Judges’ Assets: The Bombay high court has rejected a petition that sought details of assets of judges under the Right to Information Act.
A
division bench of Justice S. C. Dharmadhikari and Justice G.S.Kulkarni
pointed out that the applicability of the RT I Act on information that
is with the Chief Justice in his fiduciary capacity is pending before
the Supreme Court. The Court dismissed the petition filed by advocate
Mathews Nedumpara, challenging the orders of the public information
officer (PIO) and the appellate officer that the information could not
be furnished as the matter was subjudice before the Supreme Court.
PM’s foreign trips:
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign trips cost the exchequer over Rs. 37
crore with his Australia trip proving to be the most expensive one.
Documents
accessed under RT I Act reveal that Indian missions in 16 countries
spent Rs.37.22 crore in one year. Modi visited 20 countries between June
2014 and June 2015.
Among the most expensive trips were those
to Australia, the US, Germany, Fiji and China while the cheapest trip
was Bhutan which cost Rs.41.33 lakh. In Australia, the mission spent
over Rs.5.60 crore on hotel stay for the PM and his delegation and
Rs.2.40 crore on hiring cars.
The PM’s trip to New York in
September 2014 resulted in a spending of Rs.9.16 lakh on hotel
accommodation for the SPG delegation and Rs.11.51 lakh for hotel rooms
for the PM, and official of the foreign ministry and the PMO. The
delegation stayed at the New York Palace Hotel.
Another Rs.39
lakh was spent on car rentals for the SPG delegation while Rs.3 lakh was
spent on Prasar Bharati for coverage of the PM’s visit. In Germany, the
embassy spent Rs.3.80 lakh on hotel accomodation, Rs.1.31 lakh on daily
allowances and Rs.19,405 on local travels.
RTI show on DD:
DD
programme “Janne Ka Haq” was the only TV show in India which for over
nine years was based solely on RT I and transparency related issues. Its
popularity was high, especially in rural areas and small towns. Most
institutions against whom RT I queries were posed were obviously
uncomfortable, since an ordinary individual could challenge the system.
Janne Ka Haq was suddenly discontinued a fortnight back before it could
complete its 10th anniversary in January next year. The order to cancel
the show reportedly came from the top.
Landmark Order of Chief SIC, Maharashtra:
In
a landmark order passed by the state information commission, all
offices of cabinet ministers and ministers of states will henceforth be
treated as public authorites. The order gives scope for more
transparency in these offices, by bringing the conduct of ministers and
their activities under the RT I ambit.
The order was passed by
state chief information commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad on an application
made by Fort resident Govind Tupe. It directs the chief secretary to
appoint the required staff so that offices of ministers take RT I
applications. The order has to be complied with by October 31.
Chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya said, “We will comply with the order.”
Tupe had submitted an application to the office of the social justice minister, which was not replied to.
After
the Act was implemented, barring the chief minister’s office, other
ministers’ offices gradually stopped accepting applications, saying they
should be sent to the department concerned and not the ministry. But in
such scenarios, unless the applicant categorically asked about a
particular detail regarding the minister/ministry, s/he wasn’t given
that information. And, with the ministers’ offices left out of the RT I
ambit, applicants would fail to get information that only the minister
and his/her ministry was in the know of. Now, recommendations made by
ministers, letters they write and other details, like their schedule is
expected to be made available.
“When political parties are under RT I, there is no reason why these people and their conduct can’t be included,” said Tupe.
“Recently,
some officers recommended by the Social justice minister were arrested
by the ACB. I wanted to know how many such recommendations were made and
to which departments. When I went to follow up on my application, the
minister’s staff refused to reply, saying his office is not under RTI.
So, neither could I get information, nor could I file the first appeal. I
then filed a complaint with the Commission.”
During the
hearing, the Commission stated, “Offices of ministers have been set up
by government…these perform several duties – receiving files from
various departments, applications from people and complaints from the
public, and correspond with authorities/offices…” “Sizeable staff is
also sanctioned by the government to these offices… They, therefore,
fall under the purview of section 2(h) (d) of the RT I Act, 2005.”
The Social justice minister’s private secretary has been asked to respond to Tupe’s application.
“There
is no doubt that ministers’ offices are public authority. They are
decision-making bodies and all their expenses, including ministers’
salary and perks, are taken care of by the government,” said RT I
activist Bhaskar Prabhu.
Education Minister Vinod Tawde:
The
state education board has rejected a Right to Information (RT I)
request about Education Minister Vinod Tawde’s mark sheets and
certificate because of political pressure, the NCP alleged.
NCP
spokesperson Nawab Malik claimed that Tawde had declared his educational
qualification as BE (electronics) from a bogus institute called
Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth. “It is believed that Tawde did not clear his Std
XII and hence an RT I query was made to clear doubts about his 10th and
12th standard education,” Malik alleged.
But the Maharashtra
State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education rejected the
request after pressure from Tawde, Malik added.
Activist Anil Galgali had filed the application. In her reply, public information officer and joint secretary Ranjana Chaskar of the Mumbai Board said that documents such as mark sheets cannot be given to a “third person”.
Galgali appealed against the same, but divisional secretary C.Y. Chandekar also rejected his plea stating the same reason.
Malik said that if Tawde had nothing to hide, he should make public his Std X and XII mark sheets.
