Dear RTI Applicants and Appellants,
If the people of Maharashtra are forced to put up with a hearing-impaired Chief Information Commissioner, then the Chief Minister, Governor and others should always be flown around in a helicopter by a visually-impaired pilot. Phir hisaab barabar hoga!
Fellow citizens, let us have Dr Joshi removed from his post. We can do so by raising our voices in sufficient numbers.
DOWNLOAD WORD FILE OF LETTER: http://www.box.net/shared/2avmaqtte3
SEE PAGE 2 OF THE WORD FILE FOR POSTAL ADDRESSES
Section 17(3) of RTI says: …Governor may by order remove from office the State Chief Information Commissioner or a State Information Commissioner if he is, in the opinion of the Governor, unfit to continue in office by reason of infirmity of mind or body -- Section 17(3)(d).”
Dr Joshi is clearly infirm of body, and his infirmity is clearly damaging the RTI Act in Maharashtra, and affecting thousands of RTI applicants and appellants. His deafness is shielding corruption.
India is called a soft state and an easy target for terrorists because We the People are moral cowards. Even if the driver of our children’s school-bus is known to be a rash driver, or the conductor is a child-abuser, we do not raise our voices for their dismissal… until something dreadful happens to our children. Then we beat our breasts and lament what a terrible country we are living in.
We are “nice” people. We don’t want to be the “bad guys” who cause other people to lose their jobs. We are like the three monkeys with hands on eyes, ears and mouth.
Please stop. Please change.
Chief SIC Dr Suresh Joshi is smilingly carrying out the mission for which he was hired – to suffocate the RTI Act in its infancy. He does it with all the charm and good manners of a village priest who lovingly drowns a newborn girl in milk, This deaf and sweet-talking ex-bureaucrat, who cannot even conduct a decent hearing, is in overall charge of implementing the RTI Act in the proud State of Maharashtra. He has been deliberately appointed because he loyally shields his masters in Mantralaya, and because his physical handicap evokes compassion and frustrates attempts at dialogue. With skilful evasion and diversionary tactics, he keeps up the appearance of being able to converse like a normal human being .
For the past 6 months, our group has been closely observing Dr Joshi’s hearings, studying his orders and trying to engaging him in meaningful dialogue every ten days or so.
The sum-total of our observations is:
1) Dr Joshi often conducts hearings and meetings with activists without even putting on his hearing-aids.
2) He makes appellants endlessly justify themselves – repeatedly violating Section 6(2).
3) He rarely makes PIOs and public authorities speak in their own defense, and never makes them justify denial of information in writing – regularly violating sections 19(5) and 20(1) last para, which clearly state that the onus must be on the PIO to show that he acted reasonably.
4) He routinely accepts PIOs’ lame excuses that are inadmissible under the RTI Act -- such as “files lost” -- without demanding supportive evidence such as copy of FIR filed, departmental correspondence etc.
5) He conducts hearings as if they are arbitration proceedings. The PIO is never on trial to show that he acted diligently as per the RTI Act.
6) There is no mechanism for recording what transpires at these hearings. He never takes notes that will assist him in passing reasoned orders.
7) He passes loose and ineffective orders with no reasoning and no reference to RTI Act, and often contradictory to what has transpired during the hearings. He vaguely recounts the case history, and then concludes by saying, “This order is hereby disposed off.”
8) Whenever Dr Joshi passes orders in favour of appellants, both he and the PIOs know perfectly well that the order is meant to be ignored. If the PIO is instructed to “give information within 10 days etc,” the instruction is never carried out, and the PIO is never penalized either.
9) He has imparted many of his skills to other SICs such as Ramanand Tiwari, whose hearings we have also observed, and whose orders we have studied. What is described above is the Standard Operating Procedure at Maharashtra SIC, propagated by Dr Joshi. So he is not just a disease, he is a contagious disease!
Whenever he has promised some improvements, his promises have turned out to be empty words. We have been soldiering on month after month, hoping to bring about a change, but we have come to the belated conclusion that there is no hope at all. As long as Dr Joshi is in charge, nothing will change.
Please download and send this letter to Chief Minister, Governor and others in large numbers: http://www.box.net/shared/2avmaqtte3
We will rest only after Dr Suresh Joshi has been unseated!
JAI MAHARASHTRA! JAI HIND!
Warm Regards,
Krish
98215 88114
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