Whistle-blower case: 'It's a classic case of harassment'

Sukhbir Siwach, TNN, Jan 27, 2011, 04.12pm IST

CHANDIGARH: A central committee has termed the matter of Haryana's whistle-blower as a classic case of the state government which itself broke the law, protected violators and punished IFS Sanjiv Chaturvedi, who tried to uphold law. In its report of over 100 pages, the committee has suggested ways how honest officers can be protected in the country.

Taking the case of Chaturvedi as an example of harassment, the inquiry committee comprising inspector general of forests AK Srivastava and assistant inspector general of forests Shally Ranjan have recommended long-term actions to be taken by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF).

''To prevent the misuse of powers under Rule 7 of All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, regarding institution of disciplinary proceedings, it should be made mandatory for the state governments to get the chargesheet of major penalties, approved by the central government before serving to the officer concerned. This is judicially established position that the chargesheet for major penalty should be issued only after the approval of appointing authority, which in the case of All India Service officers, is the central government,'' said the committee in its report.

''One of the main reasons for a large number of cases pending in the courts in which government is litigant against its own employees, is that the authorities concerned never decide or pass speaking orders on the representations of the employees. The service rules should be suitably modified to ensure a time-bound decision by the competent authorities on the representations of the employees,'' suggested the committee.

Taking Haryana's case as an example, the panel said, ''The service rules should be suitably modified so that in case of any violation, the erring officials have to pay penalty either in the monetary form or otherwise. This can prevent situations like repeated violations of cadre rules in states like Haryana. Such cases should be brought in the ambit of the central vigilance commission for wholesome treatment and also for deterrence to the erring officers. The state vigilance bureaus should be given more teeth and immunity from the state machinery. The mechanism for the protection of the whistle-blowers should be strengthened at the state level.''

Notably, the strong recommendations came after the panel established that Chaturvedi, who had just joined the state cadre after completing his training was harassed for his attempts to prevent the destruction of a wildlife sanctuary and preventing the misuse or misappropriation of government funds in various plantation projects or schemes including that of developing a herbal park on private land belonging to politically influential persons at the cost of public exchequer. The committee has quoted a letter of the cabinet secretary, dated March 3, 2010, to all chief secretaries clearly reiterating the path which the civil servants must always endeavour to tread. However, the present case portrays a contrary picture, in which instead of showing zero tolerance towards corruption, zero tolerance was shown for integrity, honesty and lawful duty,'' the panel observed.

All powers available with the vested interests in the state government including suspension, issuing chargesheet and keeping it pending for more than three years, frequent transfers, slapping false cases were applied on the officer. Even the orders of central government, Supreme Court-appointed panel (central empowered committee), Central Administrative Tribunal, State Information Commission and even the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) could not deter the powerful vested interests in Haryana from harassing the officer,'' concluded the committee.

Interestingly, its unique case in the country when the President intervened twice; first to revocate illegal suspension of Chaturvedi in 2008 and recently when the first citizen of the country quashed the fabricated chargesheet issued against the whistle-blower. The panel has also highlighted how RTI Act helped the officer in challenging his illegal suspension and fabricated chargesheet before the central government. 

Courtesy: TOI

CSIR first drug devp tableau on R-Day

For the first time ever in the history of Republic Day parade, a science tableau that of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, would showcase the journey of drug development from generic to genomic medicines (personalized medicines which can be designed according to the gene patterns of an individual). The Theme will be Drug development from generic to genomic medicines, affordable health care for all The CSIR houses 39 scientific laboratories in the country, including Institute of Microbial technology and the CSIO in Chandigarh.

CSIR director general (DG) and department of science and industrial technology secretary Prof Samir Brahmachari said, "This is a chance for the young scientists to highlight what the nation is heading towards. Ten CSIR students will showcase our success in the field of indigenous drug development for the public. The concept of a gene and medicine preparation would be explained in layman's terms. The students will be shown trying to isolate a DNA molecule structure for development of medicines.

The CSIR plans to take the scientists out in the public domain. There is a need for creating virtual labs which can allow scientists to understand the fundamental requirements especially in rural settings, Brahmachari added.

Moreover, the Tejas will also be a part of the parade. The wings and head up display for this first ever indigenous light combat supersonic fighter has been a contribution of the CSIR labs and one of them is in Chandigarh, said Brahmachari. Scientific cadre management

A proposal has been sent to the ministry concerned for setting up a scientific management cadre on the lines of Indian Administrative Service. On the foundation day of IMTECH on Monday, the DG CSIR highlighted this point to Union minister of science and technology Pawan Kumar Bansal. We would require some 200 scientists specially trained in the finance, audit and managerial skills to handle administration. This will help them to participate in industrial collaborations and convey their requirements to the industries, said the DG CSIR. 

