The Post Office will affix a Rs. 5/- stamp on the copy of the letter and then cancel it with a date stamp. You may seal the cover after this stamping is done. Venkat
_____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bhaskar Prabhu Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2009 7:39 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [rti_india] Amendment of the RTI Act- DoPT email addresses are difficult to access Will the Postal department afix his stamp on our letter, And do we have to take the cover open and then take the certficate on our letter.. Bhaskar Prabhu Mahiti Adhikar Manch Mumbai On 8/10/09, Venkatesh Nayak <venkat...@humanrigh <mailto:venkatesh%40humanrightsinitiative.org> tsinitiative.org> wrote: > > > > Dear friends, > Some of our RTI activists and defenders who have received our email alerts > through discussion groups have emailed the Minister for Personnel and the > Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training only to see their emails > bounce back. Some have conjectured that the email addresses might have been > disabled due to the flood of emails from RTI activists. While this may be a > plausible explanation for the bounce back it needs to be verified before > being accepted as the primary reason. Sometimes emails bounceback if the > mail box is full and has not been cleaned up by the addressee. Some > activists in the RTI fraternity might like to file RTI applications to find > out if the Email Management Guidelines issued by the Department of > Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances are being followed by the > DoPT. > > However the threat of amendment to the RTI Act has not gone away with the > ending of Parliament's budget session. The Government may bring in > amendments during the next session of Parliament likely to be held in > November-December. We need to be vigilant and keep up the pressure. I have > copied below the draft communication that we had sent out in our last email > alert. If your emails are bouncing back, please copy the letter on to a > sheet of paper (A-4 size) and send it to the Minister and the Secretary by > post. Additionally you may send your email/letter to the Joint Secretary, > (AT&A) who is also in charge of RTI in the DoPT. Please ensure that you > send > your letters Under Postal Certificate (UPC). This will cost you Rs. 5/- for > the stamped envelope and another Rs. 5/- to get the PostMaster to stamp the > certificate. We urge you not to get the UPC certificate on a piece of paper > that merely mentions the address of the recipient. Please make sure that > you > get the UPC stamp on a photocopy of the letter that you send to the > Minister > and the Secretary. This will ensure that you have proof of posting of the > letter. > > Those of you who can afford to make STD calls, kindly call up the Ministry > at the numbers given below to express your views about the amendment > exercise. Please take particular care to speak politely with the > representative of the Ministry. Please avoid abusive langauge and refrain > from getting into a verbal duel with the person who picks up the phone. > Such > negative approach can only hurt our cause. I urge you to convey your views > in a mature manner. Do write to us about your experience of talking to the > representatives of the Ministry. > > In order to access our previous email alerts on the subject please click > on: > <http://www.humanrig <http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/programs/ai/rti/india/national.htm> htsinitiative.org/programs/ai/rti/india/national.htm> > http://www.humanrig <http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/programs/ai/rti/india/national.htmYou> htsinitiative.org/programs/ai/rti/india/national.htmYou > will find the links at the top of this web page. If you do not wish to > receive email alerts please send an email stating as such to this email > address. > > Thanks > Venkatesh Nayak > Programme Coordinator > Access to Information Programme > Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative > B-117, I Floor, Sarvodaya Enclave > New Delhi- 110 017 > tel: 91-11- 2686 4678/ 2685 0523 > fax: 91-11- 2686 4688 > website: www.humanrightsinitiative.org > alternate email: <mailto:nayak.venkatesh@ <mailto:nayak.venkatesh%40gmail.com> gmail.com<nayak.venkatesh%40gmail.com> > > > nayak.venkatesh@ <mailto:nayak.venkatesh%40gmail.com> gmail.com <nayak.venkatesh%40gmail.com> > > > "Dear sir, > > The press release issued by your Ministry through the Press Information > Bureau on 03 August, 2009 indicates that the Right to Information Act, 2005 > (RTI Act) will be amended in order to make it more effective. We welcome > your Ministry's initiative to improve implementation of the RTI Act. We > also > welcome the sanction of funds to build the capacity of Information > Commissions and to promote awareness about the Act amongst people. > > However we would like to point out that it is not necessary to amend the > RTI > Act in order to strengthen its implementation for the following reasons: > > 1) Review of the list of organisations in the Second Schedule: This > can be accomplished with a gazette notification (subsequently to be tabled > in Parliament). It does not require amendment of any provision of the RTI > Act. > > We urge you to bring your influence to bear on the State Governments > in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh and such other states to > remove > all organisations and categories of information that have been brought > under > the cover of section 24 wherever they do not fit the criteria provided in > that section. > > 2) Adding more topics to the list in section 4(1): The power to notify > more topics for proactive disclosure in public authorities already exists > in > sub-clause (xvii) of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 4. The list > of > topics may be added by making the necessary rules for which power is > available in subsection (1) of section 27. There is no need to amend the > RTI > Act for this purpose. > > 3) Constituting smaller benches of Information Commissions: This power > already exists in the Government of India and the State Governments by > virtue of section 12(7) and section 15(7) respectively. This can be > accomplished by suitably amending the Central Information Commission > (Appeal > Procedure) Rules 2005. There is no need to amend the RTI Act for this > purpose. > > We, the citizens of India who are the holders of the fundamental right to > information guaranteed by our Constitution, wish to be consulted on all > these and other issues related to the implementation of the RTI Act. We > urge > you to adopt public processes for collecting opinion regards any move to > make changes in the RTI Act or in the Rules framed under it. > > Thanking you, > > Yours sincerely, > > (Name and address of the sender) > > NO AMENDMENTS - LEAVE OUR RTI ACT ALONE." > > Send your letters to: > > 1) Mr. Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State, Personnel, Public > Grievances and Pensions, Government of India, South Block, New Delhi- 110 > 001. Tel: 011-23092475 > > 2) Mr. Rahul Sarin, Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training, > Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India, > South Block, New Delhi- 110 001. Tel: 011-23094848 / 23092056 > > 3) Dr. S K Sarkar, Joint Secretary, (AT&A), Department of Personnel and > Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government > of India, South Block ,New Delhi- 110 001. Tel: 011-23094010 > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
