Satyamevajayate

2012-01-16T00:40:00.000-08:00

Transparency at the Transparency Commission

I had made a commitment when I was made an Information Commissioner that I would ensure that I decided most of the cases before me in less than 3 months. By and large, I have been able to fulfill this promise and perhaps the average time for decisions must be around two months. Sometime in June 2011, a RTI application was received by my PIO, asking for the decision in a case registered in May, 2010. My staff could not locate the decision anywhere! I realized that the case had not been listed for hearing inadvertently, and no decision had been given. I realized that if a mistake had been made in one case, it could have been made in some others as well. A careful search of 2010 cases revealed another 110 cases which had been forgotten and missed completely!

We listed these for hearing and in one of them, there was a heart rending story. A Government employee had died in 1993 leaving his widow and young children. The widow was illiterate and poor. Since 1993 she had been struggling to get the pension she was entitled to. Since she was illiterate, she probably could not pursue the matter properly and each time there was a great delay, the system required many more proofs to establish her claim. By the time she barely managed to submit the required papers, it took years and office inefficiencies would not take decisions for some years! The lady appeared before me with her son who was an unskilled laborer, and both of them could not describe the exact sequence of events. The PIO however assured me that all the papers had been put in order and she would get her pension and all the dues soon. It will always haunt me for my life,- that despite running a reasonably efficient setup,- after her 17 year struggle, I was instrumental in delaying succor to her by a full year.

This set me thinking and I realized that there could be many such mistakes, which could result in untold suffering to Citizens who approach judicial and quasi-judicial bodies. In most cases there is no list which citizens can access which will tell them, whether their cases are in queue, and whether any logic is being applied in taking up the matters waiting in this queue. I feel upset when I see anyone jumping a queue at the airport, and in judicial and quasi-judicial bodies, the citizen cannot even see the queue. It is necessary that there is transparency in this matter, and citizens can see the queue and also feel assured that it is being dealt with in a transparent non-arbitrary manner. All judicial and quasi-judicial bodies should first ensure that this queue is very short and also give visibility to citizens in the way they take up the cases.

I took up the matter of listing pending cases in the Central Information Commission with the Chief Information Commissioner, who readily agreed. The ‘List of pending cases’ has been displayed on the website of the CIC at www.cic.gov.in and will be updated every month. In the Central Information Commission which is just six years old, this will lead to an opportunity for us to correct mistakes and also reassure citizens that there is fairness in taking up their cases. In most Commissions and judicial bodies, Citizens suspect arbitrariness and corruption in the listing of cases. The simple act of listing all pending cases publicly, will go a long way in restoring Citizens confidence in these Institutions, and also act as self- regulating check.

shailesh gandhi

Central Information Commissioner

The views expressed by me are my personal views and may

not represent the views of the Commission.

15 January 2012.

2010-08-14T01:05:00.000-07:00

Corruption Can be Curbed
Everyday we read about the massive corruption in the Commonwealth Games activities. The electronic media brings the news relentlessly for 24 hours in all its sickening details. As a common citizen I feel an acute sense of revulsion at the scale and brazenness with which some people are ravaging my motherland. I feel a frustrating anger in the knowledge that the corruption cannot be stopped or punished. With the investigation methods and mechanisms in our country,- combined with the legal and judicial system we have evolved,- it is guaranteed that no powerful person will really pay for this corruption. The Coffin scam, Hawala Case, Food for Oil scam, Bhopal gas disaster, anti-Sikh riots, the riots in Gujarat are amongst the myriad cases that have proved that powerful criminals cannot be sent to prison in India. In the rarest of cases if they do go to prison they will spend their time on parole or in air conditioned hospitals. The ‘punishment’ of a wrongdoing can be becoming the Chief Justice of a small State.
Corruption and misgovernance have become our favourite reality shows and entertainment. In a few weeks media will have a new scandal to satisfy our need to be entertained, and perhaps after two decades the corruption surrounding the Commonwealth Games in 2010 will again provide some days of media material when an enquiry report is submitted on this. All of us know that not one powerful person will go to prison to atone for the thousands of crores of public money which have been looted. All those who put their hands in the till know this with complete certainty. We feel very angry about this corruption since it deprives the poorest citizens of their money. The mental picture in my mind is of greedy lechers snatching a morsel from the hands of a poor emaciated girl while molesting her. This corruption is responsible for grabbing the resources which could give the poorest people their food, education and access to healthcare. It is this corruption which provides the justification for the Maoist who picks up the gun.
So long as our current lethargic investigation and judicial delivery systems remain, it looks unlikely that we can stop this corruption. Is there no hope of being able to curtail this? There is another way which could act as a check on this rampant and brazen corruption. The Right to Information provides this path. Section 4 of the RTI Act mandates that information about all projects, sanctions, tenders etc. must be made available to Citizens. Most information about various Government bodies and their activities, must be declared suo moto. It must be published in a manner which ensures widespread dissemination, so that public have minimum resort to the RTI Act. Unfortunately Information Commissions and the Government have paid very little attention to the requirements of Section 4 and its implementation. If details of all the money being spent on the Commonwealth Games projects, their deadlines, the terms and conditions of the contracts had been put on the websites and continuously updated, the brazen purchase of things at 10 or 20 times their worth may not have been possible. When information about all this is in public domain, various people would have sounded the alarm if anything very brazen was being done. If people knew about the deadlines for the works, the budgeted amounts and the overruns they would have questioned the authorities. The fact that information about all transactions was to be put in public domain would have acted as a check on the officers who were plundering the Nation.
The RTI Act had stipulated that this must be done in 2005. Even now if the Information Commissions, Governments, Citizens and media start focussing on implementation of Section 4 as per the RTI Act in letter and spirit we could begin the journey towards curbing corruption. Our Independence would be meaningful and we would have reason to be optimistic.
shailesh gandhi

Information Commision goes digital

2010-06-21T01:02:00.000-07:00

The picture of a typical Indian government office is quite bleak – thousands of files stacked up everywhere, files moving from one table to next for approval, a clerk taking hours to find one file and if you are unfortunate your file may have gone ‘missing’. But all this can be thing of the past. And the solution is not rocket science. It is very basic computer science!

