The government owes over Rs 110 crore to cash-strapped Air India for its special flights which ferry VVIPs including the President and the Prime Minister on their visits abroad which it is trying hard to realize.

The national carrier, which is facing a financial crunch, has pending bills of 12 special flights for the President, the vice-president and the Prime Minister which amount to over Rs 110 crore, an RTI reply from the carrier said. It said during July last year, the total outstanding bills were Rs 291 crore.

"Out of the above amount, recently the government has paid Rs 181.30 crore leaving a balance outstanding amount of Rs 110.60 crore," the reply said. The records show that two bills of are pending with the defence ministry for the abroad travel of the President to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Damascus and Aleppo during November 20-30, 2010, which is Rs 14.5 crore and another to Paro via Bagdogra which is Rs 4.45 crore. The bill to Paro, Bhutan is nearly three years old, the reply dated December 28, 2011 said.

Five bills worth Rs 55.81 crore are pending with the Cabinet Secretariat for the travel of the PM to Huahin, Thailand during October 23-25, 2009, to Paro, Bhutan during April 27-30, to Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi during October 23-30, 2010, to Seoul during November 9-12, 2010 and to Brussels and Berlin during December 8-12, 2010.

One outstanding bill for the travel of the vice-president to Male, Maldives is pending since November, 2008. The total bill for this trip was Rs 2.77 crore of which part payment was done leaving an outstanding of Rs 39 lakh.

The AP High Court was pulled up by the Central Information Commission (CIC) for its failure to adhere to the RTI Act. Nine other high courts besides AP's have been given three months time to get their act right. The CIC was reacting to a complaint filed by Hyderabad-based RTI activist C J Karira and Mani Ram Sharma of Rajasthan between December 2009 and March 2010. The complainants had stated that there was no disclosure of information under section 4 (1) (b) of the RTI Act by the courts. The case came up for hearing on December 30, 2011 and the order was passed on Thursday, ordering the high courts to fall in line within three months.

As per section 4 (1) (b), every government department should disclose complete details of the organization, employees, decisions taken by it and budget, among other details. According to the Act, this information should be updated as frequently as possible and made available to public by whatever means possible, including internet.

Apart from the AP High Court, the high courts of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Allahabad, Madras, Guwahati, Punjab & Haryana and Sikkim were directed to start complying with the rule. However, since the Guwahati HC had recently updated all the details in conformity with the RTI Act, it was appreciated by the CIC and suggested that the court model could be emulated by others.

The complainant, Karira said, "For the past six years, from the time the RTI Act was introduced in 2005, the AP High Court has never abided by the section 4 (1) (b). The court has not provided the details related to it and its employees either on the internet or manually.

This section not only introduces transparency in the system but informs the public with clarity about the officials and the functioning of a department." Karira also expressed his disappointment that most of the departments in the state government were not following this particular section.

Had the West Bengal government bothered to reply to a query about the city’s AMRI Hospital under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the devastating fire which claimed 94 lives might have been averted, a doctor said Thursday.

“If the health department had been bothered by our query, they certainly would have visited the hospital or talked with its authorities for the information. This not only would have put in motion the government machinery but also woken up the hospital administration,” said Kunal Saha, president of People for Better Treatment (PBT), an organisation fighting medical negligence.

“Who knows, the hospital, afraid of government action, would have rectified the fire safety mechanism and the tragedy might have been averted,” he added.

Police and fire department investigation reports show the hospital had flouted several fire safety measures.

PBT treasurer Mihir Banerjee filed the RTI query Oct 31 regarding the registration and financial details of the AMRI Hospital.

After not receiving a reply, Banerjee again filed a query Dec 15, this time before the appellate authority. A reply is still awaited.

Saha, who earlier had sued and won a record Rs.1.73 crore compensation for his wife’s death due to medical negligence in 1998 against the hospital and several doctors, has approached the apex consumer forum seeking their imprisonment for the failure to pay the awarded amount.

“More than eight weeks have passed since the order of compensation (Oct 21) was passed but the respondents (which includes AMRI) have not paid a single penny till now. So Dec 19 we filed a suit at the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) asking for their imprisonment under the relevant law,” Saha said.

Seven of the hospital’s directors are under arrest and facing trial for various offences in connection with the Dec 9 tragedy. A look out notice has also been issued for three other directors.

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.

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.