Whispers Forum

The appellant sought the name, State, community, marks obtained by the candidates who were selected for the admission during 2018 in Hindi Teachers Training Programme – ‘Parangat’. Initially, the PIO and the FAA denied the information under section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act. However, with the change in the PIO, the new PIO provided certain information containing the list of candidates, with category and the name of the State from which they belong. The PIO further submitted that the marks obtained cannot be given but the candidate can visit the office and inspect the records relating to marks. The CIC observed that personal information of third parties is not disclosable. The CIC also observed that different stands cannot be taken by different officers of the same organization.
Comments
The case shows the ignorance of the PIO and the lack of ability to deal with the applications as per the provisions of the RTI Act. Through this column, an attempt is made to provide fresh information about RTI cases on a weekly basis.
Citation: Dhirendra Kumar Panda v. Central Institute of Hindi in File no.: CIC/MOHRD/A/2019/103985, Date of Decision : 06/10/2020
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is an expert on RTI matters and has co-authored the books RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Apart from her weekly article here, her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: www.rtifoundationofindia.com

DEBATE (1)
Acceptability of Kamal Nath is more than others because he is a known face. Had Digvijay Singh shaped himself properly he would have been the favourite.
L S Hardenia
DEBATE (2)
Kamal Nath who is close to the Gandhi family has CEO type working.He can definetly deliver results.
Dipika Agrawal
Wasteful initiatives of government
Axiomatic and assiduous initiatives of government of India to Go lean and closing many unviable units, now working as boondoggle. The institutions are created after Shorn of rhetoric and appreciating the need for the same , however with the passage of time the utility and the purpose for which the institution is created becomes less productive ,vestigial and obsolete while duplicating the job . upholding the philosophy ,the government under the tutelage of our worthy Prime Minister has done away many archaic rules and observations to make the board of contemporary governance as clean and lean as possible Thers are hundreds of training institutions including this national textile corporation NTC,which have become redundant but the only factor had been ,who will bell the cat strangely these white elephants have been in operation no matter there is no contribution to the government but the decorated staff enjoys full salaries and social recognization as the government employees are taken as highly esteemed in all strides there should be a social and concurrent audit of these many institutions so as to assess their contribution to nation is whether perceptible or like boondoggle . These audits should be conducted by the people of eminence and be made public for a better understanding of public at large If found only intonation and Warbling of inertia or vestigial attempt should be made to close them to save the avoidable salaries for some better productive contribution elsewhere . Regards .
Mahendra Kumar Goel
Gender finds matching in some ways
We very often hear about ‘councillor husband’, 'sarpanch husband’, 'panch husband', MLA husband' and even 'minister husband', when the husbands of the lady dignitaries represent them or work as their proxies. But the ladies also cull out their status from their husbands' official positions, in some ways
One fine morning, a lady teacher came to the school with a box of motichoor ladoos. Her husband had been selected in the provincial civil services, with a very high merit. More than distribution of the sweets, she was on the spree to influence the Principal .Principal very smilingly congratulated her .While sharing ladoos with her colleagues ,she repeatedly said, ''Now i will see him-this Hitler of a man'', referring to the stern Principal. It took about a year for husband to join the new service, but Principal remained entwined to his duty and discipline, not allowing anyone any undue liberty.. She got herself transferred to the station and school of her choice, when her husband got first appointment as executive magistrate. She resumed her old ways of getting salary without doing any work.
In those days, it used to take five to eight years for a pcs officer to become sub divisional magistrate. We used to meet very often.. However, it may be a sheer coincidence that he got appointment as SDM very early. During that period ,she had met my wife and said, ''Tusi vi apne husband nu kaho ke oh vi kite SDM lagg jaan, tusi apne aap sub division di 'first lady' bann jaoge.'' My wife one day asked me, ''Eh first lady bann ke ki hunda a? ''Then she told me the context of this query. I told her,'' I know nothing of it except that we refer to wife of the President of the Republic and that of Governor of a state as first lady''. Later on we came to know that as president of the ladies' club of the sub division, she would be amused when she was addressed as 'first lady' of the sub division. So she became first lady of the district in her own way, when her husband was put as deputy commissioner, after about two decades of service.
Once, at a divisional head-quarter district was posted a young commissioner, whose wife was very conscious of her status. She was president of the Officers' wives club and on her first visit to the club, even ten men officers were also kept standing around. The cultured and dignified secretary of the club was the wife of a senior PCS officer, posted as settlement commissioner. In the welcome address to the divisional commissioner's wife, the lady secretary, addressed her by her name, without using prefixes and suffixes of proverbial bureaucratic sycophancy. She felt offended and twisted her facial muscles to look furious. The ladies in the sycophancy semi- circle were alarmed. When the snacks were being served ,the secretary was called by the ladies in this semi- circle .In a very angry voice, the lady president confronted the secretary, ''Don't you know I am the wife of the youngest commissioner of India and the first lady of the Division? What do you think of yourself, you have not properly addressed me! ''The graceful secretary was taken aback, but spontaneously retorted, ''What is it mam if you are commissioner's wife, i have done no wrong, I am also settlement commissioner's wife''.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu
Appoint direct recruit as Railway Chairman
Please appoint direct recruit for the post Railway Chairman, CEO, from the Indian engineering services, group-a central service.
A Harish Kumar
Yadav be continued as RB Chairman
Vinod Kumar Yadav may be continued as Railway Board Chairman.
Mastan Vali

