RTI request to see RTI Amendment Bill denied

RTI request to see RTI Amendment Bill denied

The Centre has denied a Right to Information Request for a copy of the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill 2018, which had been notified for introduction in the monsoon session of Parliament.

The Bill sought to give the Centre power to set the tenure and salaries of State and Central Information Commissioners. Critics worry this could threaten the independence of Commissioners. An RTI request for details on the applicants and search committee set up to fill the vacancies on the Central Information Commission (CIC) has also been denied. The CIC is the final appellate authority for all Central public authorities. By December 1, there will be eight vacancies in the 11-member Commission.

In an affidavit filed in an ongoing Supreme Court case regarding the appointment of Information Commissioners, the Centre admitted that it has held up appointments due to its effort to first amend the law.

In its rejoinder, to be filed on Monday, the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), plans to argue that this rationale does not provide “a legal ground for not filling vacancies in the Central Information Commission” as the existing Act already provides sufficient details on salaries and tenure.

In May 2018, NCPRI co-convener Anjali Bhardwaj filed an RTI request for a copy of the Bill and was denied on the grounds that the matter was still under consideration and had not reached finality. “We put in another request, it was denied on October 24. The same reason was offered for denial.” “We are seeing a complete lack of transparency in the appointment process for the top transparency watchdog,” Ms. Bhardwaj said.

Andhra Pradesh: State Information Commission Dysfunctional, Appeals Remain Pending

   Andhra Pradesh: State Information Commission Dysfunctional, Appeals Remain Pending
    The Newsclick, Dated 17th November 2018

The commission became defunct in May 2017 after the serving information commissioners retired.

A huge number of Right to Information (RTI) applications remain pending, as the Andhra Pradesh State Information Commission (SIC) remains dysfunctional for the past 18 months. The issue is likely to become a major cause of contention in the upcoming winter session of the Parliament.
In a public hearing organised in Visakhapatnam on November 16, hundreds of people from across the state participated, and discussed various issues related to the implementation of the RTI Act in the state. The public hearing was co-organised by the United Forum for RTI, Andhra Pradesh, and the National Campaign for People's' Right to Information (NCPRI).
After bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the SIC had continued to function as the information commission for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The commission became defunct in May 2017 after the serving information commissioners retired. Since then, the commission has been non-functional.

Speaking to Newsclick, Chakradhar, an RTI activist from the state, said, “After bifurcation of the united Andhra Pradesh, a slew of multi-crore projects have been initiated in the region including projects to develop Amravati as the state capital. Several of these projects can be seen flouting norms. For example, in Visakhapatnam, over 1,000 hectares of land were encroached upon. To look into this matter, a committee was constituted. However, its report was not made public.
Snatching the right to information means systematic dismantling of accountability.”
The Andhra Pradesh government had issued an order to constitute the SIC for Andhra Pradesh in August 2017, and has now appointed three commissioners in October 2018. However, no chief information commissioner has been appointed, and the commission continues to be non-functional. No appeals and complaints regarding violations of the RTI Act are being heard.
At the public hearing, Verma, a resident of Vijaynagram testified that he had sought a copy of the report of the SIT set up by the government to look into the land scam. His RTI application has been dismissed, and in the absence of the SIC, he is unable to appeal against the denial. Another RTI activist shared that his RTI application seeking details of foreign trips by the CM and his son was dismissed, and he too is unable to take the matter forward, as the commission has not been properly constituted.

Chakradhar Buddha, convenor of the UFRTI, presented the preliminary findings of an audit of proactive disclosures of public authorities of Andhra Pradesh. The audit showed that most public authorities failed to meet their obligations of proactive disclosures of information under Section 4 of the RTI Act. “What is truly saddening about the state of affairs is that previously, the state was among the better performing states as far as the RTI implementation was concerned.”
With the chief information commissioner (CIC), which is the highest neutral adjudicator, has not been appointed despite serious scams in the state, the status of transparency in the state is taking a hit as the body remains largely toothless without a CIC.
At the public hearing, Anjali Bhardwaj, co-convener of the NCPRI, and B. Ramakrishna Raju, national convenor, National Alliance for People's' Movements (NAPM) urged people to continue their struggle to demand proper implementation of the RTI Act. Anjali Bhardwaj shared that during the upcoming winter session of Parliament, several protests are being planned against proposed amendments to the RTI Act.

AP plans to dilute RTI powers: Anjali Bharadwaj

The Hans India, Dated 16th November 2018

 Visakhapatnam: The State government is planning to dilute the powers of RTI in the name of transparent governance as it failed to appoint a Commissioner for RTI, opined RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj, who came from Delhi for a public meeting conducted on “AP Information Commission Issues of RTI applicants,” here on Friday in the city.

