Very correct reply on this board. Bhaskar
On 3/16/09, Vidya Vaidya <[email protected]> wrote: > > dear friends, > we have all been reading for many days now, various versions of how > shailesh > gandhi the cic in delhi has failed us on many counts. > some are upset that he is using his government salary to hire private staff > to help him clear the appeals coming to his table, calling this action > illegal. > others are upset, that he does not let the third party citizens allowed by > him to attend his hearings, to intervene while the proceedings are going > on; > these citizens are complete strangers to the appellants and as such, are > not > part of the appellant's group. > yet others are livid that he is not penalizing the pios and the first > appellate authorities. > some are concerned that he is unionizing the official contract workers. > between us, we need to clarify some misunderstandings and focus on the real > and crucial issues of dispensing information. > > 1.cic shailesh gandhi has repeatedly requested the govt for more staff for > his office, to no avail. > the very forces fighting the dead bureaucracy, now think it would be more > appropriate for him to follow the old and redundant bureaucratic method of > pushing files from one table to another, for an urgent matter like more > staff to clear the pendency? especially, given, that he knows that the > government has no intentions of complying? left to his allotted staff, he > would be sitting and twiddling his thumbs. > should he have done precisely that, as that is what is officially > permitted, instead of working from 9 am in the morning to late in the > evening with the help of his extra staff? > > oh yes, shall we ask him if this extra work is permitted under the present > rules and regulations, how much is he taking as overtime, what about the > chai pani for his staff at such times, who is paying for this, what about > the extra electricity bills? endless possibilities for new and newer > kafkaesque scenarios are just waiting to be explored here. what say?do you > not think the rti forum will be well utilized for this. no doubt, we will > all be tremendously entertained for a long time if we do. > > 2. hearings, held at any forum, may it then be the court of law, or in > front > of an rti official, have to follow a certain order for the proceedings to > be > carried out,smoothly. interrupting or intervening during this procedure can > not be allowed as it would break the thought processes and eventually lead > to chaos. cic shailesh gandhi may have permitted citizens as observers to > his hearings, this does not automatically lead to any right to interfere in > his proceedings. > > 3. as cic shailesh gandhi explained in his talk on 8th march, he felt that > to begin his work in a completely hostile environment, with penalties, > would > defeat the purpose he had gone to delhi for. his thinking was that if the > officers were to be converted to providing information, instead of blocking > it, it would be necessary to nurture them for a certain length of time/ > period. he has done so, with levying a minimum of penalties and has got > excellent results. he has also, subsequently announced, that the so called > amnesty period is now over. in the 2009 cases the authorities will be > penalised as required. > are we more interested in a sea change in the mindset of our bureaucracy, > ensuring that the wonderful rti act is followed in word and spirit, as > well, > or in checking how many officers the cic has beaten with the penal stick? > besides, why do we decide that a citizen activist should function, only > thus > so and no other way. a hard core bureaucrat yes, we know that 99.99% will > follow a fixed path. > to feel betrayed, like a little child denied a lollipop, if a thinking > adult follows a different path then the one proscribed by the child; > displays shades of hitler do you not think? > > 4. cic shailesh gandhi found out that the official contractors were not > paying their workers as promised and so stood up for these workers' rights. > these are frightened kids just out of college. should he have kept quiet > you > think, letting the cycle of corruption to continue? > really, tremendous potential here for more kafkaesque conversations over > the > internet, regarding this. > cic (sg) has insisted that he must have computer literate staff, and most > of > even the top officials are not so. wrong of him to ask for this? > filling systematically is non existent in the government offices. he is > trying to bring some order in his, should we allow him to do that or insist > that he function in the *official* manner? > > i feel, perhaps, some will disagree, that we are in danger of completely > forgetting the ideals that drove shailesh to accepting the post of the cic > in delhi. > we too, urged him to do so, as we felt that he would be able to bring in > real change in the babus, in delhi. > what is important, is the sense, that information has to be transparently > available to all of us. this is an attitude lacking in most of our > officers, > but, they are not a set of evil minders and to treat them so, would defeat > the purpose of oiling the rusted machinery and making it work for us. > why insist that there is only one set way to achieve this? > > regards, > vidya vaidya > > > ,___ > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