DEBATE (1)
Kamal Nath is my choice.A visionary Nath has been central minister and Chief Minister .Being Industrialist there are less chances of his resorting to dishonesty.
Satish Agrawal
Former DGP
DEBATE (2)
Shashi Tharoor I think can counter the BJP in a big way.
T C Rao
Modi shouldn’t relent into the farmers demand
If Modi relents into the farmers demand, then the other parties will also get an opportunity to come down the street and agitate. Like there will be a fresh Shaheen Bagh demanding taking back laws relating to CAA/CAB and Teen Talak. Farmer's agitation should be dealt with an strong hammer. The agitating farmers are being instigated by the middlemen of agriculture trade (who rarely pay tax) and the Lazy/Rich farmers of Punjab, who don'ts slog and leave their land for tilling to poor migrants of Uttar Pradesh & Bihar. The latter do not want the farmers of the UP and Bihar to grow & Prosper and provide employment opportunities.
Anurag Srivastava
CEO Railway Board doesn't deserves extension
He doesn't deserve extension. There are much more competent people who can do a much better job. He will only damage railway.
Manish
RRB CEO should not get extension
He should not get extension, other officer in line should be given chance
Avinash Kr Singh
CEO Railway Board
Good Work with happiness smiles on face every time. Cool person with Good response.
B Rajkumar

