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

By A Representative
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

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

The illusion of nuclear abundance: Why NTPC’s expansion demands public scrutiny

By Shankar Sharma* The recent news that NTPC is scouting 30 potential sites across India for a massive nuclear power expansion should be a wake-up call for every citizen. While the state-owned utility frames this as a bold stride toward a 100,000 MW nuclear capacity by 2047, a cold look at India’s nuclear saga over the last few decades suggests this ambition may be more illusory than achievable. More importantly, it carries implications that could fundamentally alter the safety, environment, and economic health of our communities.

The war on junk food: Why India must adopt global warning labels

By Jag Jivan The global health landscape is witnessing a decisive shift toward aggressive regulation of the food industry, a movement highlighted by two significant policy developments shared by Dr. Arun Gupta of the Nutrition Advocacy for Public Interest (NAPi).

Search This Blog