Re: RTI Exemption (Denial to seek info thro RTI Act-2005) for armed forces

[BRIG NARINDER DHAND]

Dear Ravi,

1.  Armed Forces are being gradually denied most of their rights as citizen of India. 

2.   MoD has already denied RTI on line. Do have a look on RTI Filing  Portal,  The Ministry of Defence has been removed from the drop down list  hoever , only DESW is listed there.

3. I tried several times to file the RTI on line for DESW but it does not proceed beyond the form on  home page. I have raised a complaint with Web master in Dept of Pers and Trg , am yet to hear from them hoping against hopes.

4.  Even the RTIs filed by mail to DESW and Service HQ have remained unreplied for months now.

5.  In Army HQ the CPIO is from Army Education Service and Appellate Auth from Military Police HQ, you can guess the concern being shown for poor Veterans.

God be kind and please be on our side..

ब्रिगेडियर_नरेन्द्र_ढंड
Brig Narinder Dhand
Founder & Convenor
Vereran's Web Portals
http://signals-parivaar.blogspot.com
Information Empowers.

On Sat, 21 May, 2022, 9:47 am Ravindra Waman Pathak, <raviw...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear All

Kindly see the mail and may I  request you to write to PMO(https://pmopg.gov.in/PmoCitizenNew/Home/Index?language=en/)RM(RM <r...@nic.in>) and Def Secretary(DEFENCE SECRETARY <def...@nic.in>)

Pls dot copy paste but put the essence across

Brgds

Pathak

People often ask me what can we do for the soldiers? The answer is "be a Indian who is worth fighting for."
See if you can be one.

I have enemies? Good. That means I’ve stood up for something, sometime in my life.

Cdr Ravindra Waman Pathak I.N. (Veteran)

Member Veterans Pension Group

1 Surashri,1146 Lakaki Road
Shivajinagar 

Pune 411016
raviw...@gmail.com
9822329340  

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Ravindra Waman Pathak <raviw...@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 21 May 2022 at 09:29
Subject: RTI Exemption for armed forces
To: RM <r...@nic.in>, DEFENCE SECRETARY <def...@nic.in>

Dear  Sir

Kindly refer to the EconomicsTimes report on the subject as per the link below.

cybersecurity: Stage set for RTI exemption for forces, cybersecurity and tax data agencies - The Economic Times (indiatimes.com)

If the article is to be believed then many innocuous matters of the huge body of troops, veterans & families that used to be resolved by provisioning info under RTI, by satisfying their perceptions & (at times) misconceptions.

All such mundane issues will now, unfortunately, land up in Courts choking up the already choked up Legal system and courts. Is it then to be believed that the government's intentions are suspect by denying RTI and choking up the court to further deny justice. After all with more and more AFT being nonfunctional the veterans are already being denied timely justice.

Such an approach would lead to keeping defense services busy in needless small-time litigation, wastage of resources, man-hours & finances. Who will gain?

One gets a feeling that this decision is not well thought of & will end up putting immense pressure on the already overburdened system causing extra efforts in solving court cases rather than concentrating on more important matters of operational, military & strategic importance. Since operational, military & strategic information is already (rightly) exempt from disclosure under existing provisions one wonders what this move will actually achieve except wrapping up inconvenient welfare issues of a purely administrative nature which the government finds inconvenient.

While the society & most institutions move towards transparency & openness, as also officially professed by the Govt, we are moving backward by trying to hide errors by MOD and armed forces

Submitted for reconsideration.

Brgds

Pathak

 

 

People often ask me what can we do for the soldiers? The answer is "be a Indian who is worth fighting for."
See if you can be one.

I have enemies? Good. That means I’ve stood up for something, sometime in my life.

Cdr Ravindra Waman Pathak I.N. (Veteran)

Member Veterans Pension Group

1 Surashri,1146 Lakaki Road
Shivajinagar 

Pune 411016
raviw...@gmail.com
9822329340