. Also the CIC is seemingly more
concerned with the difficulties faced by the PIOs.

On the other hand, in the curiosity to give undue protection to the
PIO, the CIC has miserably failed to see sub sections (4) & (5) of
sec. 5 of the Act. A little diligence on the part of the CIC would
have saved such awkward situation emanated from the above news.

Already a complaint made against you in the matter of getting
allotment of flat at Nerkundram scheme of TNHB, the office of the
Governor has denied the receipt of our complaint dt. 17-1-2012.
Subsequently, the receipt of complaint was admitted and the same was
reportedly forwarded to P & AR Dept. vide letter of Secretary to
Governor dt. 22-5-2012. Here also the office of the governor has
pathetically failed to see the various sub sections of sec. 17 of the
RTI Act. The Governor is not empowered to delegate to anybody the
power exclusively vested with the Governor under the Act.

Recently there was a news column reportedly given by the CIC,
justifying the use of red beacon light by the SICs in their official
cars, claiming that they are equal to the Chief Secretary of the
State. The red beacon lights are not meant to be used by individuals
but it is intended for the usage of that particular post mentioned in
the G.O. It is a quiet unfortunate calamity to see the CIC is
seemingly unable to distinguish between individual and post.

In the light of some of many such inconsistencies pointed out above,
it has become an absolute necessity on the part of CIC to ascertain
the truthfulness of the news items published above. Accordingly we
remain with anticipation of a just and fair response from the CIC.
      C. Selvaraj



********************************************************************************
Remarks on the reply of PIO in Case No. 27299/C/2012-  dt. 13-8-2012

To

Date: 29-10-2012
The State Information Commission
2, Thyagaraya Road
Theynampet
Chennai- 600018.
Sir,
            Sub:-  RTI Act 2005- certain information on the action
taken against Thiru.
                        K.S. Sripathy TNCIC- denial of information by
PIO of Governor of
                       Tamilnadu - first appeal not responded- remarks
on reply to 2nd appeal- reg.
Ref:- 1. RTI application dt. 30-3-12
                       2. PIO letter dt. 16-4-12
                       3. email to Governor dt. 21-4-12
                       4. POD of India post
                      5. 1st appeal dt. 7-5-12
                      6. 2nd appeal dt  13-6-2012
                      7. reply of PIO dt. 24-9-2012.
In the above mentioned case, the PIO of Governor has given his remarks
as directed by the Commission.
It was claimed that my complaint dt 17-1-2012 was not received in U3
section. But the reply is silent on whether the complaint was received
in the office of Governor or not. POD has already been sent to the
PIO.
The reply goes to proceed that the complaint has nothing to do with
the Information Commission by stating that the complaint is against
Thiru. K.S. Sripathy, CIC. It is not a disputed fact in the 2nd
appeal. It is an irrelevant narration.
Not stopping with this irrelevancy, the reply proceeds to say that the
appointment of Information Commissioner is being dealt with by P & AR
Dept. It is also not a matter in the 2nd appeal.
My complaint specifically deals with removal of CIC by the Governor
u/s. 17 of the Act, which power could not be delegated to anybody by
the Governor. It has also nothing to do in the 2nd appeal.
What I have sought for in my RTI application was to supply copy of the
file which dealt with the complaint. If for the sake of argument that
the complaint was forwarded to the P & AR Dept, then there must be
some file containing the action of forwarding the complaint. This too
was denied to me, though I am entitled to receive the same.
Accordingly I request the Information Commission to kindly order an
enquiry for enabling me to get the information remain denied to me.


                                                                C.
Selvaraj

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Attachment(s) from gopala krishnan

2 of 2 Photo(s)

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[rti4empowerment] Fw: Eminent Senior Advocate & Tax Expert Is Law Minister

 



see request of income tax dept

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "editor@itatonline.org" <itatonline.org@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2012 23:32:42 -0800
Subject: Eminent Senior Advocate & Tax Expert Is Law Minister
To: editor@itatonline.org

Dear Subscriber,

Eminent Senior Advocate & Tax Expert Is Law Minister <http://bit.ly/law_min>

We are pleased to announce that eminent senior advocate *Shri Ashwani
Kumar*has been appointed the Law Minister of India. Shri. Ashwani
Kumar is well
versed with income-tax matters and has appeared in several landmark matters
such as *Topman Exports vs. CIT* 247 CTR (SC) 353 & *Vikas Kalra vs.
CIT*247 CTR (SC) 382 (DEPB & s. 80HHC). He has also been a member of
the
consultative committee for the Ministry of Finance and is well aware of the
problems facing income-tax assessees.