Until three months back, my office had 9000 files – stacked in various cupboards and shelves. We kept running of cupboards and filing cabinets. Despite having a reasonably efficient staff to locate the files and a well-organised office, on an average it would take five minutes to locate a file. My office receives about 1800 communications a month on an average through post, fax and email. Each of these communications has to be looked into, responded to and then time was spent in putting these pieces of papers and the response, if any, in the correct files. I realized soon that the space available for record keeping as well as efficient record keepers cannot keep up with the escalating numbers of records to be maintained. The Information Commission has decided to digitize all records.

So, my office has adopted a simple yet reliable solution to the problem – we have gone digital! Over the past three months all the 9000 files have been scanned and are now available on the office network for any member of the staff to access. About two weeks back, we stopped receiving paper and started accepting the digital image every day. All new communications come to my office after they have been scanned and it is the soft copy of the communication and the response sent, if any, which is appended with the soft copy of the correct file. For emails, earlier we used to print them and put them in the file. Now we attach the email to the appropriate electronic folder.

A very simple computer program, which is easily duplicable, has been created to manage the work in the office. The program not only makes all files available to every member of the staff at all times, but it also means that any new action taken on the files gets linked to the original file with the click of the mouse. Only letters which have to be sent by the office are printed. Drafts of orders, notices, and other types of communications are reviewed on the computer before printing. I estimate that we would be saving about 20,000 sheets of paper in the next twelve months.

Digital record keeping is definitely the way forward in any office – government or otherwise. The Preamble of the Information Technology Act states that it is an Act to facilitate electronic filing of documents with Government Agencies. Section 4 of the Act provides legal recognition to electronic records; Section 5 provides legal recognition to digital signatures; and Section 7 states that if record is to be retained for a particular period of time it would be deemed to have satisfied that rule if it is available in an electronic format.

While I admit that my office is relatively ‘young’ and most records are less than two years old, I believe that more government offices can move towards making their records electronic. Computer programs can be created and customized to suit the work flow of each office. Not only would record keeping become easier and locating records be a click of a mouse away, incidents of missing records would be minimal. Back-ups of the electronic data can be stored in multiple places, even in a different city, thereby avoiding loss of the records due to fire, floods, etc. If necessary physical records can be kept for a short period of time till it is ascertained that the electronic records are legible and complete.

Any changes made to records could be traced back to the system from which the changes were made. This would promote transparency and accountability in the office and reduce corruption. A lot of corruption takes place by losing records or removing papers or substituting papers. The other way is predating papers. All of this could be caught, once an office goes digital. The computer program can also help to gauge the productivity of the staff as well as it could indicate who is taking how long to complete a particular task. The cost of going digital is a fraction of the cost incurred in record keeping. There would be other small but significant cost savings in the form of less usage of paper, files, printer ink, etc. More importantly, decision making becomes faster as time taken to transfer a file from one table or one office to another for approval/signing would get cut down as everything would be available over the internet or intranet.

My office was able to make the transformation in a very short span of time and with no requirement for any additional budget. Simple changes can make a big difference –all we need to do to make those simple changes is to set our mind to it. If all Government offices go digital, the impact on governance and transparency could be huge. As byproducts we could get a reduction of corruption and paper usage.

shailesh gandhi
June 21, 2010

Michchami Dukdam

2008-10-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

2nd October, 2008.
Dear Friends,
I am happy to inform all of you that i have started working as a Central Information Commissioner from 18th September. I was sworn in at 4.00pm on that day and started work in my office at 5.00pm. In the Central Commission certain departments are allocated to each Commissioner and presently the departments allocated to me are all relating to Delhi: Secretariat, Directorate of Education GNCT, Directorate of Health and Family Welfare-GNCTD, District Sessions Judge, DSSSB, Land and Building Department-GNCTD, MCD-GNCTD, and Secretariat of Legislative Assembly. The appeals and complaints pending disposal in these are about 1250 and I have started listing hearings of cases.
I have a staff of two people provided to me and am depending more on the help of volunteers;- which is not really sustainable. Cases have been listed for hearing from 6th October, and i am reiterating my commitment to ensure that there will be no pendency of cases with me of over 3 months by end of March 2009.
There is an admission of a mistake i wish to make. When the names were being proposed from Civil society for the position of Central Information Commissioner, it was suggested that we should offer to do this job without a salary, house, car etc. I had raised the issue about how i could survive, and it was suggested that some individuals or organisations would take care of these. Without much thought i agreed to this. When i was actually selected, i began to think a little carefully about how i would stay in Delhi. I felt that taking help from individuals, organisations or Corporates would not be right. I then started thinking, i would try and stay frugally like Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Jean Dreze, Medha Patkar and other activists whose spartan lifestyle i admire.
I went to Delhi and am presently staying in a Hostel. The actual reality of trying to practise my romanticised frugal living is now staring at me. I went out for dinner with a friend and when i saw the bill of about 700 rupees, i cringed internally. Living alone in a hostel, without my wife Bharti is becoming difficult emotionally. I had planned to give up the car and start using rickshaws and Public transport. However, i am not able to bring myself to do this. I realised i could do my work much better if i paid the volunteers who are working with me in the office;- and i cannot do it. I am beginning to worry that trying to continue to live without salary, house etc. will affect my performance, and could result in failing for all the wrong reasons. Various friends have also advised me to accept the salary, house etc..
I realised that it is my ego which is preventing me from admitting my mistake. I am therefore apologising for the mistake i had made in stating that i would work without salary, house etc., and now plan to take these. I have discussed the matter with Bharti and decided that the salary would be used entirely to facilitate my work and for other RTI related work. I am aware that there will be criticism of my step, but feel it is more honest to admit a mistake.
Some friends will be disappointed by this turnaround. But i need to admit this mistake, and correct it. I shall fulfill the role of Information Commissioner diligently. I once again apologise to friends who might feel a betrayal.

Note: Jains greet each other on their new year day by saying, " Michchami Dukdam"- forgive me;- for any hurt i might have caused you during the past year. Thus only having cleansed myself can i enjoy the new year when you forgive me.

