Whispers Forum

The three pillars of the economy namely new investment, investor sentiment, and consumer sentiment are going from bad to worse day by day. It seems India is entering a worse stage than 1991 if consumer's purchasing power and depleting foreign exchange reserves are taken into account in true spirits. The dispensation must fix this problem through RBI and other agencies guidance before it is too late. One way is to give chance to those who are holding cash as black money into banks, no questions asked for 6 months or one year, this way money will be in circulation legally, unless GoI has better options.
Harish Kumar

The Appellant denied receipt of satisfactory information in compliance with the order of the SIC, J&K dated 18.07.2019 and stated that no opportunity of hearing was provided to him at the FAA stage. The Respondent remained absent during the hearing despite prior intimation and an unsigned written submission was received by CIC from the O/o the Collector Land Acquisition I&FC Department, Srinagar vide letter dated 13.06.2022 wherein it was stated that the information was already provided to the Appellant on 14.01.2019. The CIC noted that a note ostensibly expressing satisfaction has been received by the respondent from a representative of Dr. Fayaz Ahmad on 11.06.2022, the factual veracity of which was not established. The CIC observed that as per available record, the order of the SIC, J&K has not been complied with till date since the statement of the compensation paid to each farmer/ land owner whose land has been acquired by the department has not been provided. Furthermore, the written submission given by the Respondent is unsigned and does not mention the name of the officer signing it. Holding that due to the absence of the Respondent, the proceeding before it is vitiated, the CIC issued show cause notice to the Collector, Land Acquisition I&FC Department, Srinagar to show cause why penal action should not be taken against him for not providing complete information to the Appellant and for not complying with the order of the SIC, J&K.
Comments
Not following the orders of the Information can lead to imposition of penalty on the concerned public information officer.
Citation: Dr. Fayaz Ahmad Bhat v. O/o Collector Land Acquisition, Irrigation & Flood Control Dept., Rajbagh, Srinagar in Second Appeal No. CIC/UTOJK/A/2020/114941, Date of Decision: 17.06.2022
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

The Supreme Court has ratified and upheld all the clauses of Prevention of Money Laundering Act -PMLA which is as it should be as economic offences should be treated on par with treason. However, what is intriguing is that though it is named as the prevention of money laundering act, it has not been able to do that at all. Whatever action-raid, search, seizure, arrest, investigation, or trial are taking place after the event. The government will do well to address this issue-prevention. For a start, why not consider the following: 1. make it cumbersome and difficult to hoard so much cash by withdrawing 2000 and 500 rupee notes over a period of time and limit currency to 100 rupee notes. By restricting cash supply people will be forced to resort to bank transactions. 2. Put an expiry date-say three years on currency notes which will force hoarders to come to a bank sooner or later. These suggestions may sound simplistic but are surely worth a try rather than a protracted trial after the event and poor record of convictions. Will netas, babus, and businessmen -the largest perpetrators and beneficiaries of money laundering- bite the bullet?
Raghavan

Never, in the past ,have I seen India more divided against itself, than at present. Paradigm shift is taking place in the collective ethos of the country .
Sample some disturbing trends.
Increasing Hindu-muslim animosity, arrogance of power by different political parties and their lapdogs, no rule of law, communal harmony descending into violence,religeous polarisation, failure of governance, widening poor-rich divide, decision-making in collusion with big industrial houses despite conflicts of interests, failure of intelligence in preventing terror attacks. and identifying terror modules etc.The list is illustrative, not comprehensive.
Can we call ourselves proud indians in such circumstances?
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

The Central Consumers Protection Society (CCPA) has issued guidelines on July 4 debarring restaurants and hotels from levying service charges ‘automatically or by default. The order on the face of it appeared not very reasonable as the service charges were collected in lieu of tips for distribution among the serving staff waiters, stewards, and cooking staff. In the name of protection of consumers, we were depriving these people of this extra income to supplement their wages. As expected, the Association of Restaurants owners challenged these orders in Delhi High Court which stayed these guidelines from CCPA. In the meantime, while some of the establishments (at least one I know which irregularly patronize) did stop collecting service charges in the food bill but they promptly raised the prices of all items on the Menu by 10%. I wonder whether the extra money they are collecting by way of higher prices would be distributed among the staff or go into their own kitty. Further now with the High Court ruling against the order not to levy service charges these establishments are free to levy the consumer will have to pay more service charges as the rates have been enhanced. Instead of protecting consumers, this order of CCPA has put an additional burden on the consumers. Will CCPA now intervene and tell all those who increased the rates by 10% to roll back the increase in prices.
Aarti Khosla

This is not the CMD Post. This is the post of the Chairman of NABARD. The Chairman and the Managing Director Posts are clearly defined in NABARD Act 1981. MD post remained vacant since Dr. KG Karmakar retired. The ED posts are also not filled up. The Chairman Post is equivalent to the Deputy Governor of RBI /Secretary GoI. At the start, it is one of the Dy Governor of RBI holding this post of Chairman. Hence please make correction in your scroll as the Chairman only. Thanks. I am a subscriber of Whispersinthecorridor and thanks once again.
K Balakrishnan

The Appellant sought information from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University about a college. The PIO submitted that the said college has been disaffiliated in the year 2015. The CIC interjected and remarked that the Appellant is seeking information of the averred college prior to the year 2015 in the instant RTI Application. The CIC ruled that the information pertains to the rules related to the fee structure of different courses of the averred college prior to the year 2015 and denying the same under the garb of third party information is completely unwarranted and admonished the Respondent for the same. The CIC directed the Respondent to provide a relevant, categorical and point-wise revised reply to the Appellant.
Comments
If an organisation ceases to be a public authority on a particular date, the information for the prior period can still be sought under the RTI Act, 2005.
Citation: G R Nautiyal v. Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Second Appeal No. CIC/HNBGU/A/2021/107261, Date of Decision: 17.06.2022
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

All the officers of Central Secretariat Services get promotions i.e. Assistant Section Officer to Section Officer, Section Officer to Under Secretary, Under Secretary to Deputy Secretary, and Deputy Secretary to Director while the Senior Secretariat Assistant of Central Secretariat does not get the promotion. No one bothers about their plight. They are suffering but no one thinks about their future. They could not get their due from 15 years. They are facing injustices are:- (i) by implementing CSS Rule 2009, their promotion avenues reduced from 50% to 25% while the duration of services in the grade of SSA increased from 5 years to 10 years. 75% Vacancy for open examination was implemented from 2009 while 10% Departmental quota examinations were not held from 2009 to 2022. Benefits of the 2013 and 2018 Cadre Review were not extended for SSA so that they can get promotion to the ASO level.
Prabhaker
Dearness relief to State Govt Pensioners
May I request to predict when the finance dept will issue orders for dearness relief to state govt pensioners?
A Visitor

People vote a party to power so that it can ensure essential commodities at reasonable prices and pave the way for job opportunities. All these are not being done by the central Government. The prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing astronomically. A Govt led by AAP is giving some relief to the people to heave a sigh of relief from inflation. The Centre Government has levied/imposed GST on each and every service and product. In return, nothing is being given for the people. The Centre should provide free health and education. We have seen people moving from pillar to post for medical emergencies during the peak of COVID.
Suchi Rai

I fully agree with views expressed by Arti Khosla on Revadi culture in India or freebies. India has adopted so many different systems of world and mixed economy too has deviated now. India instead of learning from the Social Security System and unemployment benefit system has almost taken all the minus and negative points of the most advanced countries. It has given birth to a wide economic gap, where education is missing and health is most neglected due to least provisions in the budgetary allocations.
Harish Kumar