Gujarat govt cites lack of staff, photocopy machines, stationary to refuse RTI information

Why do different Gujarat government departments refuse to part information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005? If the information available with Counterview is any indication, the latest ploy of the state officialdom is “lack of staff” and other “administrative difficulties”, including lack of stationary and photocopy machines! This has become clear in replies to recent applications filed under RTI, where the officialdom has doggedly refused to give any legal explanation for refusing information, and instead pointed towards what great difficulties they have been facing while parting any information.

In one of the replies to RTI applications, filed by one Bhavisha Himanshu Oza of Ahmedabad in February 2013 in order to get copies of the answer sheets of the higher secondary examination, a senior government official said, it is “administratively not viable to provide the information sought by the applicant.” The reply, which ran into three long pages, added, there are around “one crore answer sheets” for 9.26 lakh examinees of the 10th standard, 4.35 lakh examinees of general stream of the 12th standard, and 1.14 lakh examinees of the science stream, again, of the 12th standard.
Wondering why did Oza not apply for reassessment of the answers sheets, as provided by the Gujarat Higher Secondary Examination Board (GHSEB), the official said, the “difficulties” in providing information included kicking off the procedure to get the unique identity number of the applicant, followed by searching the answer sheet from the jute sacks in which they were kept, and finally removal of the khaki sticker in order to find out the seat number of the examinee. Suggesting that with the current staff position all this is not possible, the official says, “For all this, it would be necessary to set up a special cell, where trusted officials would have to be posted…”
Finally, the official points towards the real reason: “Currently, the GHSEB is working with just 10 per cent of the required staff for examination-related works. Clearly, there is a severe shortage of staff. Officials and other staffers have to work overtime, even on Saturday and Sunday, apart from holidays, for late hours. It is with great difficulty that schedule for examination is maintained with this skeleton staff.” It added, “Even the procedure to follow reassessment sought within two weeks of the result, provided by the GHSEB, is an extremely difficult exercise”, giving a detailed data of the number of students who requested for reassessment for 10th and 12th standards.
Significantly, the official under the state education department provided this reply despite a Supreme Court ruling, which had said in August 2011 that the students aggrieved with their examination scores — class X and XII, entrance examination for professional courses as well as job recruitment tests — should be allowed to see how answer sheets were evaluated by their examiners by filing RTI applications. Till the order, only re-tabulation of marks was possible.
The order was issued by a bench of Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik, dismissing a bunch of appeals filed by the Central Board of Secondary Education, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), University of Calcutta, West Bengal Central School Services Commission and Assam Public Services Commission.
This is not the only application in which the Gujarat government has refused to give information under RTI citing staff shortage and administrative difficulties. Another case relates to an application filed by senior activist, belonging to the Navsarjan Trust, Kirit Rathod, who had sought information regarding how many special public prosecutors were appointed, which are obligatory to fight cases under Dalit and tribal atrocities in the court of law. Filed before the law department, the state government provided following reasons for not providing information:

There is lack of photocopy operator and stationary with the state law department
Two deputy secretaries’ posts are vacant
Files for appointing special public prosecutors are pending

Rathod said, in a statement, that despite the fact that the state information commission had directed the state law department to provide information regarding appointment of special public prosecutors, the department’s officials have refused to oblige, saying they do not have any “necessary directions” regarding this from the general administration department (GAD), which is supposed to look at all the personnel issues.

Comments

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor.

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Adani Group a key player in Indo-Israel defence cooperation: Tel Aviv daily

Said to be one of the most influential Israeli dailies, "Haaretz" (literally: News of the Land) has identified the Adani Group—known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi—as one of the key Indian business houses engaged in defence cooperation with Israel. Pointing out that India supplied the Israeli military with Hermes 900 drones, the daily reported that this advanced aerial vehicle came off “the production line in a factory set up in Hyderabad, as part of the cooperation between the Israeli Elbit and India's Adani Group.”

Environmental concern? Global NGO leads campaign urging banks to cut ties with Odisha steel project

A decade after the withdrawal of the South Korean multinational POSCO from Odisha following large-scale protests, questions remain about whether India-based JSW Steel, which took over the project, can successfully revive the 13.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) steel plant and coal-fired power plant. POSCO initiated the project in 2005 but exited in 2017 due to sustained local opposition.

Beyond Indus water treaty suspension: A 'nationalist' push despite harsh climate realities

The suspension of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) appears to have pushed the middle classes, at least in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, Gujarat, further towards what the powers-that-be would consider—a "positive" direction. As usual, during my morning walk, I tried talking with a neighbour about what impact it would have. Ignoring what is widely considered a "security lapse," this person, who had just returned after buying milk, compared the Modi move with Trump.

Despite Hindutva hold claim, 18% Hindus in US don't want to be identified with Hinduism!

Scanning through news items on the Google News app on my mobile — which is what I do almost every morning — I came across a story published on India.com, which I found somewhat misleading. The headline said, "Muslim population drops significantly in THIS country as over 25% Muslims leave Islam due to…, the country is…"

Search This Blog