DEBATE(1)
Kamal Nath is one of the balanced and experienced leader in the Congress Party.He has seen all the dramas in the party from the close quarters.He can in my view steer the ship in this wild weather.
D P Devgan
(DEBATE) (2)
Kapil Sibal can be a strong leader at this juncture.
T K Naidu
Nothing new except selection panel
Always for the post of ADRMs, DRMs and GMs in Indian Railways, officers who had been rated outstanding for the previous 6 years continuously were being appointed . So there is nothing new in this report except that a selection panel will interview the eligible officers. Selection panels have their own advantages and disadvantages, I do not wish to elaborate further on this point as it is an universal truth how the panels function in the majority of the cases. The existing system is definitely worthwhile continuing.
K Srinivasa Rao
Modi-Govt to relent on Bill ?
It doubts whether the Modi-led Government will relent on the Bill. If it accepts the farmers’ demands, it will give an impression that the Modi govt has surrendered.
Sunil Kumar
Additional charge to Home Secretary was a boon
This is with reference to an article by Aarti Khosla on additional charge to other secretaries, she may be right in general but in the case of Home Secretary she is required to update herself. Yes you have right to have your opinion on issues but the facts are this additional charge to him has bestowed a new lease of life to the employees of CSS & CSSS. Unlike organised services, employees in CSS & CSSS were not getting their promotions for the last many years due to SC/ST promotion issues stuck in Supreme Court despite clear directions, respective so called regular secretaries could not do anything on the issue. Do you think for any organised service this would have been the fate, if their promotions are delayed for a day, they come in for meeting, their batch is promoted, their insitu is done for the whole batch, their NSFG is done on time, you will never ever understand the pain of these two services, they are not getting timely promotions/NFSG etc. for years and are retiring without getting their due. This is what your regular incumbents did to these services. Dear Madam, the person/system on whom you are casting aspersions have gone extra length to discharge his duty despite his being busy in enormous MHA issues and sorted out this prolonged problems of the down trodden sections of the employees who were being denied all their dues for years and ultimately retire without getting any relief. You ask any CSS/CSSS officers what he has done for them in his additional charge and despite his busy schedules he entertained personnel of both services and tried to redress their genuine grievances. Had regular incumbents done their duty honestly with a heart this so called additional charge Secretary Personnel need not have burned the midnight oil to heal these services. This man has a golden heart, very soft spoken, an urge to go extra length for the needy, a bureaucrat from class apart, not a critique but a man who delivers, even on his birthday he was working till 11 PM just to help others. My heart goes out for him as I am yet to see a personality like him in four decades of my service.
Ravi
RRB CEO should continue
Yes. Present economy situation says RRB CEO should continue.
Bibhas

DEBATE (1)
Is it right to say that Your question of Acceptable face is slightly mischievous ? Acceptable to Congress itself or the Nation ?. Remember in 1991, when Congress was in disarray, choice of PM was between Sharad Pawar & S.D. Sharma, with P.V. Narasinha Rao not considered acceptable. But, Rao became PM, rewrote India History with his bold reforms. So, where cometh the time, cometh the man. Anyway, this will matter only if Modiji sticks to his decision of being PM for 10 years, as he said in 2014. And, if Modiji continues to canvas for a PM of his choice in 2024, I am not sure if any Acceptable face of Congress can make a difference, such is his mesmerizing image among India's electorate.
Narayanan
DEBATE(2)
Being close to Sonia Gandhi, Ashok Gehlot who is vocal against PM Modi can be a good choice to lead the party. He behaves like a commoner.
Dinesh Gupta
DEBATE(3)
Well educated Kamal Nath can only be the choice in the midst of hindu sentiments spread by the BJP. He is known as Hanuman Bhakta.
Ram Nivas Agrawal
Reforms For A 5 Trillion
Economy It was somewhat disconcerting to hear the Hon’ble CJI say that closure of courts due to COVID-19 has affected the lawyers’ earnings as some have been compelled to selling vegetables in Orissa! What has befallen the poor litigants? Cases pending for several years remained unheard for another gratuitous year! The loss of income of the lawyers was bemoaned but nobody has shed a tear for the dejected litigants! I was reminded of an IG Police saying in a seminar that his traffic policemen at least were able to earn some extra money but not those at the police-lines! The British knew the ingenuity of Indians in creating opportunities for upari kamai (extra income) and chose to keep the pay scales deplorably low (Rs.30 a month without pension or perhaps even lower than that) having heard the story about an educated guy making an earnest request to the Raja (eqv. king/Lord) to give him a job. The Raja declined saying he had no vacancy. But the candidate for the job was not to be disappointed. So, he said any job would do. The Raja asked him what job could he give without any vacancy? The candidate had done his preparation well and promptly said: give the job of counting the waves by the river so that I am busy from morning till evening. Perplexed, the Raja granted his wish. Happy at his success in securing a government job, he went straight to the riverbank and started counting waves. Whenever he spotted a boatman cutting the waves he objected as he was disturbed in his job of counting the waves and would not allow him to take his boat to the bank. The boatman was compelled to pay him fine. In due course the Raja came to know that the guy was earning more than his Deewaan/Prime Minister! Proud or ashamed to be a police constable? Let us impart respect to the police constable: instead of calling him/them policewale/policewali, the formal designation must be used. Is police service a matter of honour? Should one feel proud to serve society as a policeman like the soldier guarding our borders or hang his/her head in shame for indulging in acts of violence against the citizens like disrobing and beating a woman prisoner with leather belt? Should the policeman not win the trust and respect of the people by being friendly to them? Needless to repeat that it is perfectly lawful for even a police constable to defy unlawful orders of his/her superior. Because the job of a police constable has been reduced to be less than honourable by the Brown Sahibs of the democratic India, the country’s progress towards becoming a Superpower has been compromised greatly. The police have been deterred from doing its lawful duty to society by ordering them to guard the criminals jailed for more than 3 years! If the police work honestly, they will not implicate innocent people in criminal cases and put them in jail creating opportunities for making illegal money for the police department, politicians, lawyers, corrupt judges and irresponsible journalists denigrating democracy mocking the Rule of Law. If bail becomes the rule and jail the exception it will restore integrity of the constable automatically, reduce court cases drastically and eradicate corruption to a very great extent. Police honesty alone can eradicate more than 75% corruption from India. All other departments will be cautious before acting unlawful if they trust the police will spare no corrupt public servant. Decline in moral standards and integrity in police resulted in increase of all-round corruption in geometric proportions. People know how and why corrupt regimes have been resisting investigation by the CBI. Time to make law for CBI assigned powers without waiting for state government approval. Let us pay due attention to strengthening the cutting edge of administration by making the jobs honourable and satisfying. Government job is more prestige than money, like the noble profession of teaching. Can anybody imagine a prosperous and strong society without teachers? We, the people of India, solemnly say that corruption cannot be eradicated unless we clean the police and make them professional of the highest integrity. Police is like the immune system of the body which alone can keep infection away!
M L Gupta