Prakash Kardaley

2008-07-15T11:09:00.001-07:00

A year back Prakash Kardaley called me up at around 11.00am. I was busy with something and promised to call him after a while. When I called at 12.15pm, he mentioned his face was lathered for a shave. Jokingly he said, “Let us talk, since you cannot see me anyway.” We talked for about 30 to 40 minutes about various issues. Both of us felt we needed to meet and I promised to go down to Pune to meet him from Mumbai within a week for a long discussion about various matters. At about 12.45pm when I put down the phone, I did not know that that was the last time I would talk with him. In less than two hours Vijay Kumbhar called me and said, “Masterji is no more.” It was a shattering blow for many of us in the RTI movement.
I first interacted with Prakash Kardaley on the Humjanenge board. Then we met at the Lonavala RTI activists meeting he had organized in early 2004. He was a passionate, and pragmatic visionary. Prakash bonded RTI activists across the Country, and was very adaptable to change. He could chisel and craft his words with great precision. This led to his analyzing the words in the RTI act with clinical precision, without clouding his judgement . In our initial encounters he would often chide me for not reading the exact words in the Act and letting my emotions dictate my actions and arguments. I am glad I paid attention to those verbal whiplashings. Prakash was a hard taskmaster for those whom he mentored. With Vijay Kumbhar, Shivaji Raut and others I had the privilege of being angrily called ‘Gadhav’ – donkey in Marathi,- by him.
He was one of the pioneers of the RTI movement, who trained many like me. The best tribute we can pay to Prakash Kardaley would be to see the Right to Information movement transforming India’s governance and empowering the poorest Citizen. Let us all commit to make that happen very soon. That would be a worthy tribute for my Guru, mentor and friend Prakash Kardaley.

We can reduce Corruption

2008-07-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

Using Right to Information, I have obtained evidence of two serious impediments to curbing corruption amongst Government officers in Maharashtra. Perhaps this may be true of other States as well. Both of these practices have no sanction in law, and if Citizens bring some pressure, these can be reduced considerably.
1. One fairly serious problem is that when criminal or corruption charges are leveled against government servants, an illegal practice has been followed by the State by which the Police does not enquire or investigate without getting prior approval from the particular department. This obviously delays investigations and at times,- by collusion,- no investigations take place. As per the Criminal Procedure Code the Police has to register all complaints and investigate cognizable offences expeditiously. After a crime is reported, only an investigation can reveal whether the crime has been committed. Police investigating crimes is the only way that the law enforcement system can work. The State of Maharashtra has taken a position since many decades that when a cognizable offence is alleged to have been committed by a Government servant, the State will first decide whether investigations should be allowed. This is being claimed to be done on the basis of GR ATO 2772/1-V-A of 21 February, 1972. This is illegal. Most Police officers and Government servants have been quoting this GR without reading it. A careful reading of this GR shows that it does not even talk of criminal complaints lodged with the police being referred to the Government. It only talks of how departments should first verify charges internally before rushing to ask for special investigating teams of police to conduct investigations. A perfectly reasonable GR has been misinterpreted widely for decades, leading to an illegal position being taken by the State. I would also like to mention that no GR can be issued,- even now,- to achieve this objective, since it would be a subversion of the CrPc and the rule of law.
2. Even when an investigation is conducted against Public servants and the ACB finds evidence of corruption, Section 197 of the CrPc is misinterpreted to ensure that Public servants guilty of corruption and other criminal actions are not prosecuted. Section 197 reads, “(1) When any person who is or was a Judge or Magistrate or a public servant not removable from his office save by or with the sanction of the Government is accused of any offence alleged to have been committed by him while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty, no Court shall take cognizance of such offence except with the previous sanction”-… of the government.
This section has been misinterpreted to mean that whenever there is any charge
against a Public servant, no prosecution can be undertaken without prior sanction from the State. Thus even in cases of traps and disproportionate assets, sanction for prosecution is sought. The sanction is often delayed or not given,-depending on the bribery skills and connections of the accused. There are instances of sanction being refused after years with no reasons being given! I have obtained evidence from the ACB that in 17 cases, sanction for prosecution has not been given for over six months. In some of these the sanction was pending over five years. I would like to point out that as per Act 21 of 2006, no department can delay a file for over 45 days. Thus delays in giving sanctions should attract the charge of dereliction of duty under Section 10 (2) of this Act. There is no reason why the State cannot take action against officers responsible for delaying sanction for prosecution for over 45 days.
Powerful corrupt Public servants have developed a very good modus operandi with the collusion of other corrupt officials misusing the above two methods. First sanction for investigation (which is not required under any law) is delayed or not given. This practice is a subversion of the Criminal Procedure Code. The delays help the criminals to cover up their crimes, and the evidence. The really powerful criminals ensure that no investigation can take place. If the investigations take place,- and they are not able to influence the investigations,- they can still stall sanction for prosecution by getting departments to violate the provisions of Act 21 of 2006. Is it a surprise that honest police officials feel frustrated by this series of obstacles in bringing criminal Public servants to book? It is not surprising that they either get frustrated or decide to take the bribes which are offered very freely. The result is that the “Protection of Corruption” act is being is being enforced very effectively. This can be changed by two simple steps by the Home department:
1. A clarificatory GR can be issued that investigations against Public servants do not need any prior permission from the State. This is the law. The GR is required because of a long history of disinformation which exists.
2. A GR that the Home department will ask for action against officials under Act 21 of 2006 in case departments do not give sanctions for prosecution within 45 days. Rejection of these sanctions should be rare, and should be done by the Secretary in charge of the department with a reasoned order.
What is being proposed does not need any change of laws or setting up any special mechanism. The suggested measures are merely to enforce the existing laws.
If Citizens make these demands, a considerable reduction in corruption is possible by strengthening the hands of the Police to enforce the ‘Prevention of Corruption’ Act.

Secrets of the Prime Minister's Relief Fund

2008-07-10T13:54:00.001-07:00

I had sought information about the PM's relief fund in June 2006 using RTI. The PMO refused to give any information about the functioning of the fund, claiming it was not a Public authority! The first appellate authority rejected my appeal. Ultimately, the information was released, on orders by the Central Information Commission. In the end of March 2007, I raised questions about the fact that in 2004-05 while 968.78 crores came into the fund for the Tsunami disaster, only 101.6 crores were spent. Even in the next year only 109.21 crores were spent. The money had been donated for the people affected by a calamity, and aid had not reached the affected sufferers. In response to this the PMO put up the following ingenious explanation on its website http://pmindia.nic.in/relief .htm. :
“Statement of Income and Expenditure for last five years is as under:

Year	Total Income	Total Expenditure	Balance
2002-03	102.65	142.24	482.88
2003-04	50.48	88.45	444.91
2004-05	968.78	101.60	1312.08
2005-06	278.06	109.21	1480.94
2006-07	144.32	181.89	1443.37

