Whispers Forum

Why did Chouhan suddenly announce the police commissioner system at the risk of annoying the powerful IAS group ? Grapevine has it that some months ago, while addressing IPS probationers Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had mentioned in his speech that states that have not implemented the police commissioner system yet should consider it. Among the big states, only MP, Chhattisgarh, J&K (which has special law and order issues) and Bihar haven’t so far. Of these, only MP is a solely BJP-ruled state. Chouhan could not be seen as not following the PM’s advice. It is noteworthy that the PM and Union Ministers were attending the annual IGP/ DGP conference when the announcement was made by Chouhan.
Pramod Bhatt

I agree with Harish Kumar (WIC, Dec 15 2021) on Right to recall. Several Indian States provide for Right to recall of elected representatives from local bodies. Unfortunately, there is no electoral mechanism by recalling legislators from the states and central legislatures due to their incompetence and dismal performance in fulfilling electoral promises. Lack of political Will to ensure transparency among elected representatives is the major roadblocks.
Another electoral malpractice prevalent among all political parties is offering freebies for votes. Quid pro quo deal. Unethical.
The Election commission which is supposed to ensure elections conducted in a fair manner, has turned a Nelson’s eye. All political parties have a free run promising free electricity, water, jobs and much more. All at cost of public exchequer. Such promises are included in parties’ manifestos. Is this justified?
The Media is a partner in the crime. Will the Judiciary as upholder of the Constitution, take the call.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

Debate
There can be no guarantee ever that a bachelor CM or vice versa will perform better. There have been several married CMs whose performance has been no match and there have also been the other way round.
RK Pandey
Right to recall is need of the hour
The leader of the ruling dispensation recently issued a whip to 100 MPs including the ministers which is one third of the majority strength, to go their constituencies, inter-act, reach the voters while the Parliament is in session, in other words they have been instructed not to show their faces and a blanket ticket to miss the Parliament Session. There are no such provisions enshrined in the Constitution for such a whip. All this is being done in view of ensuing State Elections. Elections can't have an edge over legislative participation or process. Missing from the Parliament including the leader is happening more than often & in a larger frequency since 2014, as the present dispensation is always in election mode 24/7. What for we have elected them if they do not care to be part Parliament Session or the legislative process. Why Indian exchequer is paying so hefty salaries & perks, it is as good as enjoying a five star holiday at Government or tax payers cost. Unluckily there is no provision in the Constitution to recall the elected representatives if they do not participate in legislative process, if they do not deliver or if there is poor or no governance by the ruling dispensation. This is high time voters start a movement for a Constitutional amendment or provision to the recall of elected representatives/Government if they are not delivering, not participating in legislative process, also for punishment if missing from Parliament Session more than 5 working days in a particular Session. These provisions should be applicable to each MP of both houses of Parliament, MLA, MLC , Panchayat Sarpanch. A mass peaceful movement by voters for this sole purpose is the need of the hour today to press for such legislative provision/amendment, clearly defined or provided in our Constitution the temple or Geeta of our democracy, before it is too late. Now or never.
Harish Kumar

DEBATE (1)
Bachelors are better CMs because they have plenty of time to devote to the state for its development and other works. See the case of Yogi Adityanath. However. bachelorhood is not the only criteria for being a good CM.
Ashok Garg
Senior bureaucrats posted from other States lack basic knowledge about U.T.
I don't see any major reforms and achievements from senior bureaucrats who are now posted from other States. Some of them don't have any foundational knowledge about the U.T. Unless they deliver qualitatively with outcome local people will be grumbling. Mr Jagmohan who was a bureaucrat did bring changes while as Governor. Now there is no excuse that State based party does not allow them to perform. J and K has to show the way to Ladakh.
S Shankar
Juniors are afraid to ‘ASK’ anything from seniors for fear of being rebuked
Most of the juniors are afraid to go to their seniors to “ASK” as the only thing that they expect as an answer is a rebuke. Between getting a small penalty from the CIC and a reprimand from the senior, it is anybody’s guess what a junior would prefer. Having known this, should the CIC not have called the first appellate authority and asked why he did not dispose the appeal? A stricture against the first appellate authority would not been a more appropriate remedy rather than imposing a penalty on the hapless PIO.
Sudhanshu Trivedi

