On
Implementation of RTI Act in Orissa -Issues and Concerns
Venue- Red Cross Bhawan, Bhubaneswar, Date- 10th and 11th December’08
Dear friends
As you know, as elsewhere more than three years have elapsed since implementation of RTI Act in our state. To operationalise the Act, the State Govt. took a number of steps like framing Orissa RTI Rules and Information Commission (Appeal Procedure) Rules, designating of PIOs and APIOs in the offices of various Public Authorities, constitution of State Information Commission, and issue of Operational Guidelines for implementation of the Act in the state. Besides the State Information Commission has already completed 3 years of its functioning with effect from its inception on 20th November 2005.
During the last 3 years of implementation of RTI Act in the state, the common citizens and as well activists have experienced very many vexatious problems while trying to use the Act to access information and thereby improve the system of governance. Specifically speaking, a large cross section of citizens have already been fed up with messy and poor state of administrative arrangements, which stand as a formidable obstacle to the effective implementation of the Act in the state. As is well known, the major problems that discourage the citizens from using the Act are the compulsory use of a lengthy application form along with the need for attaching a copy of the voter’s card or passport, citizen-unfriendly modes of payment such as treasury challan and court fee stamps, haphazard implementation of suo moto disclosures under Section 4 of the Act, non-availability of register in any office for the inspecting citizens under Section 4, Commission’s persistent refusal to entertain citizens’ complaints made under Section 18 Neither the Government nor the Commission have ever in course of their awareness programmes educated the public about their duty to lodge any complaint against the Commissioners and the power of the Governor under Section 17 of the Act to suspend or dismiss such Commissioner from their office based upon such complaint. As a result of all this the historic RTI Act is in the process of a slow demise in the State of Orissa
In the context of the highly dismal scenario of RTI in Orissa as above mentioned, a state level convention is being organized to debate and discuss the host of tangled issues relating to tardy implementation of the Act in the State and devise a collective action plan to remedy them. RTI Activists, NGO functionaries, Journalists, advocates, scholars, senior citizens, academicians, representatives of INGOs and aggrieved and interested citizens are being invited to participate and deliberate in the convention.
We invite you to step in and share your ideas and suggestions with the participants. A line in reply shall be highly appreciated.
Thanking you
Yours sincerely
Pradip Pradhan N.A.Shah Ansari Pramod Dash
The Humanity Young India OPDSC
Bolangir Puri Rayagada
Prahallad Mallick Ajaya Mohanta Mahendra Tripathy
AWARD YAVARD CDS
Sambalpur Sundargarh Angul
Binayak Swain Bijay Mohanta Gopal Sahu
BATNET CREFTA AVA
Kendrapara Mayurbhanj Nawarangpur
Contact Person- Pradeep Pradhan, M-99378-43482
State Level Convention
On
Implementation of RTI Act in Orissa -Issues and Concerns
Venue- Red Cross Bhawan, Bhubaneswar, Date- 10th and 11th December'08
Dear friends
As you know, as elsewhere more than three years have elapsed since implementation of RTI Act in our state. To operationalise the Act, the State Govt. took a number of steps like framing Orissa RTI Rules and Information Commission (Appeal Procedure) Rules, designating of PIOs and APIOs in the offices of various Public Authorities, constitution of State Information Commission, and issue of Operational Guidelines for implementation of the Act in the state. Besides the State Information Commission has already completed 3 years of its functioning with effect from its inception on 20th November 2005.
During the last 3 years of implementation of RTI Act in the state, the common citizens and as well activists have experienced very many vexatious problems while trying to use the Act to access information and thereby improve the system of governance. Specifically speaking, a large cross section of citizens have already been fed up with messy and poor state of administrative arrangements, which stand as a formidable obstacle to the effective implementation of the Act in the state. As is well known, the major problems that discourage the citizens from using the Act are the compulsory use of a lengthy application form along with the need for attaching a copy of the voter's card or passport, citizen-unfriendly modes of payment such as treasury challan and court fee stamps, haphazard implementation of suo moto disclosures under Section 4 of the Act, non-availability of register in any office for the inspecting citizens under Section 4, Commission's persistent refusal to entertain citizens' complaints made under Section 18 Neither the Government nor the Commission have ever in course of their awareness programmes educated the public about their duty to lodge any complaint against the Commissioners and the power of the Governor under Section 17 of the Act to suspend or dismiss such Commissioner from their office based upon such complaint. As a result of all this the historic RTI Act is in the process of a slow demise in the State of Orissa
In the context of the highly dismal scenario of RTI in Orissa as above mentioned, a state level convention is being organized to debate and discuss the host of tangled issues relating to tardy implementation of the Act in the State and devise a collective action plan to remedy them. RTI Activists, NGO functionaries, Journalists, advocates, scholars, senior citizens, academicians, representatives of INGOs and aggrieved and interested citizens are being invited to participate and deliberate in the convention.
We invite you to step in and share your ideas and suggestions with the participants. A line in reply shall be highly appreciated.
Thanking you
Yours sincerely
Pradip Pradhan N.A.Shah Ansari Pramod Dash
The Humanity Young India OPDSC
Bolangir Puri Rayagada
Prahallad Mallick Ajaya Mohanta Mahendra Tripathy
AWARD YAVARD CDS
Sambalpur Sundargarh Angul
Binayak Swain Bijay Mohanta Gopal Sahu
BATNET CREFTA AVA
Kendrapara Mayurbhanj Nawarangpur
Contact Person- Pradeep Pradhan, M-99378-43482
| Hello Ajit Da Can You Say ? Why nuapada distict list out from the NREGA by Central Government/ State. Rudra Pattnaik PARDA,Nuapada --- On Wed, 3/12/08, Ajit Panda <ajitk...@gmail.com> wrote: |
From: Ajit Panda <ajitk...@gmail.com> |
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