Bhubaneswar: The state government, which always makes tall claims of transparency in governance, is reluctant to provide information sought under Right to Information (RTI) Act on Discretionary Quota (DQ) issue.
It seems that the ‘3T or 5T mantra’ of this government has remained as a slogan only. The General Administration (GA) department, which is headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has denied information sought through an RTI plea filed to know the details about the actions taken against the persons, who have taken lands, plots and flats under DQ.
The GA department refused to provide information citing a circular (dated 16.09.2011) of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) of the Union government. The DoPT circular says the Public Information Officer (PIO) is not supposed to provide information, which is not available with the concerned office.
Based on the recommendations of a task force led by the then additional chief secretary Taradatt, the state Cabinet in December 2014 had decided to cancel all allotments under the quota since January 1, 1995, reviewing it on a case-to-case basis.
Meanwhile, more than four and half years have been passed but the government has kept mum over the action taken on the recommendations of the task force, maybe there is apprehension that many senior officers, ministers and politicians would be exposed.
In July last year, the then GA secretary AKK Meena had shot off a letter to vice-chairpersons of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), Cuttack Development Authority (CDA) and OSHB seeking information about the action taken on the recommendations of the task force.
From this, it appears that the state government is not willing to provide any information about the DQ issue.
Earlier, the state government has issued a notification putting the Vigilance department out of the purview of RTI depriving the citizens of their rights to know about corruption cases filed against government officials and action taken thereafter.
Biswa Bhusan Mohapatra, OP
