---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 8:44 AM Subject: Re: Shailesh's feet of clay.
A email circulated privately by Shialesh Gandi's partner in Karmayagi Group Dr Leo Rebello to Prime Minister's Office. This email is not published in any public yahoo group * <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rti_india/message/2283>* *Yesterday, 16th Sept., some Gujaratis of Juhu, where * *Shailesh Gandhi resides, **organised a felicitation function * *with dinner, at Anand Hotel, opp. ISKCON, Juhu, Mumbai,* *and **yet there were barely 50 persons **in attendance, * *including an RTI activist/teacher **called Shivajirao from * *Satara, **whom Shailesh acknowledged as his Guru. * **** *The three speakers were:* *Shailesh Gandhi, the CIC designate, who will take charge * *of his office in Delhi, on **Thursday 18th Sept. **His speech* *was good and he promised to resign in one year, **if he failed * *to dispose off **cases assigned **to him within 3 months. * *Clap.... clap.... clap.... **went the audience without **even * *understanding why it should take 3 months to **dispose * *off simple RTI cases?* **** *Shailesh Gandhi **could not reply to my question on what * *suo motu action he would take **on big issues like **SEZ/Singur * *where big lands are given to big industrialists throwing * *all norms to the winds **and the biggest ground on which * *corruption inc survives. **He said he will not take suo motu action. * *In other words, either he is **ignorant of RTI or **powers of the * *constitutional office **or he is just not competent enough to * *take **on the **powerful lobby.** * ** *Before I tell you what the chief guest, Dr. Suresh Joshi, * *the Chief Info Commissioner of Maharashtra said, l**et me * *give his brief pen picture. * *Mr. Joshi served in the IAS in different positions for 36 years, * *including 3 years in **Afghanistan. **He was appointed as the * *first Chief Info Com of MS **because of his "**proximity" to the * *CM of Maharashtra and when he took charge, he was more * *concerned **about 10 gun salute given **to the visiting CM and * *Governor (parity principle) and red beacon car, **bungalow etc. * *rather than the work. **This man wears hearing aid in both ears * *(nothing wrong about **that) and yet cannot hear properly. * *Inspite of **36 years in the IAS he is not so fluent **in English. * *After all it is Maharashtra - Marathi Bola. **Though he wears a * *smiling face while speaking (that is good), he speaks **in * *mono syllables.* ** *I wish to highlight one point from Joshi's speech. He said * *usually it takes about 8 **months **to make appointments to * *these type of constitutional posts and gave an example how * *the **MAT-appointments file travels from one table to another * *before the announcement is made, **and praised the Union * *Govt. for appointing ** Shailesh Gandhi as one of the CICs in * *record **time of 20 days. Another clap... clap... clap... **from the* *ignorant audience consisting of sundry activists, journalists * *and others.* **** *Now let us analyse how and why Shailesh Gandhi's name * *was cleared within 20 days by **the PMO and why if Shailesh * *is upright he should not take charge of the august office tomorrow.* ** *Shailesh Gandhi's petition on SRA is pending in the High Court * *of Bombay. **He appeared in person and as is his wont he said* *something that the CJ of the Bombay **High Court thought was * *contempt of court and threatened to send him direct to jail from* *the court. So, our good Shailesh apologised under duress. The * *CJ then dictated a big order **pronouncing **him guilty, but since * *he had apologised, the CJ kept the order in abeyance for six * *months **-- this is called "observation period". Then, the CJ * *pushed aside his original petition **on SRA to one side because * *a "contemnor" cannot be heard? **Now our good RTI activist **has * *been pushed upstair (the post is equivalent to a supreme * *court judge) so that he cannot **pursue the said SRA and other * *cases in which he was becoming a thorn to many corrupt **authorities.* *This is how things are manipulated.* ** *The other angle is L.K.Advani, the Opposition Leader and one * *of the selectors, found a Gujarati **whose appointment could help * *BJP to garner Gujarati and builder's lobby votes in Mumbai, **in the * *forthcoming Parliament elections. Consequently, from the list of * *names suggested by **Anna Hazare and Medha Patkar, his name * *came handy as an escape chute. * ** *Now, the important question is: since Shailesh Gandhi's appointment * *is NOT very transparent and since he replied **that he will not be using * *suo motu powers, which as a CIC, he has, what is **the great idea of his * *becoming the CIC? Can you see now how things are manipulated?* ** *What can Shailesh do when 14 other retired IAS/IPS/IRS pickled **babus * *will corner and manipulate him from day one in the Delhi office of CIC? * *This man formerly running a **small scale* *industry in Mumbai, cannot * *take on the gargantuan corrupt Govt. machinery. **If RTI is the baton to * *beat the corrupt, then we need to have people like Hercules to clean* *the **Augean's stable, and not pliable pundits of RTI, some of whom have * *turned themselves into **Govt. babus by taking up 800 and 1000 * *applications as if to create some kind of record.* * * *Justice Retd. B.N.Srikrishna (of Srikrishna Commission in Mumbai * *Riots fame) and the known **devotee of Satya Sai Baba of Putthaparthy,* *came very late (due to traffic jam) and coughing through (he was * *suffering from bronchitis, he said) gave a "scintillating" speech* *justifying **the delays in the courts !!! And mind you his topic was * *Judicial Reforms !!! People laughed, but **no one agreed with him.* ** *Bhagwanji Raiyani moderated the evening's proceedings in English * *and Hindi so that the Gujjus of Juhu could understand what was * *going on. The meeting started **one hour late (Indian stretchable time) * *and because of long speeches, hardly 15 minutes were given for * *Q and A session, out of which Suresh Joshi took 10 minutes mumbling * *something, which even he did not understand and 3 minutes were * *taken by Srikrishna and Shailesh answered only my one question * *that he will not use suo motu powers as he was not sure. **Raiyani, * *who founded Janhit Manch and claims to have taken something like * *80 PILs, is a civil engineer **and builder residing in Juhu. It is he who * *had organised the felicitation function, with the free conference room * *from Anand Hotel **owner and sponsorship of **dinner from Adv. B.S.Vasa. * ** *Adv. Vasa, quoting his mother, summed up: "You should not go to * *a hospital if you are ill and to courts if you have problems". * *Judicial system has deteriorated beyond repairs was his refrain. * ** *Media was conspicuous by its absence at such an important function. * *Reasons could be, dinner was vegetarian and there were no cocktails. * [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