An amount of Rs. 895.42 crore has been earmaked for Tsunami Relief and Rehabilitation Schemes.
I was intrigued by this, since it meant that there was more than enough money for the victims of Tsunami and there was no immediate need. Relief funds are collected to give immediate relief to victims of calamities, and Citizens and others are moved by the suffering and give the money for this specific purpose.
To verify the accuracy of this curious claim, I again sent a RTI application to the PIO of the PMO asking : "If there is a system of allocating funds for future disbursals in each year, I want the details of the allocations made for future disbursals in 2003-2004, 2004-2005 and 2005-2006
I also asked for a copy of the minutes of the meeting in which this was decided, or any documentary evidence in that year, evidencing it.
The answer revealed that the claim on the PMO’s website was untrue. It stated, "I am to refer to your application dated 8 April 2007 under RTI on the above noted subject and to say that there is no system of prior fund allocation. Sanctions/releases are made only after the events". The relief funds are run as personal fiefdoms as my RTI queries have shown.
On 4th December, 2007 I asked the PIO of the PMO, “ As of 31st March, 2007 I want the details of the amounts deposited in banks or any other place, giving the names of the banks or Financial Institutions, amounts deposited and rates of interest.
The Public Information Officer has refused to give this information, on the bizarre grounds,““specific information regarding the FIs and the terms and conditions of the deposits may amount to disclosure of information including commercial information, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of third parties. Further, this information is made available to the officers of the Fund in their fiduciary relationship. The desired information is therefore covered under section 8 (1) (d) & (e) of the Right to Information Act 2005.”
The first appeal has been rejected and the matter is now before the Central Information Commission in a second appeal. It appears that there are some dark secrets which the PMO is trying to hide. Right to Information will pry and bring these into Public domain.

Definition of 'Information'

2008-07-10T08:10:00.000-07:00

When using the Right to Information, it is necessary to understand what is ‘information’. We will look at the definition given in the Act and then attempt to understand what it means.
The Act defines ‘information’ in Section 2 (f):
2 (f) "information" means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force;
Comments: In simple terms it means that information is anything, which exists in any form with a public authority. The specific instances –records, documents, memos, emails, opinions, advices,...,reports,..... samples,models,.. are merely meant to illustrate the broad scope. Clearly file notings are opinions, legal or other opinions obtained by Public authorities, or various reports received by them are all covered. This also lays down a very important principle. Information relating to any private body, which may not be covered by the definition of ‘Public Authority’ (given in Section 2 h), can be obtained through a public authority if the law allows the public authority to access it. Thus if any public authority has the right to ask for any information under the law from a private organisation-which is not a public authority;- the Citizen can ask for it from the public authority. A few illustrative examples of how information may be obtained from institutions which are not Public authorities:
a) Information about a private bank can be obtained from the regulator –Reserve Bank of India,- if the law permits RBI to ask for it. Most information of any significance can be accessed.
b) Information about a private unaided school--from the education department.
c) Information about a Public Limited Company –from the Registrar of Companies or SEBI if the law empowers them to ask for it.
d) Information about a Cooperative Society-from the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
e) Information about Trusts-from the Charities Commissioner.
There is some difference of opinion on whether the term ‘accessed’ means any information which the authority can ask for under various provisos or the information which the authority is usually supposed to get under the law. As an example: The Labour office requires certain information to be submitted at certain intervals- this certainly can be accessed under Right to Information, since all information with the State is held on behalf of the Citizen. However, the labour office during an investigation, can access virtually all the records of an organisation which normally would not be done. Some RTI users argue that this proviso can therefore be used to mean any information of a private organisation can be obtained through any Public authority by invoking the special investigative powers of the Public authority. Such a wide interpretation would actually mean that all private organisations could be forced to disclose all the information with them. Most Commissions do not agree with this view, and I am inclined to agree with their view. Only the information normally accessed by the Public authorities come under the ambit of RTI. On the other hand all information with the Public authority, is certainly information covered by the Right to Information Act. The Public authority holds the information on behalf of Citizens-the owners and masters of the Government,-on their behalf. Shri Laxmi Chauhan had asked for certain information from the PIO of the Ministry of Mines about BALCO. This was refused by the PIO. The CIC in its decision in this case in No.CIC/AT/A/2007/00389 has categorically stated, “The information must be available in the annual report of the company, which under law is to be submitted to shareholders. Being a shareholder of the company, with representation on its Board of management, the information sought must be available with the Ministry of Mines, and what is available with the Ministry cannot be denied to an applicant under the Right to Information Act.” Thus, once any information is with a Public authority, it is information available to any Citizen under the Right to Information Act, subject to the provisions of the Act. Repeatedly, the Act recognises that what is with the Government is on behalf of the Citizen, who is the rightful master.

Preamble of the Right to Information Act

2008-07-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

The preamble:
THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION BILL, 2005
A Bill
to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

WHEREAS the Constitution of India has established democratic Republic;

AND WHEREAS democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Goverments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed;

AND WHEREAS revelation of information in actual practice is likely to conflict with other public interests including efficient operations of the Governments, optimum use of limited fiscal resources and the preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information;

AND WHEREAS it is necessary to harmonise these conflicting interests while preserving the paramountcy of the democratic ideal;

NOW, THEREFORE, it is expedient to provide for furnishing certain information to citizens who desire to have it

Comments: The preamble is the soul of the Act. When there is any confusion or dilemma about the meaning or interpretation of the provisions, it should be tested on the touchstone of the preamble. Just as the basic features of the Constitution are unalterable, and form the basis for interpretation of laws, the preamble of an Act should be understood to arrive at the objectives of the Act. The fact that the Right to Information is part of the fundamental rights of Citizens under Article 19 (1) has been recognised by various Courts, since the landmark decisions in the Raj Narain case, S.P.Gupta case and the ADR case amongst others.
This is not a new right conferred on the Citizens but is a part of our Fundamenatal right to Freedom of Expression under Article 19 (1).
The legislative intent is clear when it admits the need for an informed citizenry, “to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed.” Thus the objective of this Act is to enable Citizens to hold all the instrumentalities of the Government accountable. In the next paragraph it recognises that in doing this, there may be a conflict with other public interests including running the Government and limited fiscal resources. The last paragraph unequivocally declares ,” AND WHEREAS it is necessary to harmonise these conflicting interests while preserving the paramountcy of the democratic ideal;” . Thus it is clear that in making the law, Parliament has recognised the need to harmonise different needs for running the Government and harmonised them with the paramountcy of the democratic ideal. Very often the various functionaries arrogantly assume that they are a better judge of what is good for governance, and therefore misinterpret all laws through their paradigm of what will lead to good governance. They must understand that these aspects have been considered actively by the lawmakers when framing the law. It is essential that all the elements of society: all the Public servants,- in the legislature, judiciary and the executive;- and the Citizens- the masters of the democracy,- follow all laws. The essence of democracy is that each individual Citizen is a sovereign in her own right, and she gives part of the sovereignty to the State, in return for which she gets the rule of law. Thus it is a negotiation of each individual sovereign with the State for the common rule of law.

