To
The Hon’ble
Commisioner;
Odisha Information Commission;
Toshali
Plaza,Bhubaneswar; Odisha.
(Sub- Entreaty to Direct The First Appellate Authority to Execute the
Order)
Sir,
Submissively, I bow before the erudite personality you bear and very earnestly make an emotional
request to cast off my private suffering.
That, the Hon’ble Commission
clearly knows that in most of the cases, the PIO’s are subordinate
employees of their organisations and the
First Appellate Authorities happen to be the heads of the same. Apart from the
cases, where the PIO’s without any obstruction yield up the official
information to the Appellants, there are a lot of hindrances in the
other—especially the compulsions are
created by the head of the organisations
to debar them from disclosing the facts.
This impedes the legal process and the PIO’s get punished and the real culprits
remain in the shadow.
Esteemed Sir! I do not know
what jurisprudence says but feel a prick of the conscience to say; where the
“Appeal for Information” leads to be an “imbroglio” the First Appellate
Authority and head happens to be one
person and a party to the complain/Appeal/Second Appeal[i];
he should either be punished or directly directed to execute the “decision” of
the OIC. As in my case; as the PIO (viz. SA 164 /2013) I oblige the principal
and executing his verbal order I suffer
and thrusting the onus on my shoulder he escapes.
Sir; the Appelant; Mr.
Pratap Kumar Jena; At- Rekutia P.O- Kochianandi Via- Kushaleswar Dist- Keonjhar
applied for some information on
03-10-2012 and even though Mr Sudhakar Jena ; Lect. in Math.
was the PIO then and was too trained
for the same by the government of Odisha; I do not know why the day before the
penultimate day of giving him the information the Principal appointed me as the
PIO on 01-11-2012--the 30 days time period allotted by the RTI to supply the
required information was to expire on 3-11-2012-- and handed over his RTI application on the
next day to supply him the same as per his dictation. Mr Sudhkar Jena was still
there continuing as a lecturer. However, I didn’t find sufficient time to go
through everything and maintain all paraphernalia. As a subordinate staff I
found no other way but obliged him.
However, the appellant went
to the Hon’ble OIC and your generous self has given the decision as laid down
in the Letter No 380 dt 06-01-2014 of the Asst Law officer with reference to
the SA164/2013.
Feeling all such extraneous
compulsions and the fear of retarding the legal process; I resigned as PIO on 12-01-2014 and just after getting
Commissioner’s decision from the Postman I handed over the same to the
Principal on 16 -11-2014. On 25-01-2014, I again warned the esteemed
principal through an Email to take necessary steps for its execution. He
verbally assured me to cooperate properly and to accept the resignation just
after the completion of the process.
Accordingly letters were
despatched to different sections to keep the records ready for the exposure and
submission to the Appellant on 03-02-2014. The Appellant too was requested to
come to the office on the appointed day.
After reading the decision
of the Hon’ble Commission thoroughly, a select committee under the Chairmanship
of the Principal decided to allow him to inspect the document alone. My letter
to Mr Pratap Kumar Jena ( Letter No 50-RTI-2014) bears the language of the
committee.
However, at 12.25 PM on
03-02-2014 Mr Pratap Kumar Jena arrived in the College office with an Advocate
and wanted to inspect the documents jointly. I did seek for the permission of
the First Appellate Authority and Principal verbally and he instantly allowed
me to allow them. They were allowed then.
The process of inspection was running
smoothly but after 20 minutes; the Hon’ble
Principal ordered me not to allow the advocate but to the allow the
Appellant only. I politely obliged the Hon’ble Principal but with feeble
grumbling against his inconsistency. However I requested him to give it in
writing and he did it too. The development later has been conveyed to you in
the Letter No 70-RTI-2014 dt 03-02-2014 through Email followed by speed post.
I cannot stand with all these
extraneous pressure and the traumatic pain caused in the circumstance. Hope
your generous self would accede to the Second Para of this application and
oblige.
Yours faithfully
Golaka behari Acharya
Lecturer in English;
KA Mahavidyalay;
Rekutia, Kochianandi,
Keonjhar,Odisha