The Bar Association shall shortly approach the Hon'ble Law Minister with a
request that the following long-standing issues raised by the Bar be
addressed at the earliest:



(i) Appointment of a permanent President for the
Tribunal<http://www.itatonline.org/blog/index.php/wanted-urgently-president-for-the-tribunal/>as
well as filling up the vacancies in the posts of Sr. Vice Presidents
and
Vice Presidents;



(ii) Judicial inquiry into the issues raised by the Bar in its letter dated
9.3.2012<http://www.itatonline.org/info/index.php/itat-bar-seeks-judicial-probe-into-allegations-of-corruption-in-the-itat/>regarding
alleged corruption in the Tribunal;



(iii) Increase in the age
limits<http://www.itatonline.org/blog/index.php/old-is-gold/>for
Judges & Tribunal Members from 62 years to 65 years.



We wish the Hon'ble Minister good luck in the new posting.


*(Click Here To Read More <http://bit.ly/law_min>)*


Regards,


Editor,


itatonline.org

---------------------
*Latest*:
Download "Tax Accounting Standards" Issued By The CBDT<http://bit.ly/TAS_CBDT>


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[rti4empowerment] Letter for enquiry in suspended DySP case from outside the Police Department

 

Friends,

Here is a news "UP police chief taking bribes, says junior officer" 
(http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_up-police-chief-taking-bribes-says-junior-officer_1757728) which says that a middle rung police officer has levelled serious allegations of corruption against the UP police chief and even charged him with taking bribes for transfers. A police spokesman has denied all charges, and an inquiry has been ordered against the police officer making the charges.
"No one can get any work done in the UP police without paying money. Even the UP police chief (director general of police AC Sharma) does not issue transfer orders without taking money," a deputy SP-level officer VK Sharma told reporters in Bulandshahr on Monday.

Sharma has alleged that he was being unduly for raising his voice against this high-handedness. "The IPS officers think of PPS (provincial police service) officers as their servants. No one can say a word against their harassment tactics, and if one does, he is punished like I am being now," he told reporters.

However, IG, Law and Order, BP Singh, has denied all charges and said Sharma had been known for insubordination. He said while Sharma was posted to Aligarh in August this year, he joined over two months later in October without taking any leave. He also pointed out that Sharma had gone to court twice against his transfer orders. Singh said an inquiry was being conducted into the matter.

I have written a letter in my individual capacity to the Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary Home, UP as regards the news related with this suspension. I have requested in my letter that after this incidence, I talked to Sharma on phone and tried to get the complete facts. Sharma spoke in details about his allegations of frequent transfers, serious allegations on senior police officers, alleged improper behaviour in IG, Kanpur Range meeting etc.

Based on these talks, I have requested in my letter that since Sharma has made serious allegations against the DGP of UP Police himself, hence as per the directions of the Supreme Court in Ratan lal Sharma vs Managing Director 1993 (4SCC) 727 and as per the Principles of Natural Justice, all these allegations like political pressure in dowry death case, frequent transfers, abusive behaviour with him by the then IG Kanpur Range etc shall be enquired into by a senior officer, not from the Police Department , so that the message clearly goes that justice is not only being done, it is seen to being done.

I hope you agree with some of the points raised by me in my letter.
 
Amitabh Thakur
IPS,
Lucknow
# 94155-34526

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Sunday, October 28, 2012

[rti4empowerment] RTI doesn't trample upon privacy, says expert panel

 
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[rti4empowerment] New file uploaded to rti4empowerment

 


Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the rti4empowerment
group.

File : /Swaraj - By Arvind Kejriwal .pdf
Uploaded by : dhirendra.krishna <dhirendra.krishna@yahoo.com>
Description : Book written by Arvind Kejriwal highlights several vital issues about maladministration; it has been added as one of the Files. Members of rti4empowerment may like to read it from the perspective of their empowerment by RTI Act.

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rti4empowerment/files/Swaraj%20-%20By%20Arvind%20Kejriwal%20.pdf

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/web/index.html
Regards,

dhirendra.krishna <dhirendra.krishna@yahoo.com>


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[rti4empowerment] Courage and conviction lead to wider acknowledgments

 

Friends,

Seeking apologies from all my friends in this group, I present two small videos which carry some words of appreciation for wife Nutan. It is from a feature article in Samachar Plus news channel where Nutan's works and views have been presented. They have been presented in the beginning of the first video and between min 13.45 to end of second video. 



While I feel happy about the fact that Nutan got featured in this manner, more importantly I want to share these two videos for the reason that just a few years ago Nutan was a house-wife, married happily and comfortably to an IPS officer. She hardly had any first hand experience in the field of social activities and is not a law graduate. Yet, through sheer passion, dedication and grit, she started working for others and getting engaged in social activities.

Nutan's example shows that all of us can contribute positively to the society and can get appreciated. The only need is to have positive intentions and to have courage and conviction. It is this conviction by each one of us that can actually pave a way for better society in the way many of us want.

Hence, each one of us, instead of feeling helpless, may come in front and shall contribute in whatever small manners we can. The change will be visible and shall certainly be acknowledged.

Regards,
Amitabh Thakur
Lucknow
# 94155-34526

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