Retd DG to be state’s second RTI commissioner
Shiv Sahay Singh Posted online: Thursday , Dec 03, 2009 at 0423 hrs
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/retd-dg-to-be-states-second-rti-commissioner/549389/0
Kolkata : After operating with a lone information commissioner for four years,
the state is scheduled to get its second information commissioner.
Sujit Sarkar, the former Director General of West Bengal Police, will be sworn
into the post on Thursday. Sarkar retired as the DG this June. He will be
assisting Arun Bhattacharya, the Chief Information Commissioner, a former
bureaucrat who is heading the state information commission since 2006.
The appointment has had the RTI activists up in arms in a state which is at the
bottom of the Right to Information (RTI) Act satisfaction table. They claim
this has been done on grounds of favouritism and not transparency.
Under the RTI Act, there are provisions for 10 information commissioners at the
state level, but West Bengal so far had only one. When search began for another
commissioner, activists from the RTI Manch urged the Governor to intervene and
make the election process more transparent by bringing it under the public
domain. But despite its attempts, the Governor, whose term expires this month,
has expressed his inability to take up the issue.
A letter from Governor’s Secretariat said: “With reference to your letter dated
12.11.09, I am directed by the Governor to say that he is thankful to your
request but he regrets his inability to accede to it owing to his lack of time
at present.”
The secretary West Bengal RTI Manch, Malay Bhattacharyya, said: “The state
information commission has become a parking lot for retired bureaucrats and
political loyalists. We fear such appointments would suppress information
rather than bring it out in the open.”
Bhhattacharya, who was been spearheading the RTI campaign in the state since
its inception, says the Manch is considering legal steps to challenge the
appointment.
RTI activists say that in a situation where RTI implementation is poor in West
Bengal, the appointment of former director general of police will be of no help
in improving information delivery and spreading awareness about the act.
“It is no surprise that in West Bengal, where there has not been much
enthusiasm about the Act, a former police head who have maintained secrecy all
his career and followed Official Secrets Act has been appointed state
information commisoner,” said Sabir Ahamed, a city-based RTI activist. Even the
Opposition did not participate in the process of choosing the state information
commissioner and they are also to be blame for such an appointment, Ahamed
said.
“I do not have much idea about the organisation and since I am yet to join, I
cannot comment,” Sujit Sarkar told The Indian Express. Regarding the criticism
that he is a former DG, he said people from all streams of society have been
entrusted with the responsibility and there is nothing wrong in the
appointment.
Bengal hard of RTI hearing
In other states, each information commissioner hears three cases a day. The
track record of West Bengal is three cases a month. So far, 13 penalties have
been imposed in West Bengal, which is the lowest in the country.
Since the implementation of Right To Information Act in 2005, 15,000 second
appeals have been made in the state, of which the chief State Information
Commissioner has held hearing for 163. According to a study conducted by one of
the initiators of the RTI Act 2005, Arvind Kejriwal, published in October, West
Bengal is at the bottom of the RTI satisfaction table, with six per cent people
saying they are satisfied with the reply they received using the Act. The
satisfaction rate was high in other states — and highest in Karnataka with 55
per cent.
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