Right to Information-path to Swaraj

2008-07-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

The Right to Information (RTI) is a fundamental right of Citizens and a formal National law codifying this right has been effective throughout India from Vijayadashmi , 12 October 2005. It is extremely simple to use and empowers all Indian Citizens to monitor their Government and improve its governance. We have a democracy with a reasonably fair system of elections, a good constitution and yet realize that it has not delivered satisfactorily to its masters-the Citizens. We have blamed our politicians, bureaucrats, economics, policies and so on. This has happened because we have missed the essence of democracy. The real essence of democracy is the fundamental belief that the individual Citizen is a sovereign in her own right, and she gives up part of the sovereignty to the State, in return for which she gets the rule of law. The individual sovereign Citizen has become the ‘bechara’ who feels completely helpless. Our democracy has been an elective democracy, where the Citizen excercises his choice once in five years, and is then left powerless. Right to Information (RTI) gives him an easy and simple method to monitor his Government. It equips him with information with which he can expose and shame a corrupt system to correct itself. This can lead to a true participatory Government- the Swaraj that we desire and deserve.
A simple query without any forms and an application fee of 10 rupees gives the individual Citizen the Right to Information from all ‘Public authorities’. Every office of our Government is mandated by law to have a Public Information Officer (PIO), who must provide the information requisitioned by a Citizen within 30 days. Failure to provide information without reasonable cause, can lead to an imposition of a penalty of 250 rupees per day on the PIO personally. There are only ten categories of information which can be denied. The information is provided at a fee of 2 rupees per page. The biggest gain is that it needs no followup or personal interaction with the PIO. I have never gone to meet a PIO or even telephoned anybody to get information when using RTI. The Citizen uses the process of RTI and can often get the information at a total cost of about 50 to 70 rupees.
In this blog, a lot of my posts are likely to be about Right to Information. All that I write in this blog or elsewhere is in Public domain, and everyone is encouraged to reproduce whatever they wish, without any permissions from me. A reader might benefit by getting some basic information about RTI from www.satyamevajayate.info
shailesh gandhi
Mera Bharat Mahaan…
Nahi Hai,
Per Yeh Dosh Mera Hai.

'Public Authority' in RTI

2008-07-06T22:58:00.001-07:00

PUBLIC AUTHORITY under RTI
Whereas there is a clear understanding that all Citizens can avail of the Right to Information, there is some lack of clarity about which institutions have been mandated to give information by the Right to Information Act. Most of this arises because of the arrogance of many who think they cannot be answerable to the Common Citizen of India. They forget that the Citizen is the sovereign of this democracy. The RTI act lays down that all ‘public authorities’ have to provide information to the Citizen. Public authority has been defined by Section 2 (h) of the act as follows:
“h) public authority means any authority or body or institution of self government established or constituted,—
(a) by or under the Constitution ;
(b) by any other law made by Parliament;
(c) by any other law made by State Legislature;
(d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government,
and includes any--
(i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed;
(ii) non-Government organisation substantially financed,
directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government;”
Effectively a) , b) and c) and d) mean any authority or body which we consider as Government in common parlance- all Ministries and their departments, Municipal Bodies, Panchayats, and so on. This also includes Courts, Universities, UPSC, Public Sector Undertakings like Nationalised Banks, LIC, and UTI amongst others. All Stock Exchanges and SEBI are Public authorities and subject to RTI. The issue of coverage of Stock exchanges has been settled in a well reasoned order by a full bench decision of the Central Commission in appeal 2006/00684 & CIC/AT/A/2007/00106.
It is worth remembering that establishments of the Parliament, Legislatures, Judiciary, President and the Governors have also been brought under the surveillance of the Common Citizen. It is unfortunate that some ‘Constitutional functionaries’ and other bodies have been displaying their arrogance and ignorance by claiming that they are above the law.
Subclause d (i), and (ii) together mean any non-government organisations which are substantially owned, controlled or financed directly or indirectly by the Government would be covered. Thus aided schools and colleges are Public Authorities, as also any trusts or NGOs which have significant Government nominees; or Companies where the Government either owns substantial stake, or has given substantial finance, are directly covered under the RTI Act. Substantial finance must take into account tax-incentives, subsidies and other concessions as well.
There is some confusion about the words substantial finance. This confusion also prevails in some of the decisions of the Information Commissions as well. Let us again look at the relevant words carefully:
2 “h) public authority means any authority or body….
(d)…..and includes any--
(j) body owned, controlled or substantially financed;
(ii) non-Government organisation substantially financed,
directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government;”
The finance could be either as investment or towards the expenses, or both. The way in which the words have been placed, indicates that perhaps (i) relates to investments and (ii) relates to the running expenses.
Thus every institution which is owned by the Government is clearly covered. By any norms, whenever over 50% of the investment in a body belongs with any entity, it is said to be owned by that entity. Since bodies owned by Government have been mentioned separately, the words ‘controlled’ and ‘substantially financed’ will have to be assigned some meaning not covered by ownership. Thus it is evident that the intention of the Parliament is to extend the scope of the right to other organisations, which are not owned by it. No words in an Act can be considered to be superfluous, unless the contradiction is so much as to render a significant part meaningless or they violate the preamble. Therefore it becomes necessary to consider a situation where an entity may be controlled by Government without ownership or substantial finance. Such a situation exists when a Charity Commissioner or Registrar of Societies appoints an administrator to run the affairs of a Trust or Society, or a Court Liquidator takes over administration of some body. The interpretation given by some that ‘control’ means any kind of control like that excercised by the Registrar of Societies over Cooperative societies , or by RBI on all private banks is too wide, and certainly not supported by the law. If we take this very wide interpretation, all Companies are controlled by the Registrar of Companies, all Sales tax dealers by the Sales tax authorities, and all factories by the Inspector of factories and so on. By this logic, all Companies, sales tax dealers and factories amongst others will have to give information under the RTI Act. Such a wide interpretation is clearly not intended in the law.
Let us now consider what are the implications of the words ‘substantially financed.’ It is obvious that as per Section 2 (h) (i) ‘ body …substantially financed’ would be a body where the ownership may not lie with the Government, nor the control. Hence clearly the wording ‘substantially financed’ would have to be given meaning at less than 50% holding. The Company Law gives significant rights to those who own 26% of the shares in a Company. Perhaps this could be taken to define the criterion of ‘substantial finance’. The finance could be as equity, or subsidies in land or concessions in taxation.
Similarly some definition is required where the State provides money for the running expenses of an Institution as covered under (ii). Presently, aided schools and colleges have all clearly been accepted as ‘Public authorities’ though there appears to be no clarity in the matter of NGOs and other organisations which are receiving significant amounts of finance.
The key approach and philosophy of the RTI act appears to be that since the State acts on behalf of the Citizens, wherever the State gives money, the Citizen has a right to know. In my opinion if the money given for the running expenses is over 1 crore the body should be considered as receiving ‘substantial finance’ and is covered in the definition of a ‘Public authority’.
At times it has been argued that to be a Public authority, a body must meet the criterion of being a ‘State’ against which a writ is maintainable. If the intention of the Parliament was to restrict the right to bodies which are the ‘State’, it would have said so, since the concept is well established. The term ‘Public Authority’ is broader and more generic than the word ‘State’ under Article 12 of the Constitution. Hence the intention of the Parliament was clearly based on giving the Citizens,- its masters,- the right to information over all entities owned by them, as well as where their money is being invested or spent.