The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) and United Forum for Right to Information (UFRTI), AP division had organised the public meeting. Various RTI activists from Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and Godavari districts participated in the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, Anjali said that the AP Government had took a decision better not to appoint a Commissioner for RTI to dilute its power in the State especially with the government sectors. Even many projects are being carried out across the State but those project details were kept under dark with an intention to hide the lapses involved in the projects, she said.

The panel identified that many RTI activists were facing tough times and facing physical attacks and warnings from the opponents. Since last 20 months, the RTI commission was not working on a full range, as a result, all the activists were facing hard time in the state, the panel opined.

AP at bottom of performance list in RTI implementation, Anjali Bharadwaj at Amaravati

 

                                  It has failed to appoint State Information Commission

                                             The Hindu,  Dated 17th November 2018

 

Failure to appoint a full-fledged State Information Commission (SIC) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has put Andhra Pradesh at the bottom of the performance list at the national-level.
A report card, released jointly by the Delhi-based Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) and the Centre for Equity Studies (CES) in March 2018, shows non-adherence of the clauses of the Act mainly due to the State government’s failure to put in place a full-fledged Commission.
The term of the last SIC in the composite State was over on May 17 last year and there has been a gap of 18 months for the constitution of a Commission for AP.
The SIC office set up at Mangalagiri in August last has been dysfunctional. Following several pleas by RTI activists and members of the civil society and a directive by the High Court, the government appointed former IFS officer M. Ravi Kumar, former IPS officer B. V. Ramana Kumar and advocate Katta Janardhana Rao as SICs but there was no mention of a State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC). Mr. Ravi Kumar has been asked to be the in-charge SCIC.
“But there is no such provision in the law. Technically, tomorrow the orders given by these Commissioners can be challenged. This is a mockery of the whole exercise,” says Anjali Bhardwaj, co-convenor of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) and founder of SNS.
The State in the past had been one of the well-functioning RTI regimes but now the institution has been reduced to a farce, she rues, pointing to the Section 4 of the RTI Act that mandates governments to give information pro-actively through websites and other means. “If this does not happen, the Information Commission comes in. But when there is no Commission, it is tantamount to breakdown of the RTI regime,” says Ms. Bharadwaj.
“The delay in the appointment is a huge setback because even if Commissioners are appointed later, it will take a long time for things to come back on the track by which time, people seeking justice will lose hope,” says Amrita Johri, one of the co-ordinators of the published report.
In the columns of the report, it says “Information Denied’ to queries on the number of applications registered, disposed, number of pending applications as on October 31 in 2017 and estimated time for disposal.
The State has also not been able to answer queries on the amount of penalty imposed and the percentage of disposed cases. A website is accessible but the last annual report available is of 2013.
The report concludes that AP has provided 0% of information sought under the RTI Act.

Press clips on Public hearing on RTI

 

 

Report on Public Hearing on RTI by 'Mannem lo' Mallik

Public hearing on RTI Act in Andhra Pradesh 

Today a public hearing was held in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh on the RTI Act. Hundreds of people from across the state participated in the hearing and testified about various issues related to the implementation of the RTI Act in AP, especially the problems faced by people due to the state information commission not being functional since the last 18 months. The public hearing was co-organised by the United Forum for RTI, AP and the NCPRI.

Mr. EAS Sarma, former IAS officer, Ms. Anjali Bhardwaj, co-convener of the National Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information (NCPRI) and Mr. B. Ramakrishna Raju, national convenor, National Alliance for Peoples' Movements (NAPM) formed the panel which heard please testimonies.

Several people testified that in cases of violations of t RTI Act, they have no redress as the state information commission is not functional. After the bifurcation of the state of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the SIC of Andhra Pradesh continued to function as the information commission for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The commission became defunct in May 2017 after the serving nformation commissioners retired. Since then, the commission has been non-functional.

RTI activists have filed cases in the Hyderabad High Court and the Supreme Court regarding people's fundamental Right to Information being frustrated due to absence of the commission.

While the  Andhra  Pradesh government issued  an  order 7 for regarding  the constitution  of  the  SIC  of  Andhra  Pradesh  in  August  2017, and has now appointed 3 commissioners in October 2018, the commission continues to be non-functional. No appeals and complaints regarding violations of the RTI Act are being heard.

Emmanuel, convenor of the UFRTI, testified that his appeal to the commission has been pending since 2010.

Chakradhar Buddha, convenor of the UFRTI, presented the preliminary findings of an audit of proactive disclosures of public authorities of AP. The audit showed that most public authorities failed to properly meet their obligations of proactive disclosures of information under section 4 of the RTI Act. ABC ABC

Mr. Sarma, Anjali Bhardwaj and Mr. Raju urged people to continue their efforts to demand proper implementation of the RTI Act. Anjali Bhardwaj shared that during the upcoming winter session of Parliament, several protests are being planned against proposed amendments to the RTI Act.

