Bhubaneswar, August 22: Right to Information Act (RTIA) activists, beneficiaries & legal experts on Friday unitedly adjudged sheer inefficiency with the function of the Odisha RTI Commission in discharging its sole duties and judicious officiating.
In a state-level public hearing organized by the Odisha Right to Information forum at the Lohia Academy here in Bhubaneswar, guests pointed towards the gross inaction of the Odisha RTI Commission, citing its sappy decorum in dispensing justice to public, seeking information under the RTIA.
In the public hearing moderated by Pradip Pradhan, veteran journalist Rabi Das, Senior scribe Satyaprakash Nayak, Spokesperson, National RTI Campaign Forum Anjli Bharadwaj, ace RTI activist Sushree Amrita, Counsel Shibananda Ray, Azadhind Panigrahi and Sudhir Mohanty joined as guests who heared on diverse RTIA cases as Juries.
While studying different caserecords and the database of the Odisha RTI Commission, the jury indicated gross lapases in dealing with cases and dispensing justice to the applicants and appellants.
As on records, the Commission had disposed of at least 800 cases citing no legal reasons within a 3-month period,that faced vehement criticism by the judges.
While analyzing some pertinent cases, appeals, hearings and illogical proceedings as a sample survey, the jury found serious official glitches with the commission and received massive blacklash from the beneficiaries, that merely proved the Commission as an institution for rehabilitation & resettlement of some prominent superannuated officials and peer persons.However, the apex statutory body righteously constituted to safeguard the efficacy of the Right to Information Act (RTIA), to implement the people’s act across the state with heart & soul, is yet to be a crusade against prolonged official secrecy and a key to open up the closet of corrupt bureaucrats.
