BHUBANESWAR | Dec 28, 2016: The Odisha Information Commission (OIC) has directed the state government to disclose information to an RTI applicant on the action taken following recommendations of the M B Shah Commission of inquiry into the mining scam.
The public information officer (PIO) of the directorate of mines had in July 2014 rejected the RTI application of Biswajit Mohanty, a member of Transparency International India, on pretext that the matter is sub-judice (The Supreme Court is hearing the case).
Mohanty moved the First Appellate Authority the same month, which directed the PIO to provide him the asked information. However, the PIO did not comply. Mohanty moved the commission in September 2014. State information commissioner Laxmi Narayan Pattnaik on December 8 observed that the PIO is duty bound to implement the order of the First Appellate Authority, the written order of the copy which was available on Tuesday stated. Non-compliance of the orders of the First Appellate Authority by the PIO can be considered dereliction in duty inviting penalty, the commission observed and cautioned the PIO not to repeat such an act in the future. The commission asked the PIO to supply the information.
The government had received the Shah commission report in August 2013. In their action taken reports submitted to the Centre on the Shah panel report, between December 2013 and January 2014, various states, including Odisha, had mentioned about certain actions already taken and their intention to take some other actions. "My application was to know whether Odisha took the actions it promised to the Centre," Mohanty said.
Mohanty had sought answers for 10 questions in his application. They include names and rank of officers who took decisions on the action taken report/follow up, dates of meetings conducted with other government departments to prepare action taken report, photocopy of file notesheet from file or files which deals with the ATR /follow up action for the above period, photocopy of orders and letters issued to the deputy director of mines of various circles regarding follow up action based on the findings of the report, names of lease holders who were issued show causes, among others.
The commission had pointed out four types of illegalities: Minerals beyond permitted limit were extracted, lease holders mined from outside the leased areas, mining was undertaken in riverbeds near human habitations without environmental clearance and the miners used trains and road transport to illegally ferry the minerals to offshore locations.
(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)