Contempt of Citizen's Sovereignty

2008-06-27T16:25:00.001-07:00

Contempt of Citizen’s Sovereignty
Sometime back the Chief Justice of India has made two statements in Public speeches, which have a seminal bearing on the functioning of our democracy. He said that judges are above the Right to Information law. Later,- in Kerala,- he justified the existence of the Contempt powers of the Court, saying that,” No executive officer will obey court orders if they are not afraid of the provisions of contempt of court.” The first statement seeks to put judges beyond the RTI law and the second misses the major point why Citizens have been highlighting the misuse of contempt powers.
We must understand that there are two types of Contempt of Court-criminal contempt and civil contempt. If somebody does not obey the orders of the court, he is held guilty of committing ‘civil contempt’. Nobody has questioned the need for continuing the provisions of ‘civil contempt’ to enforce the orders of the courts. On the other hand, the provisions of ‘criminal contempt of court’ are attracted if the court feels its decisions, or conduct, are questioned; as they say if the judge or court are scandalized. Citizens have been questioning the need and desirability of continuing with the ‘criminal contempt’ provisions.

It is well recognized that the center of a democratic setup is the individual Citizen who is a sovereign in her own right. She gives up part of the sovereignty to the State in return for a Rule of Law. The Instrumentalities of the State exist to serve the Citizens who are the Masters. The Masters have the right to scrutinize and question their Public servants,-including the judges,- about the actions that are taken on their behalf. The existence and legitimacy of the Public servants is derived from the service they provide to the Citizens. Some special privileges and immunity may be given to the Public servants only to ensure that they can function to serve this objective. Otherwise the key principle of democracy is equality before the law. As Justice Mathew had said, “Be they ever so high, the law is above them.”
Let us now look at three sets of Public servants and test the principle of the respect and protection they need, to be able to discharge their duties for the Citizens. Let us take the elected representatives, the Police and the Judges to test this principle. The elected representatives have the highest legitimacy because they subject themselves to a direct approval by the Citizens every five years. It can be argued that they need to be able to command respect from the Citizens, without which respect for the laws they frame will not be forthcoming. They frame policies, which have political and financial impact on the present as well as future generations. They have to face people directly in every conceivable place and time, and if special privileges or protection against criticism is not given to them, they will not be able to discharge their functions. Let us now picture a policeman who has to enforce the law. He again faces Citizens,- even enraged or inflamed mobs,- and must function in the midst of all the dirt and grime to enforce the law. If Citizens do not respect him,- or believe he is corrupt and a criminal himself,- can he discharge his law enforcement function to the Public? On the other hand a judge sits in a cloistered and protected environment and dispenses justice to uphold the law. He is in a very safe and secure environment and discharges his functions at his own convenient pace comfortably sitting in a chair.
The Police and elected representatives face our criticism and the judges themselves have ordained greater transparency and accountability for them. They cannot claim supernatural power to try Citizens for contempt for speaking or writing critically about their conduct. We understand the need for the Court to have the powers to try for Contempt if its orders are not implemented. But the privilege of being able to terrorize Citizens and media into not examining or questioning their actions or decisions is an anachronism. Criticism strengthens all democratic institutions and the power of the Citizens to question their Servants is Supreme. If allegations and charges of impropriety or corruption render Public Servants ineffective then we must consider extending the warm obfuscating cloak of ‘Contempt powers’ to all of them. We make allegations against MPs and MLAs, carry out sting operations against them, and nobody including the Courts have argued that this is the cause of our misgovernance. The Courts infact have ruled that Citizens have a right to know even the personal assets and details of criminal charges from those who seek our vote. Can the executive and the judiciary then be exempt from this? It is unfortunate that the Courts,- which made lofty pronouncements of the Right To Information being a fundamental right of Citizens,- have been extremely reluctant to subject themselves to the provisions of this law.
A myth is being propagated that the judiciary is much better than the other instrumentalities of the State. This is untrue and most probably the same diseases which afflict the rest of our governance exist in the Courts. All voices are terrorized into silence by muzzling. Nobody knows the truth; and the peril is that the decline could be more than elsewhere because of this cloak of Contempt with which the judiciary protects itself. Let us stop mouthing the cliché, “We have faith in the Judiciary,” and give the clear statement that we shall question, since it is our fundamental right.
The Court has no authority to make Laxman Rekhas for its Masters-the Citizens of India. It is we who will draw the Citizen’s Rekhas which the Public servants shall not cross. When a Prime Minister of India tried to muzzle our Freedom of expression and press, we defeated her at the elections. For unwarranted or motivated allegations, the Citizens including the Prime Minister and judges have the protection of the laws on defamation. There is absolutely no justification for the judges to give themselves the power of the Lord to be above all criticism and trnsparency. The Criminal contempt of Court must be scrapped.
“A discriminating irreverence is the creator and protector of human liberty”. –MARK TWAIN

