The Odisha Information Commission (OIC), the apex transparency body in the State constituted under Right to Information Act, has been functioning with only one Information Commissioner who would also demit office on May 7, thereby exposing the tall claim of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik about running a transparent Government.
As a matter of fact, as of today the Commission seems to have been almost dysfunctional. Hearing of the cases has been almost stopped as the sole Commissioner Pramod Mohanty has stopped hearing and is reportedly busy in preparing his retirement related paper works. The OIC has been headless since February following the resignation of Chief Information Commissioner Tarun Kanti Mishra. The transparency body is now working with only one information Commissioner, even though the sanctioned strength is three.
It is pertinent to be mention here that, as per the RTI Act there should be 11 information Commissioners, including the Chief Information Commissioner in the State. However, the State Government has sanctioned only three Information Commissioners’ post, including the chief one. After Tarun Kanti Mishra resigned the State Government on February 13 released advertisement inviting applications for the post of Information Commissioners within 15 days.
“Though the deadline has been elapsed, the Government is yet to start the process of selection of Information Commissioners,” said RTI activist Pradip Pradhan, who also heads Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan, a rights activists’ body, in the State. He stated that State Government has not put in place a transparent procedure for selection of the Commissioners.
“On a RTI query submitted to I and PR department, the State nodal agency for RTI as to whether any transparent procedure has been devised by the State Government in appointing persons for such crucial posts, the PIO has not responded to it as yet, though the statutory time limit for his reply is already over,” rued the RTI activist.
Rights activists in the State have maintained that all the Information Commissioners appointed so far have been rehabilitated politically. Under such circumstances, the Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan along with other civil society and social action groups have threatened to stage a demonstration in fornt of teh Raj Bhavan on April 30 to urge the Governor to intervene in the matter facilitating smooth functioning of the Odisha Information Commission.