Dear Judith, This is serious case by not issuing minutes of the meeting in the case of MoEF . I have also noticed earlier with the GCZMA not furnishing me some replies, under RTI, by stating that the office cannot provide the requisite information under RTI, in view of not stating details of Project No, and also mentioning ; such information is not available on record of their office, or giving reasons ; that information sought is not specific, etc.etc, In fact I have tried by level best to get such information but those I found difficulty to obtain, and especially for a common man is impossible, and that too during emergencies .In fact once the area or place of doubtful illegal project was mentioned in the complaint, it should have been easy for the dept to trace and provide such replies and answer under RTI but many times especially the Govt dept refrain issuing answers by stating the above reasons. PIO's should be able to cooperate but intentionally not entertaining questions as they do not want to waste their time to search, which is raised by the complainant/s or any person to get such information. Perhaps, this appears to be an attempt to cheating and the judiciary must penalize if there is sufficient evidence of evading such information under RTI to public. Court should "step in" and now in MoEF case having no minutes of the meeting which is mandatory for every meeting especially at the Govt level, the solution is only to knock the doors of the Court for justice.
Stephen Dias D.Paula On 19 January 2015 at 01:55, Judith Almeida <[email protected]> wrote: > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Rony Dias <[email protected]> > Date: Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 9:53 PM > Subject: Fwd: MoEF has no minutes of 30 panel meetings > To: Aires Rodrigues <[email protected]>, Derek Almeida < > [email protected]>, Annand Madgavkar <[email protected]>, Judith > Almeida <[email protected]>, Antonio Mascarenhas < > [email protected]>, Amitabh Dasgupta <[email protected]>, > Bevinda Collaco <[email protected]>, Alexandre Moniz Barbosa < > [email protected]>, Bosco Eremita <[email protected]>, > Lamberto Cardozo <[email protected]>, Vishnu Wagh < > [email protected]>, Council for Social Justice and Peace Goa < > [email protected]>, "Dr. Colaco" <[email protected]>, "Dr. Oscar > Rebello" <[email protected]> > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Rony Dias <[email protected]> > Date: Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 9:52 PM > Subject: Fwd: MoEF has no minutes of 30 panel meetings > To: Deepak Apte <[email protected]>, Avinash Tavares < > [email protected]>, Bardroy Barretto <[email protected]>, Glen > Baretto <[email protected]>, Jack Barretto <[email protected]>, > Anthony Barretto <[email protected]>, Rudolf Barretto < > [email protected]>, Rudolf Barretto <[email protected]>, Manoj > Borkar <[email protected]>, Minguel Braganza < > [email protected]> > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Rony Dias <[email protected]> > Date: Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 9:49 PM > Subject: MoEF has no minutes of 30 panel meetings > To: "Adv. Manoj Dessai" <[email protected]>, "Adv. Nigel > Frias Costa" <[email protected]>, Ahibhijeet Prabhudessai < > [email protected]>, Alistair D'Souza <[email protected]>, Alvis > ALmeida <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" < > [email protected]>, Armstorng Vaz <[email protected]>, Arvind > Kerjiwal <[email protected]>, Ashley Almeida < > [email protected]>, Aurobin Pinto <[email protected]>, > Avinash Tavares <[email protected]>, Cliffton Desouza < > [email protected]>, Danny Moraes <[email protected]>, Diana > Tavares <[email protected]>, Dilip Hegde < > [email protected]>, "Fr. Victor Ferrao" <[email protected]>, > Gary Azavedo <[email protected]>, Godwin Fernandes < > [email protected]>, Govind Kamat Maad <[email protected]>, Guilerme > Almeida <[email protected]>, John Fernandes < > [email protected]>, Joseph Vaz <[email protected]>, Judith Almeida < > [email protected]>, Leo Diniz <[email protected]>, > Lirio Alvares <[email protected]>, Lirio Alvares 1 < > [email protected]>, Mackwill Lopes <[email protected]>, Manoj > Sapre <[email protected]>, Melbon Da'Costa <[email protected]>, > Nilesh Gaonkar <[email protected]>, Olga Dias < > [email protected]>, Primrose Dias <[email protected]>, Primrose > Dias 1 <[email protected]>, Rajendra Kakodkar <[email protected]>, > Rajkumar Walavalkar <[email protected]>, Ramnath Pai < > [email protected]>, Ravindra Velip <[email protected]>, > Rickson Britto <[email protected]>, Rui Gama <[email protected]>, > Sebastian Rodrigues <[email protected]>, Sidharth Karapurkar < > [email protected]>, Sita Antao <[email protected]>, Socorro > D'Souza <[email protected]>, Spivey Fernandes < > [email protected]>, Sudesh Tulaskar <[email protected]>, > Suraj Dessai <[email protected]>, Yogesh Dessai < > [email protected]> > > > MoEF has no minutes of 30 panel meetings > > Sunday, 18 January 2015 > > During the course of their meetings across the country, the TSR > Subramanian headed high-level committee (HLC) - constituted to submit a > report on recommending amendments to key environmental laws - copped a lot > of flak for not engaging enough with environmental and citizen groups. Now > it has come to light that neither the HLC nor the ministry of environment, > forests and *climate* change (MoEF&CC) maintained any minutes of the > meetings they held within themselves or for those held with government > officials, citizen groups and industry bodies. The information came in > response to a Right to Information (RTI) application with the union > ministry of environment, forests and *climate change* (MoEF&CC). The > application filed by Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) had > sought information on the total number of meetings held by the HLC, their > locations and minutes of the meetings. > > In their response, the ministry has enlisted a total of 30 meetings held > by the HLC. Of the 30 meetings, only seven were held with 'civil society, > non-governmental organizations (NGO) and prominent citizens' across Delhi, > Bangalore, Mangalore, Bhubaneswar and Patna. Details show that in many of > the meetings meant for civil society and NGO's, representatives of trade > bodies and industry were attendees. In addition, the information shows that > the HLC did not hold any meetings in key states such as Maharashtra, > Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, West Bengal and entirely skipped the > environmentally sensitive north-eastern region entire. > > Ritwick Dutta, co-founder, LIFE, termed the HLC's consultations as a > cosmetic exercise. "The HLC report does not reflect any sentiments of the > stakeholders and on issues of livelihood. If the HLC's report says that the > "committee covered a gamut of issues with detailed consultations", why were > no minutes maintained." > > Speaking to dna, former *cabinet secretary* and chair of the HLC TSR > Subramanian said, "The details of the committee's meetings were maintained > by the ministry. We met a cross-section of people in the limited amount of > time and heard their views, it was not a dialogue." Another HLC member > K.N.Bhat, former *additional solicitor general of India *refused to > comment on the issue. > > Meanwhile, ministry officials in the know of things said that the HLC's > meetings with government officials and citizens were only to understand > their viewpoint on various environmental laws and there was no need for > maintaining any minutes as representations and submissions have been > collected in documentary form. Activists had panned the ministry as they > were provided only 1,000 words to submit suggestions to HLC on its website. > The HLC had also faced criticism for selective invitations for consultative > meetings, many of which were attended more by industry representatives. > > Presently, the HLC's report and its key 55 recommendations are being > reviewed by the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology, > environment and forests, chaired by Congress leader Ashwani Kumar. Last > week, nine NGO's put forth their reservations regarding the HLC report in > the standing committee's meeting. Following these meetings and after > consultations with state governments, the union government is expected to > table amendments to environmental laws in the upcoming *Budget session* of > Parliament. > > > > > >
