Note for reform in RTI regime
in Odisha
(Required intervention of State
Government)
Enforcement of RTI Act has completed about
seventeen years in Orissa as at national level and in other States/UTs. At the
outset, To implement the Act, Govt. of Odisha farmed Orissa RTI Rules 2005, which was opposed
by Civil Society Groups during that time. Many
eminent citizens and national level RTI activists like Mrs. Aruna Ray, Mr.
Sailesh Gandhi and Ms. Maja Daruwala of CHRI did also object to quite some
provisions of Orissa RTI Rules on the ground of their incongruity with the
parent law. Specifically, Mrs. Ray had met the Chief Minister Orissa in Dec
2005 and pressed him to withdraw them at the earliest. However, in view of public criticism, the State Govt. of Orissa on the floor of
Assembly in April 2006 announced a bunch of new provisions including reduction
of fees on different heads, which was notified in official gazette on 29th
May 2006 under the caption ‘Orissa RTI (amendment) Rules, 2006’.
The above amendments, though fair and
useful in themselves, didn’t however touch at all on the mainframe of Orissa
RTI Rules 2005 (such as a lengthy application form requiring disclosure of
personal details and attachment of a copy of voter card, forms and fees for
making appeals, ), which in the opinion
of civil society groups were against the letter and spirit of the RTI Act.
We draw the attention of the Government on the following points for
effective implementation of RTI Act.
1.
Amendment of Odisha RTI Rules, 2005
A. Replacement
of compulsory Application Form by RTI
Application Format
Under Section 6 of the RTI Act, a citizen seeking
information is not required to submit his/her application to
the Public information Officer in any particular form. But Orissa RTI Rules has
prescribed a compulsory 11-point lengthy and complex application Form, without
proper fill-up of which one’s request for information shall not be entertained.
Moreover, the said Form requires an applicant to disclose several of
his/her personal information like identity as a citizen, permanent address, and
spouse name, which are as such prohibited from disclosure under Section 6(2) of
the Act. The Central Govt. has not prescribed any Application Form as such, and
some State Governments who have prescribed Forms have not made them
compulsory. The present Form-A of Orissa is simply a burdensome provision
for the people of Orissa. After a lot of demand for withdrawal of this
format, a high level committee under
chairmanship of Sri Surya Narayan
Patro, the then Minister, I and PR Dept. was held on 3.8.2011 for amendment of
Odisha RTI Rules. This Committee recommended
for amendment of Application Form.
The Application Form i.e. Form-A imposed by Govt. of Orissa should
therefore be withdrawn and replaced with
a simple format.
B. withdrawal of appeal Form and fees
There is no provision in RTI Act to prescribe any
Form or Fee for making an appeal, first or second. The Central Govt. and
many other State Governments have therefore not prescribed any appeal form or
fee. But the Govt. of Orissa, in clear violation of the Act has prescribed both
appeal form (Form D for 1st Appeal and Form E for 2nd
Appeal) and appeal fees (Rs.20/- for 1st appeal and Rs.25/- for 2nd
appeal). Besides the Orissa Rules make it compulsory for such appeal
fees to be deposited only through Court Fee Stamps, to procure which is a great
difficulty for the common citizens. So the State Government should consider
abolishing this Form and Fee
system and replace it with a
simple format.
C. Withdrawal of provision for submission of proof of Citizenship
The provision
made under the Orissa Rules-2005( vide –Rule 4) that the Applicant
has to satisfy the PIO about his/her identity before his/her
application is considered, is ultravires the parent Act and needs
to be withdrawn. The Section 6 (2) of the RTI Act categorically says
that an applicant “ shall not be required to give any reason
for requesting the information or any other personal
details except those may be necessary for contacting
him”. While adjudicating a writ petition
No. 33290/2013 ( Avishek Goenka vs Government of West Bengal) on 20.11.2013, the hon’ble Calcutta High Court made an observation that as per section 6(2)
of the RTI Act, the applicant need not
disclose any other personal details, the authority should not insist upon his
detailed whereabouts particularly when post box number is provided for that
would establish contact with him and authority.
Following this order, DOPT, Government of India issued
circular to all State Government dt.
8.1.2014 enclosing order of Calcutta
High Court for implementation of said
order. The I and PR Dept. issued a circular
Directing to all Departments to comply order of
Calcutta High Court to protect the interest of whistle blowers/
Information-seekers.
D. Withdrawal
of Form-C
The Form –C
(Intimation of Rejection) as it stands now is not only
prohibitive of people’s right to information, but also
ultravires the mother law. It needs to be struck off. The section 7(1) of
the RTI Act says that a request for information can be rejected for
any of reasons specified in Section 8 and 9 only. But the
Form-C in its column (i) without specifying the
particular reasons under the said sections, mentions just in a blanket,
roughshod manner that it comes under exempted category covered under
sections 8 and 9 of the Act. Similarly, the Column (iv) spaciously
saying that “the information is contained in published material available
to the public and quoting it as a ground for rejection
carries no meaning for the citizen at all. Again, the column
(vi) saying “ The information sought for is prohibited as per
section 24(4) of the Act is negatively slanted against the
citizen’s quest for information, since the said section permits the
information relating to cases of corruption and human rights
violation to be disclosed albeit after getting the approval
of the Information Commission. So instead of saying just “no”, the said column
might say, “Your application has been forwarded to the Information
Commission for their opinion “. The Column (vii) saying that
“ The information would cause unwarranted invasion of
privacy of any person is absolutely redundant , since the
factor is covered under section 8(1j), already taken
care of by the column (i) mentioned above. Thus the Form-C is
ultravires the mother Act for the reasons already shown above.
2.
