Archive for November 2011

RTI covers governor's report to President on state situation: HC

The Goa bench of Bombay High Court stretched the RTI Act's ambit to the maximum when it ruled that a governor's report to the Centre about the political situation in a state could not be kept under wraps and ordered its disclosure upon an application under the transparency law.

This has sent shock waves in the power corridors as the Union Cabinet headed by the prime minister relies on the secret report sent by the governor to the President as a precursor to action under Article 356 of the Constitution for imposition of central rule in a state.

Aware of the serious political fallout of such disclosure, the Centre has asked its law officers to draft an appeal urgently to challenge the HC verdict in the Supreme Court. The appeal against the November 14 HC verdict is expected to be filed by early next week, official sources told TOI.

BJP leader Manohar Parrikar had sought a copy of the Goa governor's report to the Union home minister regarding the political situation in the state during the period between July 24 to August 14, 2007. But the governor's principal information officer declined to provide the same under RTI Act. However, the Goa State Information Commission directed Raj Bhawan to provide the report to Parrikar. The PIO appealed against it before the Goa bench.

A division bench of Justices D G Karnik and D M Reis said, "It must be held that the governor cannot claim an exemption under clause (e) of sub-clause (1) of Section 8 of the RTI Act in respect of disclosure of a report made by him under Article 356 of the Constitution."

Appearing for the governor's PIO, additional solicitor general Vivek Tankha said the information relating to day-to-day governance was available with ministries and departments and the rare constitutional functions discharged by the governor as the head of the state could not be said to have been discharged as a public authority as the RTI Act regarded him only as "competent authority".

But the bench saw no difference between the "competent authority" and "public authority". Relying on a Delhi High Court order which termed the chief justice of India as a public authority, it said, "The reason for which the CJI was a 'public authority' notwithstanding him being the 'competent authority' apply with equal force for not excluding the President and the governor from the definition of public authority."

It also refused to buy the argument that the President and the governors were the heads of the country and the state respectively and was not amenable to directions from any other authority like state information commission.

"Though the advice given by the council of ministers to the President or the governor, as the case may be, cannot be regarded as a command, under the constitutional scheme, the President and the governor in the bulk of matters are bound by the advice rendered by the council of ministers. In that sense, it cannot be said that the President and the governor are not in the habit of obedience to any other person or body of persons," said Justice Karnik who authored the judgment for the bench.

Dismissing the PIO's appeal, the bench said the President did not hold a fiduciary relationship with governors of states and hence, the information about the report made by the Goa governor to the President could not be held secret and kept out of the purview of RTI Act.

Wednesday 23 November 2011 by RTI INDIA
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MPs owe more than Rs 7cr to MTNL

Over Rs 7 crore is what some current and former Members of Parliament (MPs) owe MTNL as unpaid telephone bills. CNN-IBN has accessed RTI details obtained by activist Subhash Agarwal showing how much money is owed by the MPs. 

An overall sum of Rs 19, 78,027 is owed by six sitting members, while 399 former Members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha combined together owe over Rs 7.10 crore to MTNL. Of the six current MPs, five belong to the Congress. 

Out of the current Lok Sabha MPs, the top defaulter is Hajipur MP Ram Sundar Das of Janata Dal (United), who owes Rs 9, 49,866. 

Among the Congress MPs, Kalahandi MP Bhakta Charan Das owes Rs 3, 31,020, Amalapuram (Andhra Pradesh) MP GV Harsha Kumar owes Rs 2,08,660, Maharajganj (UP) MP Harsh Vardhan owes Rs 36,744 and Arani (Tamil Nadu) MP M Krishnasswamy owes Rs 3,19,740. 

The sole current Rajya Sabha MP in the defaulters' list, Narendra Budania, is also from the Congress and owes Rs 1, 33,777 to MTNL. 

Out of the former MPs, late Abdul Ghani Khan Chaudhary owed over Rs 34 lakh to MTNL, while Janata Dal's Basav Raj Patil owes as much as Rs 17 lakh. 

As Abdul Ghani Khan Chaudhary is dead so the money owned by him cannot be recovered.

by RTI INDIA
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LS Speaker Meira Kumar owes R 1.98 cr as house rent!