Courtesy: TOI

CIC and CSIR

CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION

Room No. 308, B-Wing, August Kranti Bhawan, Bhikaji Cama Place, New
Delhi-110066

File No. CIC/DS/A/2010/000332/LS

APPELLANT Sh. Dharam Raj
PUBLIC AUTHORITY CSIR, M/o Science & Technology
DATE OF HEARING 1.11.2010
DATE OF DECISION 1.11.2010

Facts :-
Heard today dated 1.11.2010. Appellant present. CSIR is represented by Dr. D.S. Bedi, PIO and Ms. Valsala Kutty, Consultant, RTI.
2. The matter, in short, is that a fire broke out on 23.7.2009 at the Headquarters of CSIR located at 2, Rafi Marg, New Delhi, in which, unfortunately, three employees lost their lives. The appellant is a Section Officer in CSIR. He had filed an RTI application dated 25.8.2009 seeking information on 16 paras regarding the security system in the CSIR Headquarters and the matters related there-with. The CPIO had responded to it vide letter dated 25.09.2009 wherein information on certain paras was supplied to the appellant but it was held back in respect of certain other paras. On appeal, interestingly, the first Appellate Authority took a totally contrary view and came to the conclusion that the Public Authority was not obliged to provide the requested information. His order is extracted below:-
“I have gone through your original application wherein you have sought information on a number of issues. In this connection, I would like to bring to your notice the judgments of the CIC in the case of Dr. D.V. Rao Vs APIO, Department of Legal Affairs, New Delhi and in the case of Shri P.L. Sanyal Vs Sh. Amit Jha, CPIO and Sh. Naved Masood,
Appellate Authority, Deptt. of Agriculture & Cooperation, New Delhi. You will note that the CIC has clearly taken the stand in their cases that “the petitioner’s entitlement to information is only in respect of categories of information mentioned in Section 2(f). It is not open to an appellant to ask, in the guise of seeking information, questions to the Public
authorities about the nature and quality of their actions. The RTI Act does not cast on the Public Authority the obligation to answer queries.”
2. In my opinion the queries made by you are similar in nature and as such the Public Authority is not obliged to provide you with the information sought.
3. However, in case you are not satisfied with above decision, you may file a second appeal under Section 19(3) of the RTI Act-2005 with Central Information Commission within 90 days from the receipt of this decision. The address of CIC is as under.”
 

In other words, the Appellate Authority has set aside the order of CPIO and put a blanket ban on disclosure of any information.
3. Hence, the present appeal.
4. I have heard the appellant. He is not satisfied with the information provided to him in para No.1. He also protests against non-supply of copy of the report of the Fact Finding Committee constituted by the competent authority. It is his submission that he is seeking this information in the larger public interest.
5. I have perused the RTI application and the response of CPIO in respect of each para. I have also heard Ms Valsala Kutty when she submits that information in respect of certain paras was not provided to the appellant as the queries were starting with words like why, what, when etc. On a thoughtful consideration of the matter, I am of the opinion that the appellant has raised very pertinent queries about the security set up in CSIR Headquarters as also about the matters relating to the fire incident. His queries do, indeed, fall in the ambit of section 2(f) of the RTI Act and, therefore, he is entitled to parawise information
in respect thereof. In view of the above discussion, it is ordered that the appellant may be provided information in regard to para 01 limited to the number of security personnel deployed on security duty. Importantly, he may be provided a copy of the report of the Fact Finding Committee headed by Dr. S.K. Joshi, former Director General, CSIR. Further, accurate parawise information also may be provided to him regarding paras 06 to 12 and 14 to 16 of the RTI application.
6. Before parting with this matter, we would like to observe that total denial of information by the Appellate Authority, relying on the decision dated 21.4.2006 of this Commission in File No. CIC/AT/A/2006/000045 is not based on correct appreciation of law. It needs to be underlined that RTI Act aims at setting out a practical regime of Right to Information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every Public Authority. The view taken by the Appellate Authority goes against the very spirit of the RTI Act and, therefore, is not sustainable. To illustrate, how can it be denied by the public authority that a Fact Finding Committee was constituted by the competent authority and that it submitted a report and so on. The CPIO and AA are advised to decide the cases in the true spirit of the RTI Act in future.
5. The order of the Commission may be complied with in 03 weeks time.

