Whispers Forum

You may continue to spread wisdom through the RTI Column and the public information officers will continue not to follow them. The Information Commission will continue to overlook the deliberate and continuous lackluster performance of the PIO. It is shocking if the PIO does not follow the instructions of the FAA and no action is taken against him. Hail RTI Act.
Shamsher Singh
Mumbai Police very professional in dealing with crowd
Celebrations for India’s World Cup victory. We saw a huge gathering of citizens of Bharat in Mumbai yesterday (04 July 2024) at Marine Drive when our winning team travelled from Mumbai Airport to Wankhede Cricket Stadium. All had travelled to cheer our cricket team who had brought laurels to Bharat. There are two lessons to be learnt from this. One, the Mumbai crowd was very disciplined and the Mumbai Police had managed this huge crowd very well. There was no incident of stampede, like the one which had taken place in Hathras. And, two, the unity shown by the crowd. If this unity is shown by the people of Bharat, Bharat can very soon become the world’s number one country. Pradeep
Pradeep

Large number of people died in the stampede during the satsang of Bhole Baba in Hathras, UP. According to preliminary information, to prevent the crowd from reaching Baba, his personal security personnel and sevadars pushed some people, due to which they fell. It is unfortunate that despite about 60 percent literacy in the country, hypocritical babas organize such gatherings. The question is why such babas become successful in the modern era? The reason for this is that there is tension and unrest in the society due to many reasons. Apart from this, the common man of the country is struggling with basic problems. In such a situation, he easily trusts the babas. Babas exploit this innocent faith of the devotees.
Nancy Singh

The appellant sought information about the bank account of his late father, FDs, nominee, amount etc. The FAA directed the PIO to provide statement of account of certain bank accounts. Not having received any information in compliance of the FAA’s order, the Appellant approached the Commission with the Second Appeal. The PIO stated that he was not the then PIO and could not update regarding the compliance of FAA’s order. The CIC observed that the respondent has partly provided the information. The FAA had directed the PIO to provide the account statements, but the PIO has not complied with the directions of the FAA, so far. The CIC directed to provide the copies of account statement.
Comments
Non-compliance of the order of the FAA is grossly incorrect on the part of the PIO. In this case, the PIO has been lucky to escape penalty for which there appears no excuse.
Citation: Vishnudev Prasad Singh v. Union Bank of India, CIC/UBIND/A/2023/100809; Date of Decision: 30.04.2024
Dr Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is a RTI Consultant currently working with IIM Visakhapatnam. She has co-authored the books, RTI Right to Information - Law and Practice and PIO’s Guide to RTI. She offers consultancy on RTI matters and Third party audit. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link www.rtifoundationofindia.com

The three new criminal laws: ‘Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita’, ‘Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita’ and ‘Bhartiya Sakshya Adhinium’, the reworded versions of existing fundamental criminal laws IPC, CrPC and the Indian Evidence Act (colonial legacy) as per gazette notification, will be effective from July 1, 2024. The prevailing three criminal laws have been in operation for over a century and have received interpretations from various courts including the Supreme Court. Some legal luminaries have, in a letter to the union law minister, have sought deferment of new laws beyond July 1.2024. Some logical questions arise in our minds. These merit careful consideration. These are : (a)Will the change-over reduce cost of litigation to the accused and save litigation time; (b) Will the new dispensation reduce the large backlog of pendency in the already overburdened judiciary, running into crores of cases; (c) More importantly, could the two systems of criminal justice(old and the new)operate concurrently.All pending cases, filed under old system, are at different stages of litigation (d)Could the substantive laws, IPC, India Evidence Act, be applied retrospectively; (e) The procedural laws could possibly be applied retrospectively, provided they impact the accused adversely. These are matters for legal scrutiny; (f) Could the accused live with a sense of certainty and security about their Right to life and liberty, not knowing which stream of law will govern them. Utter confusion, chaos. More litigation, more cost to the accused, more delay; (g) What will be the cost of infrastructure needed to upgrade the system of delivery of criminal justice? Has any thought been given to the above questions ; (h)Will the dichotomy, as stated above ,be able to stand the scrutiny in the Supreme court; (i)Some bright legal minds have already expressed concern about the haste in which the bills were passed in the last Parliament; (j) Could the gazette –notified new penal laws be referred to the new Parliament for further discussion, one wonders? Much will depend on the stand taken by the Supreme Court on the validity of new penal laws, the ruling political dispensation and the new Opposition. No litigant has ,so far, approached the Top court in the matter, possibly awaiting reaction of the Union of India.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

How the NDA Government should tackle corruption/ corrupt practices. Conducting General Elections at all India level or conducting all India level entrance examinations like NEET, etc. is a difficult task. The recent example of leak of papers of NEET is a blot on the part of the NDA Government. The opposition parties take advantage of such incidents and are holding the NDA Government responsible for this. After conducting such an entrance test, cancellation and re-test is a costly affair. Corrupt practices are still prevailing in India. To avoid such corrupt practices, all officers of the Ministry directly involved (right from Secretary of the Ministry to the ground level officials) should be held responsible. There should be a column in their annual confidential reports where the number of cases of leakage of test papers or corruption cases should be mentioned besides appropriate action against them, right from the ground level officials to the Secretary of the Ministry. Nowadays the higher officials go scot free when they fail in their responsibility to select appropriate officials to handle such exams. Government should rethink their punishment policy without which such incidents will take place again and again.
Pradeep