Nhava Sheva fraud

2008-06-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

Nhava Sheva Transharbour Sea Link- Fraud explained

We all expect and accept corruption in the large Infrastructure projects. But this project gives us the smoking gun;- where we have proof of the brazen manner in which a fraud is being committed.
Here are the facts mostly unearthed using Right to Information. My enquiries started in September 2007. The Supreme Court had ruled that the disqualification of Anil Ambani’s Company for the bidding of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Sea Link Project (MTHL) was bad and that ‘the decision to exclude REL/HECL is arbitrary, whimsical and unreasonable’.
I was curious to know some details about this project, which has been said to be around 3000 crores, and asked for copies of the minutes of meeting at which the decision to disqualify REL/HECL was taken. When I received the minutes, they revealed some really disturbing matters.
1. Anil Ambani’s REL with Hyundai was disqualified on grounds of financial inadequacy! The discussions show that REL itself had adequate financial standing to qualify.
2. Crisil was involved in the evaluation of the bids. The meeting brings out the fact that Crisil was a consultant to Ms. Seaking which was linked with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance group. Crisil qualified Seaking, and disqualified Anil Ambani’s group on the grounds of financial inadequacy! The issue of conflict of interests was raised at the meeting and forgotten!
3. Another very curious aspect was that another Company China Harbour was disqualified on what appeared to me to be absurd reasons! Further RTI queries revealed that the Company had had given proof of having made a longer bridge 32.5km bridge in China, whereas the Nhava Sheva bridge is just 22 km. It had made the 32.5 km bridge for just 851 crores, whereas MSRDC’s estimate for the Nhava Sheva 22 km. was over 2000 crores hence it was not allowed to bid!
(Note: Indian contractors have managed to jack up the price of the 5.6 km. Sealink to over 1600 crores, where China Harbour is the main subcontractor.)
Consequent to the Supreme Court’s order Anil Ambani was allowed to quote for this BOT project. When the bids were opened, the Anil Ambani Company had offered to build the bridge, recover its costs through tolls and then hand over the bridge to the State in nearly 10 years, whereas the Mukesh Ambani group had asked for revenues for over 75 years. Now the State has decided not to give the project to the Anil Ambani company, but to build it itself! This is obviously because there is not enough padding in his offer
to pay the huge bribes now. The State calims that the offer should be about 44 years to recover the revenue. I have asked for details of the minutes of meetings at MSRDC, but a simple calculation is very revealing. The assumptions by the bidders have been for 50000 vehicles per day at Rs.150/ per trip. A simple calculation based on this shows that this would lead to a revenue of Rs. 75 lacs per day or about Rs. 270 crores each year.
Based on a return of Rs.270 crores per year and a rate of 6%, 8% and 10% returns, the Net present Value will be as shown in the table below:

Interest Rate	10 years	44 years	75 years
6%	1987	4173	4443	NPV in crores
8%	1812	3269	3364	NPV
10%	1659	2663	2698	NPV
	Anil’offer	MRDCestimate	Mukesh offer

This shows that the Mukesh Ambani estimate is uncannily close to the MSRDC’s estimate, whereas the Anil Ambani group is estimating the cost as about half,-about 1700 to 2000 crores. The difference of 10 years, 44 years and 75 years actually is much lower the moment you factor the NPV. This is almost like the equated instalments paid by in any normal loan transaction with constant repayments. The State is refusing a reasonable offer made by Anil Ambani on the grounds that it is too low! Anil Ambani is also playing along to get some humour the administration. The State now says it will build the bridge itself and will levy an impact fee-an increased tax,-to pay for the bribes?
In brief:
1. It appears that initially the project was designed to be given to the Mukesh Ambani group with over 50% being reserved for ‘education’-a la Enron.
2. To achieve this others like China Harbour and the Anil Ambani group were disqualified by a rigged process.
3. Incidentally China Harbour has built a 32.5 km seabridge in China for 851 crores and is the main subcontractor for the Worli-Bandra sealink. Anil Ambani wanting to best his elder brother played the spoilsport and bid about 50% -which did not leave much for bribes.
4. In a weird development, the State says Anil Ambani’s bid is too low and Mukesh Ambani’s bid too high, hence it will undertake the project. After four years of proposing a BOT, the State gives no explanation for this turnaround. Anil Ambani has obviously been pacified in some manner. Anil Ambani has made a reasonable offer, and the State has qualified his consortium with Hyundai. China Harbour was disqualified for the ability to build a bridge of 32.5 km for 851 crores, and after the bidding Anil Ambani’s group is not awarded the project because we will get it at a reasonable cost-translating into roughly 2000 crores.
5. Now the State will decide to build this and the current Government will award it for around 6000 to 7000 crores. Next year when the political dispensation will probably change the new ministry will hike it maybe 10000 crores. Do we remember ENRON?
Citizens, business houses and others must protest strongly and make the Government act in Public interest. The methodology being adopted has brazen CORRUPTION written all over, and offers us an opportunity to reverse it.

shailesh gandhi

Maharashtra Chief Minister's Relief Fund

2008-05-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

To, 26 May, 2008
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra,
Mumbai 400032.
Sub.: Chief Minister’s Relief fund