Overhaul of Odisha RTI Rules,2005 is
required
As discussed
above, Odisha RTI Rules suffer from a lot of incongruities, illegal and
ultravirus provisions which stand as biggest obstacle for effective implementation of RTI Act in
Odisha. However, within period of 18 years, many of these provisions have been
outdated or withdrawn or has become irrelevant through the circular issued by
State Government from time to time
following direction of Odisha
Information Commission and High Court, Odisha. So the provisions of Odisha RTI
Rules requires over-all reform and
changes to meet the letter
and spirit of RTI Act. We cite few examples as follows.
a. Provision of Rule 2(e ) of Odisha RTI Rules
–“identity” means an evidence to show the citizenship like an electoral
photo identity card o passport xxxxxx” is absolutely ultravirus as per section
6 (2) of RTI Act , order of Calcutta High Court and subsequent circular
issued by I and PR Dept. dt. 21.1.2014.
b. Rule-4 ( Procedure to obtain
information)- “A citizen desirous of any
information may apply for information in
form-A xxxxxxx with the required fee in
shape of treasury Chalan or cash as specified in the schedule under the appropriate head of account” is to be
reformed as the Dept. of I and PR has issued OFFICE MEMORANDUM ISSUED DT. 29.11.2011 and 17.10.2013 specifying multiple mode of payments of
application fee and fees for information.
c. Rule-4 – “ Provided that the application
fee shall not be payable in case of
any person whose name appears in the
latest list of persons below poverty line for which he has to produce BPL card” is full
of ambiguity as the I and PR Dept. issued
circular dt. 21.9.2015 BPL people shall
not be charged any kind of fees and cost of information as contained in the
section -7(5) of the RTI Act.
d. Rule-10( calculation of cost of damage) the
provision of “ if any damage shall be recovered xxxxxxxx representing cost of providing information”
needs to be withdrawn as it is
illegal not citizens-friendly.
e. Schedule of Fees prescribed under Orissa
RTI (amendment) Rules,2006 – the provision of fees for information in mode of
floopy and CD should be reformed addition of
pendrive which is mostly
used by Public authorities in course of
supply of information as per direction of the Information Commission.
f.
The
proposed reformed Odisha RTI Rules should also
make provision of seeking information in on-line system along with
payment of fees through multiple mode of
payments, as the Govt. has already
launched on-line system for information-seekers.
While making overhaul of Odisha RTI Rules, the circular issued by DOPT, Govt. of India dt. 10.7.2015 to all
State Govt. for Harmonization of
RTI (Fee & Cost) Rules and Appeal Procedure Rules under Right to Information
Act, 2005 should be taken into consideration. Even Central RTI Rules,2012 can
be taken as model for smooth implementation of RTI Act in the
state.
3.
Updating proactive disclosure of information in website ( www.odisharti.in) and
its publication in Odisha language.
To implement section 4 of the RTI Act, the State Government has put a roust mechanism in place i.e., a single
window system ( www.rtiodisha.in ) for uploading suo moto disclosed information under section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act of all
public authorities which can e easily accessible for all the
citizens across the globe. This initiative was first ever
kind during that
time in 2010 and the Govt. has
received national award for
design of this website. But, if
we will have a glance to this website, the information uploaded in this website
is seen old one and not periodically updated by any public authority. Since
last few years, Odisha Information Commission has been repeatedly passing order for updating
the information in every year and publish the same in Odisha language. But no concrete effort is put by the
Govt. to make this website
citizen-friendly publishing the
same in Odia language. The State Govt. should give top priority for
updating suo moto disclosed information both in Odia and English , as we are in the digital world.
4.
Putting display board on RTI
in front of all offices.
In 2005,
the State Government
has taken decision to put
in place the display board on RTI in front
of all Govt. offices to
sensitize the people
about objectives and fundamental
provision of RTI Act. But it has not
yet implemented in the state.
Necessary direction can be issued to
all department for show of display board on RTI in front of each offices
across the state.
5. Amendment of Odisha
Information Commission ( appeal procedure ) Rules,2006
A.
Rule-8
(Service of notice by the Commission)
A proviso is to be added here that the first hearing of a Complaint or an
Appeal, as the case may be, shall be held within 30 days of its registration,
and a notice for the same shall be served by the Commission to the concerned
parties within 7 days of its registration, unless the said case is
earmarked for the purpose of an enquiry under Section 18(2) of the Act.
Another addition to be made here is that every notice to be so served shall be
written in the regional language of the state Oriya, and an English version
of the same may be served along with the Oriya version.
B. Rule-9
(Personal Presence of the appellant or complainant)
A proviso shall be made here that in any appeal proceedings the PIO, First Appellate Officer or the
representative of the concerned public authority, as the case may be, shall
be given only one opportunity to present himself in the hearing for discharging
his burden of proof, failing
which he shall be held guilty and therefore penalized as per Section 20 of the
Act.
C. Rule-10
(Decision of the Commission)
An addition is to be made here that the Commission shall hold a maximum of 3
hearings to decide an Appeal or a Complaint, as the case may be, within a
maximum period of 90 days from the date of its registration.
6.
Hearing of the cases through video and audio hearing.
In the era of advancement of
Information Technology and digitalization,
the State Govt. is adopting e-governance system to make the administration accessable to the people. The Central Information Commission is hearing
the cases through video- hearing. Earlier, Odisha Information Commission was
hearing the cases through video-conferencing. But since last few years , it has been stopped. The
State Government can take steps
to ensure conducting of t
video-hearing and audio-hearing of the cases of the complainant/
appellant.
Prepared by
Pradeep Kumar Pradhan, on behalf of Odisha Soochana
Adhikar Abhijan ( OSAA), a state-level forum leading campaign for effective implementation of RTI Act in
the state.
M-9937843482
Email-odishasoochanaadhikar@gmail.com