DEBATE (1)
Amrinder Singh can lead the party. He is mass based popular leader, successful Chief Minister and an effective orator.
A Joshi
DEBATE(2)
Kamal Nath with his wide state and national level experiences can make a good choice. He is fluent in Hindi as well as in English. Most of the Congressmen know him.
Suresh Verma
CGHS reimbursement needs improvement
Govt. has taken number of steps to improve the working of CGHS and recent decision on reimbursement of OPD medicines till December 2020 was great to provide the help to beneficiaries during Covid-19 pandemic. But sorry to submit that reimbursement process is so chaotic and embarrassing that nearly 90% beneficiaries do not submit the application for reimbursement. It is such unorganised working that no one is responsible in whole chain for the delay being in Govt. Starting from the point of submission of reimbursement application in wellness centre at Delhi , to final approval, no one is accountable. It may take months together to get the application forwarded from wellness centre to respective zones for processing the case and afterwards zones take their own time to process the case after threadbare auditing it making sure that large amounts get deducted without assigning any reason..It is surprising that no officials or officers are accountable for such callousness working in Govt. department. Even CMO incharge of wellness centres are not aware of the exact procedure for reimbursement so he or she can guide the beneficiaries. Data may be collected at least for last two years drawing the complete pert chart to know the time taken by each desk from the point of submission of application to final reimbursement of the amount to beneficiary accounts. It looks that we are still working in stone age. It does not look that we are in digital age and any reimbursement should not take more than fifteen days to get the payment done. CGHS reimbursement needs lot of improvement in working. Additional Secretary in Ministry of Health incharge of CGHS can review the whole process and issue necessary instructions for smooth working to give relief to CGHS beneficiaries. Minister of H&FW is requested to please issue necessary directives on this issue for the relief to beneficiaries.specially pensioners otherwise the steps taken by the Govt. becomes meaningless if implementation is done done properly. Reimbursement of OPD medicines are lying since August 2020 for payment. To highlight the point CGHS website shows MRC status Delhi-East Zone: Status of settled MRC as November 2018.and pending also as November 2018. ??? Let us work in more scientific way to improve the working so it should look that we are in digital age--no more than fifteen days to reimburse the amount spent on medical treatment or purchase of medicines..
Naveen

