Form No. 0017 Date.Monday, February 11, 2008
Kerala State Information Commission, Thiruvananthapuram, KL
Please display this form on www.karmayog.org/roko. Please send
to the government department, ACB, CBI, etc. Please circulate to
media, NGOs & other citizens so that the sitaution can be rectified
& others do not have to suffer like i did
Thank you
A: Details of the government organisation
1. Name of government organisation Kerala State Information
Commission
2. State Kerala
3. Cit y Thiruvananthapuram
4. Department General Administration Department
5. Location Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram
6. Designation of government officer involved The Chief
Information Commissioner
7. Website http://infokerala.org.in and http://keralasic.gov.in/
8. Address of the government organisation Kerala State
Information Commission Punnen Road, Thiruvananthapuram-695039
B: Complaint Details
1. Period of incident 2007 – Dec
2. Services that were sought? Enforcement of the Right to
Information Act in letter and spirit.
3. What problem/s did you face? An appeal-AP452/2007/SIC-
was dismissed by the CIC and another IC on 21 Dec 2007 stating that
the appeal was filed through the APIO, O/o the RDO, Palakkad and the
cost of information was paid not through DD as demanded by the
public authority but through the Treasury, as per valid govt
orders!
4. Bribe amount To be sought from the public authority,
KSPCB, that has benfitted from this absurd and patently illegal
order of the Commission
5 a. Did you pay the bribe? If yes, why? No
5 b. Could you get your work done without paying the bribe?
if so, how? No
6. Result I have been denied my rights under the RTI Act by
people who are responsible to safeguard it but who are blatantly
violating it with impunity.
C: Additional Informtion attached
Details of Content The copy of orders in AP452/2007/SIC. The
first three pages are attached. The last page contents are: (ii)
Since the appellant has not made payment of cost of providing the
information, as per rules, the respondents wer not under any
obligation to provide the information and therefore the other
reliefs sought for in the appeal are irrelevant. The appeal is
dismissed Dated thsi 21 st day of December 2007. Sd/- Palat Mohandas
Chief Information Commissioner Sd/- V V Giry Information Commissioner
Attached Additional Document 1
https://www.karmayog.org/roko/rokoform/upload/17/1/ksic-order in
ap452-2007-page1.jpg
Attached Additional Document 2
https://www.karmayog.org/roko/rokoform/upload/17/2/ksic-order in
ap452-2007-page2.jpg
Attached Additional Document 3
https://www.karmayog.org/roko/rokoform/upload/17/3/ksic-order in
ap452-2007-page3.jpg
D: Suggestions
1. Suggestions for head of government department The CIC
should be removed for the following crimes of The Kerala State
Information Commission headed by him: 1. Failure to implement the
following 1.1. Sec 4 & 5 of the RTI Act, required to be implemented
by 12 Oct 2005 and 1.2. Sec 20 of the Act 2. Illegal action in the
matter of issuing letter to the RDO, Palakkad not to accept
applications/appeals which are required to be accepted by the APIO
in his office as per Sec 5(2) of the RTI Act and relevant govt
orders on the subject. 3. Misleading the public about misuse of the
Act and veiled/absurd threats like telling them that the public are
misusing the Act when it is ONLY the information commissioners who
can misuse the Act by taking bribes from the defaulting public
information officers and not penalising by issuing illogical and
illegal orders, taking advantage of the fact that they can only be
removed by a tedious process which would normally not be resorted
to. continued…
4. Harassment of applicants/complainants/appellants by
needlessly summoning them for hearing to the state capital and also
not compensating them under the provisions of Sec 19(8)(b) of the
RTI Act 5. Not issuing proper notices to the deemed Public
Information Officers and hearing them before penalising them, thus
enabling them to go to court and get the decision set aside on
technical grounds. continued….
7. Not following even any rudimentary office procedures
like acknowledging receipt of complaints/appeals or taking up cases
on first come first served basis. 8. Holding sittings at outstations
at exhorbitant cost to the exchequer and ultimately making a mockery
of it by taking up only 4 to 5 cases at random and issuing orders
not conforming to the provisions of the RTI Act. Complaints have
been sent to the CM of Kerala and the Governor to remove the CIC
under the provision of Sec 17(3)(d). The references of the
complaints to the CM are : Comp/cmk-ksic-070507 dated 07 May 2007,
RTI/comp-cmk-ksic-performance-170907 dated 17 Sep 2007 and RTI/comp-
cmk-ksic-191107 dated 19 Nov 2007. The petitions to the Governor
are: RTI/comp-ker gov-ksic-071107 dated 07 Nov 2007 and RTI/comp-ker
gov-ksic-040108 dated 04 Jan 2008.
2. Suggestions for the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) / Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) The RTI Act can only be misused by the
information commissioners who can accept bribe from the defaulting
deemed PIOs and refuse to impose the penalties mandated under the
Act, by manipulation. Most of the orders of the commissioners being
patently illegal the fear that such corruption has taken roots in
the Commission is real. The ACB/CBI should investigate such cases
and set the systems right in the Commission,
3. Suggestions for other citizens Citiizens who find that the
information commissioners are not issuing correct orders as mandated
by the RTI Act should pursue the matter with authorities competent
to check them for corruption and effective performanace.
E: Contact Details are as follows
Name Major (Retired) P M Ravindran
Oganisation (if any) Save Right to Information Campaign
Profession Engineer by qualification but activist by
involvement
Phone 0491-2576042
Kerala, Palakkad, Monday, February 11, 2008