A bill of Rs 1.98 crore has been raised by the Estates Department of the Urban Development Ministry against Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar for occupation of 6, Krishna Menon Marg since 1986 after the demise of her father late Jagjivan Ram. The Department of Estates, in an RTI reply, has given a list of 10 persons including "family members of Late Indrani Devi i.e. Smt Mira Kumar (sic)" and dues against them for occupation of bungalows.

The list shows Kumar has a pending rent due of Rs 1,98,22,723 for which a bill has been issued, it says. The department was replying to a query by RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal on pending rent dues towards persons having occupied government premises after losing entitlement.
 
When contacted for comments, the Speaker's office said "the family members of Late Smt Indrani Devi, vacated 6, Krishna Menon Marg, New Delhi by 30.11.2002, and intimation in this regard was given to CPWD, NDMC, Director of Estates and other concerned authorities.

"NDMC disconnected water and electricity supply immediately.  None of the family members of Late Smt Indrani Devi have, thereafter, been in the occupation of said premises," it said.

Two other persons mentioned in the list--Senior Congress leader Buta Singh and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman JS Sarma--have "Nil" dues against them, the reply said.

Tuesday 22 November 2011 by RTI INDIA
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61 major railway accidents this year, though there has been a steady decrease over the years

The Railway Board’s director of safety Ashish Merhotra, while replying to an RTI query said, “Only consequential accidents involving loss of life or grievous injury or loss of property worth Rs2 crore or interruption to through traffic above the threshold value are reportable to the board”.

Although it would be hard to remember; till September, Indian Railways has suffered 61 ‘major’ accidents, an RTI query has revealed. But the numbers have gone down steadily with time.

However, the Railway Board doesn’t maintain information separately for the performance under every minister. RTI activist Subhas Chandra Agrawal’s application got the following response from the Railway Board’s director of safety Ashish Merhotra: “Data of all major and minor accidents are not maintained. Only consequential accidents involving loss of life or grievous injury or loss of property worth Rs2 crore or interruption to through traffic above the threshold value are reportable to the board. Details regarding consequential train accidents are not maintained separately for tenure of each minister.”

This year, till September, there have been five cases of collisions, 28 derailments, 26 level crossing accidents, and two instances of fire. Last year, it totalled to 141 accidents, the year before that, it was 165.

On the positive side, however, the number of accidents seems to have come down over the years. In 1960-61 there were 2,131 accidents, including 1,415 derailments and 405 fires in trains. By 1970-71, the number had more than halved to 840. At the turn of the century, there were 473 accidents, and it dropped further.

Information on train accidents before 1960 is not available though. When Lal Bahadur Shastri was serving as the railway minister, prior to becoming prime minister, he had resigned in 1956 when a railway accident in Madhunagar claimed 112 lives. Though his resignation was not accepted by Jawaharlal Nehru, three months later he put down his papers following another accident in Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu that saw 144 deaths.

Friday 18 November 2011 by RTI INDIA
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ATS constable gave Malegaon blast accused money, reveals RTI

A police constable attached to Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had sent Rs 3,000 in 2008 by money order to an approver-turned-hostile accused, currently lodged in a city jail for his alleged role in the 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts, an RTI query has revealed.

In response to an RTI query filed by Gulzaar Azmi, general secretary (legal cell) of a socio-cultural organisation Jamiat Ulama-E-Maharashtra, it was found that Sadashiv Abhimanyu Patil, a constable attached to Nashik unit of ATS had sent Rs 1,000 thrice to accused Abrar Ahmed through money order in August, September and November 2008 from his residential address at police headquarters in Nashik.

The RTI reply was received from city's Byculla jail on July 5 which gave details of money orders the 34-year-old accused had received between August 2008 and June 2011. "The real face of ATS has been uncovered. The then ATS chief K P Raghuvanshi had falsely implicated Abrar and made him turn an approver saying that they would take care of his family and him and sent him money," Azmi alleged.

Through Patil, the ATS had sent money to Abrar so that he does not turn hostile in future, he claimed. Abrar's brother and lawyer Jalil Ahmed said, "Strict action should be initiated against the constable and higher officials of ATS for such acts. Not only they falsely implicated my brother but also gave him money to turn approver and implicate others."

Ahmed said he started representing his brother since March 2009 following which Abrar decided to reveal the facts as to what had happened on the day and after the blasts. The accused had turned hostile in April 2009.

by RTI INDIA
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