Dear Mr. Chief Minister,
I have obtained information under Right to Information about the functioning of the CM’s relief fund and discovered some disturbing facts during my inspection of the files of the fund on 22nd May 2008 at your office. I am outlining below the main objectionable actions in the working of the fund from the papers seen by me:
1. The CM’s Relief Fund is a Trust, which appears to follow no process by which it can be called a Trust. Though registered as a Trust with the Charity Commissioner, it is claimed to be exempted from any of the regulations of a Trust by a GR. There is no record of any meetings of the Trustees, thus leading to the conclusion that there is no record of a board of trustees being in charge. Thus it appears to be a virtual fictitious Trust.
2. The Trust was registered with the object ‘To assist people affected by natural calamities’. This is the belief of all common citizens like me, and was the only reason for setting it up. Right to Information has revealed that money has been given for mango festivals, making buildings, gazal programs, kabaddi competitions, trips abroad, and so on. A circular of GR dated 15 November, 2001 has been shown to justify these activities in which the objects of the trust have been expanded to try and cover giving of alms on virtually any count. Thus the objectives of the Trust are claimed to have been changed radically,-almost to the point of rendering its original objectives incidental,- without any meeting of the Board of Trustees!
3. It is also revealed that Commissioner of Sugar routinely issues circulars to all sugar factories that crushing licences will not be issued to them unless two rupees per tonne are deposited with the CM’s Reilef fund. This is an illegal and extortionist action. The last time such an action was highlighted was in the cement scam during Shri Antulay’s Chief Ministership, when the Citizens had voiced a very strong disapproval.
4. In a number of cases, the official of the Trust has made comments that giving the money will not be as per the rules of the trust; at other times there are notings that this is violative of the 25% limit imposed by Income Tax on all Trusts for expenditure not covered by its objectives. Yet money has been given as per the CM’s arbitrary directive. There are notings at times that there is not enough money in the Trust, yet money has been given for purposes which are not in line with its objectives.
I am attaching a note to illustrate some of these, with copies of the papers received from your office.

I have obtained information from 1996 onwards and it covers the operation of the fund during three different Chief Ministers. I concede that the issues I have raised are related to a systematic decline of governance, and you would perhaps have been only following earlier practices. Some of these are improper, some immoral and some clearly illegal. Operating a Trust without any checks; not follwing the discipline of following its objective of providing relief for major calamities; violating rules and also the provisions of the Income tax act; using the State’s machinery and powers to force sugar mills and government employees to give money to the Trust are all unworthy acts. You have personally shown the sagacity of accepting that the Chief Minister’s Relief fund comes under the purview of the Right To Information Act. I request you to display the same qualities of a statesman to declare that the CM’s relief fund will henceforth be used only for victims of calamities and disasters. Please also declare that the State will not issue diktats to force institutions or individuals to give money to the fund. It is quite likely that you may be given wrong advice to neglect this letter. I would be very glad to meet you to explain the reasons for you to act in a manner to retain the sanctity of the fund, and your position. As the Chief Minister of this State it is your duty to do this. This single act could become the precursor for a new journey towards better governance under your leadership.
Thanking you,

Yours truly,

shailesh gandhi

Mera Bharat Mahaan…
Nahi Hai,
Per Yeh Dosh Mera Hai.

Enclosed: Note giving some details in the individual cases with copies of the papers obtained during inspection at your office.

A few select cases where CM’s relief fund has been misused.
The attached papers are labeled 1, 2 etc.,as per the points.
1. 5 lacs given to Marathwada Sahitya Parishad 20 May, 1997- remark by secretary that proposal does not fall in the objects of the trust, but money has given many times like this before.
2. 5 lacs given to Press Club of India (New Delhi)note of 7 October, 1997 says the Club informed that various Chief Minister’s who addressed their seminars had given 2 to 8 lacs (and hence by implication since Maharashtra CM had been given the opportunity to address the seminar) 9 lacs should be given! A fee by the CM to speak! The notings state that this does not fit in the objects of the fund and there are not adequate funds. Yet 5 lac rupees were given on the same day. A certificate of utilization shows Rs.1.5lacs spent for constructing toilets for the Press Club.
3. 50 lacs sanctioned for the construction of Shanmukhananda Hall 24 November, 1997. It shows that there vare not adequate funds and hence 10 lacs is given as first installment.
4. 1 lac given on a letter by Madhav Godbole -2 may, 2003 for ‘Centre for Advanced Strategic Studies’. Note mentions financial assistance cannot be approved.
5. 9 lacs given to Vanrai, Pune of Shri Mohan Dharia for computers, software, fax machine, internet connection and making a progress report- 9 May, 2003. A total of 25 lacs had been given before this. Note states giving this money is not as per the rules of the CM’s Relief fund.
6. 25 lacs given to Rajbhavan Club- 5 August, 2003 for sport’s equipment. Note states this is not in line with the objectives of the trust.
7. 1 lac for Maharashtra Carrom Association- 29 November, 2003. Note states this violates the IT requirement that less than 25% can be spent for purposes other than objectives.
8. 5 lacs given for Gandhi Film Foundation-19 November, 2003. Note says this money is going to be used for building corpus of the foundation, which is not permissible. The note categorically states that for such purposes the foundation should get loans commercially.
9. 5 lacs for Yuvak Biradari for purchasing Motor Vehicles- 24 November, 2003. Note says purchasing motor vehicles is not permissible under the rules of the CM’s relief fund.
10. 5 lacs for Superseven Cricket Association- 15 January, 2004. Note says money cannot be given in the rules of the CM’s fund.

RTI discovers misuse of law by Railway Police

2008-05-16T06:45:00.000-07:00

Victimizing an Activist
Krishnaraj Rao is an activist agitating and creating public awareness for the rights of the pedestrians over the roads in Mumbai. He has been distributing letters to be written to the various authorities on this subject. These have his address and phone numbers. Somebody stuck one of these in a Railway compartment. The Railway Police Force landed up at his house and charged him with a crime he did not commit. He was taken to a Metropolitan Magistrates Court and asked to plead guilty. He rightly refused to plead guilty, since he had no knowledge or responsibility in someone pasting a paper with his name and address in a railway compartment. He is now on a harassment routine which could mean countless trips to Courts.
I noticed that in any railway compartment there are many illegal posters and papers stuck. To understand hwo many people had been charged with the offence Krishnarao is being charged with, I filed a RTI with RPF, Central Mumbai on 28 April asking: “Please send me details of the total number of prosecutions for unauthorised pasting of posters in trains during the last one year (May 2007 to April 2008), giving the following details:
a) Total number of individuals and institutions prosecuted while pasting the posters.
b) Total number of individuals and institutions prosecuted whose names and numbers were found on posters stuck in the compartments .”

The answer by the Public information officer reveals that only 30 people were prosecuted during this period. Nobody was caught in the act of pasting a poster. The implications are obvious. There are thousands of posters illegally pasted in the trains. It is obvious that this is done with the corrupt complicity of the RPF. Equally worrying;- the RPF can target any honest activist or Citizen by pasting a paper with their name and address on a railway carriage. Civil society must act to curb this nefarious and brazen activity of the Railway Police force.
shailesh gandhi
16 May, 2008