Sd/-
(M.L. Sharma)
Central Information Commissioner
Authenticated true copy. Additional copies of orders shall be supplied
against application and payment of the charges, prescribed under the Act, to the
CPIO of this Commission.
( K.L. Das )
Assistant Registrar

Review of Service Charges for Cheque Collection – Local, Outstation and Speed Clearing

RBI/2010-11/377
DPSS.CO.CHD.No. 1671 / 03.06.01 / 2010-11

January 19, 2011

The Chairman and Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer
All Scheduled Commercial Banks includin RRBs / UCBs /
State Co-operative Banks / District Central Co-operative Banks
Madam / Dear Sir,
Review of Service Charges for Cheque Collection – Local, Outstation and Speed Clearing
Given the advantages of using electronic modes for initiating payments, especially for large value transactions, Reserve Bank of India has been taking concerted steps towards increasing the acceptability, reach and efficiency of electronic transactions. Paper-based instruments, however, continue to account for a significant volume of payments in the country. Reserve Bank has therefore been encouraging the use of technology and the core-banking infrastructure of the banking system for reducing the clearing cycle and movement of cheques, both local and outstation.
2. In this regard, attention of banks is invited to our circulars DPSS.CO.No.611 / 03.01.03(P) / 2008-09 dated October 8, 2008 and DPSS.CO.No.829 / 03.01.03(SC) / 2008-09 dated November 17, 2008 in terms of which, charges for Outstation Cheque Collection as also cheques collected under the Speed Clearing arrangement were mandated by the Reserve Bank for different value bands.
3. On a review of the developments in this regard, it has been decided to revise the charges structure. While Reserve Bank would continue to mandate charges for smaller value transactions relating to savings account customers, greater freedom is being accorded to banks to determine charges for larger value transactions, subject to such charges being levied by the banks in a fair and transparent manner. These measures are expected to hasten the migration of transactions to electronic mode.
4. Accordingly, the following service charge structure will come into effect from April 1, 2011.
(a) Service (Processing) Charges for Local Clearing (by Clearing Houses from Member Banks) –

System	Existing (Rs.)		Revised (Rs.)
	Presenting Bank	Drawee Bank	Presenting Bank	Drawee Bank
Clearing at MICR-CPCs	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.50
Cheque Truncation	0.50	0.50	0.50	1.00

(b) Service Charges for Outstation Cheque Collection –

Existing (Rs.)		Revised (Rs.)
Value	Service charge from all customers	Value	Service charge from Savings a/c customers
Up to and including 10,000	50	Up to and including 5,000	25^
		Above 5,000 and up to and including 10,000	50*^
Above 10,000 and up to and including 1,00,000	100	Above 10,000 and up to and including 1,00,000	100*^
Above 1,00,000	150	Above 1,00,000	Left to the banks to decide
* No change.                                       ^ All inclusive maximum amount chargeable by banks to the customers.

(c)  Service Charges for Cheque Collection under Speed Clearing (by Collecting Banks from customers) –

Existing (Rs.)		Revised (Rs.)
Value	Service charge from all customers	Value	Service charge from Savings a/c customers
Up to and including   1,00,000	Nil	Up to and including 1,00,000	Nil*
Above 1,00,000	150	Above 1,00,000	Left to the banks to decide
* No change.

5. Banks are free to fix charges for collection of instruments for credit to other types of accounts.
6. While fixing service charges not mandated herein, banks may note the following –
(a) The service charge structure put in place by the bank should have the approval of the Board of Directors.
(b) Charges fixed should be reasonable and computed on a cost-plus-basis and not as an arbitrary percentage of the value of the instrument. The service charges-structure should not be open ended and should clearly specify the maximum charges that would be levied on customers including charges if any, payable to other banks.
(c) While sharing service charges, banks may be guided by the provisions of circular CIR / RB-I / CCP / 64 dated April 8, 2010 issued by the Indian Banks' Association.
(d) Banks may note to ensure that collection charges fixed for instruments of any value is lower under Speed Clearing vis-a-vis Outstation Cheque Collection so as to encourage the use of Speed Clearing.
(e) The service charges mandated / fixed by banks are inclusive of all charges (postal, courier, handling, etc.) other than service tax.
7. Banks shall use electronic modes like RTGS / NEFT to remit clearing proceeds to the collecting bank branch availing of Outstation Cheque Collection facility.
8. These directions are issued by the Reserve Bank of India in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 18 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).
Yours faithfully,
(G Padmanabhan)
Chief General Manager

Declaration of 25th January as the National Voters’ Day every year

The Union Cabinet  approved declaration of 25lh January every year as the "National Voters' Day" beginning from this year and to provide voters a badge with its logo and the slogan “Proud to be a voter – Ready to vote”.