Poster for Public Hearing on RTI issues

సమాచార కమీషన్ తీర్పు పట్ల అసంతృప్తిగా ఉన్నారా? ఏళ్ళ తరబడి మీ ఫిర్యాదులు/అప్పీళ్ళు సమాచార కమీషన్ దగ్గర పెండింగ్ లో ఉన్నాయా? రండి, పాల్గొనండి. 16 నవంబర్, శుక్రవారం ఉదయం 930 నుండి 130 వరకు జరగబోయే ప్రజా వేదికలో పాల్గొనండి, మీ సమస్యను నివేదించండి. స్థలం-హ్యాపీ ఫంక్షన్ హాల్, రామా టాకీస్ రోడ్డు, విశాఖపట్నం. ప్రజావేదిక పానెల్ లో శ్రీ EAS శర్మ(విశ్రాంత ఐఏఎస్), శ్రీ వై.సత్యనారాయణ(డైరెక్టర్, లా యూనివర్సిటీ), అంజలి భరద్వాజ్ గారు(NCPRI, ఢిల్లీ), శ్రీ B. రామకృష్ణ రాజు (NAPM) పాల్గొంటారు. వివరాలకు చక్రి@92465 22344 లో సంప్రదించండి. UFRTI-AP and NCPRI

Activists see threat to RTI from Data Bill

Article published in The Hans India Dated 03rd September 2018

Vijayawada: There is need to define the data protection and information since the Centre is about to introduce the Data Protection Bill in Parliament which might encroach upon the provisions of the RTI Act, said Ramon Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey while addressing the workshop organised by the United Forum for RTI-AP here on Monday.

Pandey said that the governments should do away with the practice of appointing retired IAS and IPS officers as the information commissioners who have soft corner for the government and its employees. “More often than not these retired officers have been protecting the officials in case of complaints against them in providing information to the RTI applicants,” he added.

 Ramon Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey participating in a workshop organised by United Forum for RTI Campaign AP (UF RTI) in Vijayawada on Monday. Former information commissioner Dileep Reddy and others are seen
 
 The activist recalled how an officer proudly stated that he had successfully thwarted the efforts of an RTI activist from getting information he needed. He said that he was not per se against the Data Protection Bill but it should not encroach upon the provisions of the Right to Information Act, which is one of the best enactments in the world.

Bhupatiraju Ramakrishna Raju said that the proposed amendment to Section 8 (1) (J) should be widely discussed and the activists need to stage protest demonstrations to protect the RTI Act from the attempts to dilute it. “The proposal should be put in public domain to allow the people to discuss it,” he added.

Yarramsetti Jaganmohan Rao, president of AP RTI Forum (Samachara Hakkula Vedika) said that the recommendations on right to privacy appear to be detrimental to the RTI Act. He decried the attempts to describe the data as information. “Both are not same,” he asserted.

He said that it was an attempt to deny information on the pretext that the information is revealing personal data. He opined that the Data Protection draft bill should be in harmony with the RTI Act. Jampa Krishna Kishore said that the activists should safeguard the RTI Act at any cost. He decried that the commissioner posts are filled with the men of the ruling party.

Dileep Reddy, former commissioner, deplored the fact that the civil society organisations are not active to bring pressure on the governments in the larger interests of people. He underlined the importance of studying the draft bill on Data Protection thoroughly and the data and information should be defined first. He regretted that the mindset of the commissioners and PIOs has become anti-people.

Round Table Conference - II

సమాచార హక్కు చట్టం సవరణలను వ్యతిరేకిస్తూ మునగపాక cooperative Bank మేడపై రౌండ్ టేబుల్ సమావేశం జరిగింది. సమావేశంలో PS అజయ్ కుమార్ మాట్లాడుతూ కేంద్రప్రభుత్వం ఇటీవల కాలంలో చేసిన ప్రజావ్యతిరేక చట్ట సవరణలను ఉదహరించారు. రాజకీయ పార్టీలు విరాలాల కోసం electoral bonds జారీ చేయడం, లంచం ఇవ్వ జూపిన వారిని దోషులుగా చూపడం వంటి చట్ట సవరణలు అవినీతిని పెంచేటట్లు ఉన్నాయని అన్నారు. అవినీతిని అంతం చేస్తామని ఆధికారంలోనికి వచ్చిన తర్వాత అందుకు విరుద్ధంగా ప్రవర్తిస్తున్నారని అన్నారు.

