Bhubaneswar: State government officials have always been looking out for ways to avoid anti-corruption laws to save their necks. These unscrupulous officers either don’t give any response or desperately try to avoid it using various loopholes when commoners ask uncomfortable queries on corruption or human rights abuse.
The desperation to circumvent Right to Information (RTI) rules has let down the very spirit of the Act which had been an effective tool in the hands of commoners to fight injustice and corruption.
In one such case, officials of the state Vigilance department refused to provide information on corruption cases against senior police officers under the RTI Act.
Noted human rights activist Biswapriya Kanungo had sought to know the details about the allegations against incumbent superintendents of police (SPs) in various districts of the state from January 1, 2016 to March 31, 2019.
He had submitted an RTI application to the Home department seeking information on corruption charges against SPs July 11, 2019.
However, the anti-corruption wing of the police avoided providing detailed information on the pretext of the government’s notification No: 8081-RTI-74/2016 issued August 11, 2016.
As per the notification, Vigilance has been exempted from the purview of the RTI Act under Sub-section 4 of Section 24 of the same Act.
However, the officials failed to mention that the original RTI Act says under the same sub-section that information regarding allegations of corruption and human rights violations are excluded from the list of exemptions.
The Act says, “Provided that the information pertaining to allegations of corruption and human rights violations are not excluded under this sub-section.”
The Act clarifies that such information should be ‘provided after approval of the State Information Commission’.
The government had refused to give information on corruption charges against IPS and OPS officers of the police when an MLA sought the same at the just concluded Assembly session a few days back.
It had refused to give information on human rights and other issues through RTI applications earlier too.