Information pertaining to pending First Appeals registered in July to September 2019 including total number and List of First appeals which were registered in the above said months and other related queries were asked. The complainant contended that there is a deemed refusal of information sought in all the above RTI Applications and the reply has been provided with a considerable delay. The CIC observed that the complainant has sought categorical information in all the above RTI Applications and the PIO cannot be the custodian of all the information, however the then CPIO did not take assistance from the concerned department/ division under Section 5(4)/ Section 5 (5) of the RTI Act which in this case is their superior authority. The complainant contended that the respondent had wilful and malafide intention as they did not want to expose the poor performance of their superior authority, hence a point-wise reply has not been provided. The CIC noted that the information sought is related to FAA i.e. his own higher administrative authority seeking to indicate pendency against their superior officer, therefore he did not want to disclose it in order to hide the conduct of their superior authority. The CIC observed that the first appeal in these RTI matters have been pending and FAA did not decide these appeals to direct or guide the CPIO to provide the information. In a way there is apparent synergy between the CPIO & FAA in not giving reply to all the above RTI Applications disclosing pendency of appeals for a very long period of time. The CIC held that the then CPIO has deliberately not taken any assistance under Section 5(4) of the RTI Act from the O/o. the First Appellate Authority in reply to queries related to pendency of appeals at FAA level with malafide intention of not providing the relevant information to avoid disclosure of long pendency at the level of his Superior officer and waited to give reply after summary disposal of pending appeals. The CIC ruled that that this is the case where there is an intentional denial and obstruction of information and imposed a penalty of Rs. 1000/- (Rupees One Thousand Only) u/Section 20(1) of the RTI Act, 2005 on the then PIO, Shri Rajeev Ranjan, in the Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs..
Comments
Many PIOs tend to hesitate while seeking information from their seniors in respect of information held at their end. The role of the PIO under the RTI Act requires them to act independently. The PIO must remember that he alone is responsible for the consequences of delay or denial of information.
Citation: Mr. Varun Krishna v. M/o. Finance, Department of Economic Affairs in Complaint No. CIC/DOEAF/C/2020/665550, CIC/DOEAF/C/2020/665552 &CIC/DOEAF/C/2020/665553, Date of order: 01-11-2021
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is an expert on RTI matters and has co-authored the books RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Apart from her weekly article here, her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: www.rtifoundationofindia.com

Debate :
Bachelorhood or Married is no criteria to judge. It depends upon person to person. Many married Chief Ministers have performed much better than bachelors in seat.
Rajiv Rastogi
Police Commissioner system in Madhya Pradesh
Bad news. The system throws out the "checks and balances system" necessary for good governance. It introduces a police state which is very useful for unscrupulous politicians. Giving majesterial powers to the police is not democratic. But then, who wants democracy. The police are more amenable to political influence. Just see what is happening in Mumbai, one of the oldest Police Commissionerate. For the Police Commissioner, the Home Secretary does not exist.
In the present case of MP, it is obvious why the Home Minister was bypassed. The decision was taken between the CM and senior police officers who are looking for a killing.
B K Saha, Former Chief Secretary, Madhya Pradesh

DEBATE(1)
I had been reading lot of comments about whether a married or bachelor PM/CM delivers better. My question to all those suggestions is, have we got a democracy in India, the answer seems a big NO. As we do not have a government but a Personality Government right from Independence day1. A personality is installed and caucus around him/her rules. In addition to that none of the political parties have a vision document or road map for India of tomorrow or in next 50 years. In the primitive years of independence Congress had an ideology/vision of mixed economy, Congress too lost that track later. What India needs today is new breed of politicians who can have a vision for India,its vision poor lot and above all roadmap for economy so that India can lead the world. Alternatively we need a peaceful voters movement to recall these duds.
Harish Kumar
Keeping Pace with the Technology
We are keeping pace with technology in Financial Matters but there are some gaps, In InFinity Forum there was mention of Digital Bank without any physical branch is reality and may become common in decade in Fin Tech. But on other side our post offices are still following orthodox and old rules of local addresses for opening and maintaining the accounts. Many accounts are getting closed as addresses in Aadhaar is changed due to movement of persons due to job, work, medical, education etc. and KYC is not being accepted with changed address. It is submitted to Minister for Communications and IT to please see that KYC and its update can be carried out with the addresses given on Aadhaar (without insisting local address requirement) and PAN and Mobile number. These three things are more than sufficient to verify and update KYC without closing accounts in post offices. Technology is going to play a big role in Financial Sector and Post Offices working cannot be on age old working methods. It is essential to keep the pace with change in technology. There are many transformational initiatives taking place. How we can afford to follow the old procedures being adopted in maintaining accounts in Post Offices. World is talking about Cryptocurrency which even does not exit physically and we are still following KYC based on local address. Our local address should be treated at par with address given in Aadhaar and accounts can be opened anywhere in the country without referencing local address. It should be clear enough a person with Bihar address in Aadhaar can open the account in J&K with two additional IDs PAN and mobile number without insisting him local address. Let the local address should be mentioned as a option not mandatory. Let us move with the technology and reap the benefits of financial inclusion. With Good Luck.
Naveen
Pappu can also be right
Pappu can also be right once in a while. That does not mean he ceases to be Pappu. He continues to be a pappu.
Kumar

DEBATE (1)
Not true. CMs like Shivraj Singh and Raman Singh have proved that they can work hours and hours for their respective states’
Hari Ranjan
Parliament disruption
Iin an article in Times of India of Dec 6th (today) Mr.Pavan Varma has stated that "the House of Commons in England has not been adjourned for a single day. In our country we are fast reaching the situation where not a single day passes when the House is not adjourned." There is a simple solution to this problem :
In the prelunch session, say from 10AM to 2PM , members can participate in serious discussions. All the members need not be present. Every party can depute Members who are well versed with the subject matter to be discussed and they can collectively decide on the issues. The post lunch session, say from 3PM onwards, can be devoted to shouting and other innovative forms of disruptions. This can go as long as members wish and their will be no need to adjourn. Thus both objective will be settled- doing serious business and displaying displeasure. I request some influential readers to bring this to the notice of the House leaders.
Raghavan