DEBATE(1)
Only Amrinder Singh can lead the party He is well educated and super intelligent.India has seen one Sardar Manmohan Singh who did well .
Ankit Mishra
DEBATE(2)
One Congress leader who is well known in the entire country is Kamal Nath.Well educated and mass based Kamal Nath can steer the ship of the ailing Congress party.
Hansraj Vaidya
Additional charge becoming order of the day
It has become a common practice with this Government not to appoint officers in time in place of those retiring or transferred. The Chairman PESB is no exception. Secretaries retire. Additional charge is given to another Secretary without realising that a secretary holding charge of two demanding departments can not do justice to either .Scores of examples of such dysfunctional arrangements are there across all ministries. Secretary (personnel) retired some months ago. Home Secretary is holding his additional charge. On Railways a General Manager retires ,another from a different zonal Railway is given additional charge which continues for months together. I do not know whether the Government attaches no importance to such crucial vacancies or they think that there are super human beings who can carry on the work of many persons. Many ministers are in the same boat holding multiple portfolios. All this is not good governance.
Aarti Khosla
Only top-performers to get key posts in Railways ?
WIC 3.12.2020.Same procedure should be adopted for empanelment of non- technical IAS as JS AS and Secretary. Presently, entire batch of IAS is AUTOMATICALLY empanelled and posted to above posts, while their 10 years senior technical counterparts in other Group A services are neither empanelled nor appointed to these posts in GOI. Let the posts of JS, AS and Secretary be thrown open to all organised Group-A services (OGAS) and AIS (IPS IAS IFS) for competition. We have not seen non-ias as Secretaries of important ministries due to monopoly of British era style of bureaucracy where Indians were treated as slaves and suppressed.
Bharath

DEBATE(1)
I reckon that Priyanka Gandhi can outshine her brother Rahul Gandhi in politics. She should be allowed to lead the legacy of Congress. Priyanka can put herself in Indira Gandhi’s shoes easily. She's got a real knack for doing politics.
Sunil Kumar
DEBATE (2)
Kamal Nath has been creation of Gandhi’s. He stood with the family in all the difficult times. He can very well lead the party .
Anshuman
Creation of a dedicated area for Protests_ Central Vista Development
Government is redeveloping the Central Vista in New Delhi. In a Democratic Country like ours, protests, Demonstrations are genuine means for People to voice their concern/opinion on various issues. They would like to be heard either directly or through their representatives(MP).
For this purpose, I suggest Government should ear mark some space in the newly developed Central Vista e.g. near National Stadium, for such protests/demonstrations. It should be able to accommodate 1000 people. Apart from Toilets and drinking water facilities, it should provide communication equipment(s) so that the people there can interact with the Government officials/MP's. This will satisfy them. They should take prior permission for such demonstrations which should be given easily.
This space will be similar to Hyde Park in London.
S. Gopal

DEBATE (1)
Kamalnath is submissive .He can only be acceptable to the old as well as new Congress leaders. Though he is a senior Congres leader but he connects the young men well.
B Gupta
DEBATE (2)
Minus Gandhi family the Congress party will disintegrate.
N Srivastava
DEBATE (3)
Only Sharad Pawar can do well if his party is merged with the Congress.His life time ambition is only to become PM and for this he can unite many parties with the Congress.
T N Sinha
PESB out-of-job ; Will PM take the call ?
WIC news dt Dec 2,2020, about the non-functional PESB makes a disturbing reading. As its former Secretary in last millenium, I got curious to know the ground reality. PESB has not been functioning for the past three months ever since Rajiv Kumar left the chairmanship to join as Election Commissioner, a Constitutional position held till 65 years of age.
No interviews held since Sept 1,2020. Reasons? Awaiting an IAS officer to take over Board’s Chairpersonship. Non-IAS officers are considered below level, lacking in caliber vis-à-vis IAS officers. The existing two members of the Board are non-IAS. The unwritten age old convention has been that IAS officers consider it infra dig to serve under non-IAS. Dark and Open secret.
Some six dozen Board level vacancies are ready for interviews which cannot be held in absence of an IAS Chairperson. In the past, in such a situation, the senior-most member could take over as Ad hoc Chairperson. Not now!
One wonders whether PM Modi is even aware of the impasse besides the simmering discontentment among the public sector Executives. PM’s total reliance is on PMO bureaucracy that is all powerful and could manage anyone. Strong networking.
Will PM take the call as Cabinet Minister-in-charge of DOP&T?
A K Saxena ( A former civil servant)

