ORISSA NEWS : CHIEF MINISTER OFFICE DENIES AN RTI APLICANT 3/11/2011
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s office has returned an RTI applicant empty handed who wanted to know his and his ministers’ property.
City-based lawyer Biswapriya Kanungo had submitted an application on September 17 for information relating to the property of ministers. Kanungo’s request also included putting the minister’s property list in the public domain, the list of ministers who have disclosed their property and steps initiated against the defaulters.
The lawyer said that he got an information from the parliamentary affairs department PIO, who is at present the charge of carrying the similar responsibility in the CM’s office expresses his inability to furnish the information. It is quoted in the the official letter “ The required information will be sent to you after receipt of the same from the CM’s office, with whom correspondence has been made.”
Rather Mr Naveen Pattnaik claims to focus on good and efficient governance in Orissa and with crystal clear and transparency. What an irony? This is an official release made during the day claimed the state as a leading in matter of RTI Act.
Corruption watchdog Transparency International India Thursday accused Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of protecting the corrupt and not acting against tainted officials despite a public outcry.
The statement by the group comes a day after the state government opened a dispensary in the confiscated house of a tainted former Indian Administrative Service Officer (IAS) in state capital Bhubaneswar.
Reacting to the chief minister’s statements that his government was punishing the corrupt, Biswajit Mohanty, a board member of the watchdog, said such claims were hypocritical.
“This claim is totally hypocritical since numerous scams have been bedeviling the state during his tenure of 11 years. They include multi-crore scams like pulses scam, mining scam, port scam and coal scam,” he told IANS.
Transparency International has lodged several complaints with the chief minister with specific allegations of wrongdoing, favouritism and lack of transparency in award of major contracts, but he has yet to order a single enquiry, he said.
He also accused Patnaik of not sanctioning prosecution against some senior officials despite requests by the state’s vigilance police, even though government guidelines state that such sanctions are supposed to be given within a period of two months.
“Some cases are pending for more than five years now and the accused officers continue to enjoy prized postings in critical government departments having budgets of more than Rs.2,000 crore,” he said.
I always wonder how a person holding a post of this stature can behave so arbitrarily.
But with sycophants being appointed as info-commissioners, how can one expect any law-abiding behavior. “So, need of the hour is to revamp the appointment process of info-commissioners and make it transparent and participatory.
SANGRAM KESARI PANDA
CORESSPONDENT
THROUGH
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF. THESE DAYS, TASVER E HIND,
ORISSA, SAMBALPUR
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