UFRTI ప్రతినిధి చక్రధర్.బి మాట్లాడుతూ సమాచార కమీషనర్ల పదవీ కాలాన్ని మార్చడం, వారి స్థాయిని తగ్గించడం వలన సహ కమీషన్ స్వయం ప్రతిపత్తి కోల్పోతుందని దాని వలన చట్టం బలహీనపడుతుందని అన్నారు. అలాగే కేంద్రం ఏ చట్టాన్ని చెయ్యాలన్నా, సవరణలు చెయ్యాలన్నా ముందుగా ప్రజాభిప్రాయాన్ని తెలుసుకోవాలని చట్టం చెబుతుందని కానీ సమాచార హక్కు చట్టం సవరణల విషయంలో కేంద్రం ఆ విషయాన్ని తుంగలో తోక్కిందని అన్నారు. అసోసియేషన్ ఫర్ ఇండియాస్ డెవలప్మెంట్ కు చెందిన డాక్టర్ K. రవి మాట్లాడుతూ మునగపాక గ్రామానికి వచ్చే వరకు తనకు కేవలం సహ చట్టం సవరణ ప్రతిపాదనల గూర్చి మాత్రమె తెలుసనీ ఇప్పుడు మరిన్ని ప్రజావ్యతిరేక చట్ట సవరణల గూర్చి తెలుసుకొని ఆవేదన చెందుతున్నానని అన్నారు.ఇప్పటికైనా కేంద్రం సమాచార హక్కు చట్టాన్ని సవరించే ప్రతిపాదనలు వెనక్కి తీసుకోవాలని రాష్ట్ర ప్రభుత్వం సత్వరమే రాష్ట్ర సమాచార కమీషనర్ల నియామకం చెయ్యాలని రౌండ్ టేబుల్ ఉమ్మడిగా తీర్మానం ఆమోదించింది. కార్యక్రమం అమ్బెడ్కరిజమే పునాది కార్యదర్శి రాజాన బుజ్జిబాబు అధ్యక్షత వహించారు. కార్యక్రమంలో మల్ల సంజీవరావు, పిట్టా అప్పారావు తదితరులు పాల్గొన్నారు.

Round Table conference on RTI act amendments, Munagapaka

Dated 27th July,2018

Round table conference held in Munagapaka block of Visakhapatnam district on opposing the RTI act amendments in which RSV convenor P.S.Ajay Kumar, Ravi kususmanchi, UFRTI-AP co-convenor Chakradhar Buddha participated and expressed their views.

Meeting was presided by Rajana Bujjibabu of 'Ambedkarism-ye punaadi'

Here are the paper clippings which are published in the local news papers.

 

 

Data protection Bill Draft undermines RTI Act: Sandeep Pandey

Data protection Bill Draft undermines RTI Act: Sandeep Pandey

 Dated 04th September 2018.

Article published in The New Indian express :

'Another amendment proposed implies the government has little obligation to share information relating to personal data which may ‘cause harm to a data principle’.

VIJAYAWADA: The recently drafted Personal Data Protection Bill is said to contain provisions that ‘undermine’ the Right to Information (RTI) Act, speakers said at a workshop, which was conducted by the United Forum for Right to Information (UFRTI) in Vijayawada on Monday. It was attended by social activist and Ramon Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey, founding member of Samachara Hakku Prachara Aikya Vedika Putta Surendra Babu and founding member of UFRTI Ramakrishna Raju.

The luminaries at the workshop spoke about how the Data Protection Act sought to rephrase certain provisions in the RTI Act, ‘reducing the scope of the law’ and, thereby, ‘restricting public access to information’. “The data protection Bill has proposed replacing the word ‘information’ with ‘data’ in Section 8 (1)(j) of Right to Information Act. If the amendment is implemented, the provision will read as if the government has no obligation to give citizens information related to personal data. This consequently minimises the extent of information accessible by the public,” Pandey said. 

The Bill defines data as ‘data about or relating to a natural person who is directly or indirectly identifiable’, which could be used as an excuse to shield information related to any officials within the government, speakers at the event said.  

Another amendment proposed implies the government has little obligation to share information relating to personal data which may ‘cause harm to a data principle’. This will allow the public information officer to use ‘only a theoretical possibility of harm instead of having to prove the same’ as the term harm has a wide range of meanings defined under the data protection Bill. 

Pandey and other members from UFRTI cited examples of officials not sharing information with the petitioners and how they were ‘mistreated’. They pointed out how the 10-member Srikrishna Committee--comprising experts from UIDAI, Ministry of Electronics and Information, Department of Telecom and other experts from various related fields--was constituted, which submitted its report on the Bill to the Union government on July 31, 2018 that was not only ‘biased’, but also ‘violated’ the law.

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