DEBATE(1)
If all goes well , we should see a new leadership in the Congress ending pandemic year 2020. Congress Party may balance with senior leadership as President & young and dynamic leader as working president. The prominent contenders may be;
Rahul Gandhi / Priyanka Gandhi; Sushil Kumar Shinde ; Capt Arminder Singh ; Randeep Singh Surjewala ; Sachin Pilot and Mukul Wasnik.
Vivek D
DEBATE (2)
Digvijay Singh is the only leader who can revive the party.Reason is-his long experience in the Party organization and the Government.
M W Ansari
A very big den of corruption is the Registrar Offices all over the country. The files there do not move without greasing the palm of the officials/staffs. A lot of money is also being gulped by the officials/staff of City Development Authorities. The employees of these offices are saving their entire salary amounts and the day to day expenditure is being carried out through the ill gotten money. The clerk sitting at the desk taking 'thumb prints' also takes his share. A lot of lawyers and chartered accountant are thriving in the vicinity of these offices. A lot amount of money is being transacted in these forums, on which no tax is going to the exchequer. I don's why the present regime of Mr. Modi is giving a blind eye to such a corruption. There is a need to make the system of property transaction entirely Information Technology Based. Further, the service of property transaction should be delivered at the residence. AAP in Delhi wants it but every body is discouraging them.
Anurag Srivastava

DEBATE (1)
Political wisdom is with Kapil Sibal.He will however not been acceptable to the “Chamchas”.
G K Nadir
DEBATE(2)
A visionary Kamal Nath who is considered Gandhi family loyalist can be a unanimous choice.
Anjani Kumar
Broker defaults in Stock Markets
There have been number of Broker defaults in Stock Markets. Result is Shares of Clients have been sold and huge losses suffered by Individuals and no recourse to recover barring FIR for cheating. The Power of Attorney given to Brokers is often misused.
A Suggestion to curb this would be to abolish all depositories including Stock Holding Corporation And Have BSE and NSE only as Depositories.
This would enable faster Clearance mechanism and finish any Risk of defaults by Brokers running their own Depositories.
Banks having online trading and Depositories would similarly have to surrender their Depositories mandate.
Hope this suggestion is accepted by SEBI to:
A: Speed up clearance mechanism and enable T+1 to be implemented,
And,
B: Finish possibilities of any Broker defaults.
Ajay Agnihotri
Bureaucracy knows how to manipulate the system and Law
I fully agree with M L Gupta. Our bureaucracy particularly those dealing with public has become very smart and know how to manipulate the system and Law. They have no Morals and can go to any extent to save themselves.
S Gopal

The Appellant sought information in the context of a complaint letter dated 27.12.2017 received against him which was denied under Section 8(1)(j) & 8(1)(g) of the RTI Act claiming that these documents bear mention of names of other employees and disclosure of the same may endanger their physical safety as Appellant has threatened some of these employees in the past. The CIC observed that the documents sought pertain to Appellant’s termination from service and he has every right to seek copy of these documents. Adverting to the apprehension of the PIO that disclosure of the same may pose harm to the physical safety of some employees, the Commission sparingly concedes with the applicability of Section 8(1)(g) of RTI Act. The CIC directed the PIO to provide copy of specific and available documents sought after severing the names and identifying particulars of other employees/individuals whose reference figure therein. The severance of records will be carried out in consonance with the provision of Section 10 of RTI Act.
Comments
There have been cases where employees have been terminated or removed from service under 56 (J). This case laws provides some window for such employees to seek information.
Citation: Anupam Singh v. Ordnance Factory in File No: CIC/OFBKO/A/2018/154675, Date of Decision: 16/07/2020
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is an expert on RTI matters and has co-authored the books RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Apart from her weekly article here, her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: www.rtifoundationofindia.com