The Constitution (Sixty-first Amendment) Act, 1988 was enacted to amend article 326 of the Constitution lowering the voting age from 21 years to 18 years so as to provide the unrepresented youth of the country an opportunity to give vent to their feelings and help them become a part of the political process.

It has been noticed that the new voters (18+ age) are not getting enrolled in the electoral roll in a big way year after year. In certain cases, the level of their enrolment is as low as 20 to 25%. In order to effectively deal with this problem, the Election Commission has decided to take up a vigorous exercise to identify all eligible voters attaining the age of 18 years as on 1sl of January every year, in each of the 8.5 lakh polling station areas of the country. Such eligible voters shall be enrolled on time and handed over their Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) on the 25lh January every year at a brief felicitation to be organised in each polling station area. This initiation is expected to give the youth a sense of responsible citizenship, empowerment, pride and participation and inspire them to exercise their newly acquired franchise, when occasion arises.

Revised Cost Estimate of the Project for “Setting up of a World-class Drug Research Institute” at Lucknow

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the proposal of CSIR for the Revised Cost Estimate of its project of setting up a world-class drug research Institute (CDRI) at Lucknow. The estimated cost of the project has been enhanced from Rs.190 crore to Rs. 322.51 crore.

The project is likely to be completed by March 2011.

The proposed facility would generate a world class infrastructure to nurture research and innovation in the area of drug discovery and development and benefit all sections of the society.

DDA clarifies onflats quality

NEW DELHI: With reference to the news item titled "Rs 2 crore Village flats good only for 20 years", DDA has issued a clarification that all concerns mentioned by CBRI in its 13 reports have been acted upon and action taken report submitted to CBRI which in a latter e-mail had written to the DDA that all concerns except leakage and seepage in the upper and lower basements and mock demonstration of both active and passive fire protection systems have been addressed.

"CBRI's satisfaction regarding quality of work is again reinforced and reflected from the fact that they approached DDA in NOvember 2010 to allot 10 flats to their parent organisation that is CSIR in Games Village," DDA's commissioner (PR) Nemo Dhar has written.
TOI replies: The news item in question did not quote from the CBRI reports. It quoted from a CAG letter that was sent to DDA last week asking why action had not been taken on these observations. The letter quoted extensively from the 13 CBRI reports. 

Courtesy: TOI

Rs 2 crore Commonwealth Games Village flats good for only 20 years?

NEW DELHI: They might have been sold for Rs 2 crore-plus but if a report by the technical experts of Roorkee's Central Building Research Institute is to be believed, flats at the Commonwealth Games Village are so shoddily built that their lifespan may not be more than 20 years.

Despite 13 damaging reports from CBRI, DDA took no action on the glaring construction flaws in the Village, including lack of waterproofing that could cause flooding in the basement, that was pointed out as early as November 2009. Seepage had caused a lot of concern during the Games.

Widely quoting from the CBRI reports, CAG has now asked DDA to explain within a week why action wasn't taken on these reports during the construction of the complex. The letter, of which TOI has a copy, was received by the land-owning agency on Thursday.

Audit memo no. 16 points out how the third-party independent quality assurance agency had been appointed by private developer Emaar MGF eight months after the start of the project even though the project development agreement clearly stated that it should be appointed within three months for the purpose of testing raw material and monitoring construction activities. When CBRI entered the scene, the quality of the work (pile/ foundation work) executed by the developer upto May 2008 in this sensitive area of river bank could not be assured.

It is observed that nothing was found in the records produced to audit which assured that the quality work was checked by any other agency or the DDA quality assurance team, reads the letter.

In one report — of which TOI has a copy, — CBRI says: On seeing the permeability of the concrete and the corrosion of the reinforcing steel it gives an impression that, the service life of these towers can not be more than 20 years. These towers demand lot more expendure for the repair and retrofitting beyond this period. The audit memo points out that the reinforcing steel was never covered adequately despite three reports pointing to that deficit. The reinforcing steel is more prone to corrosion when exposed to moisture, oxygen, acidic environments and chlorides, which is why it is required to be covered. In many places there was chipping of the cover concrete.

The improper beam-column joints were warned about in six of the 13 reports yet nothing was done about them, the memo alleges, asking for an explanation. Sources say the gap in some joints is so huge that there are birds nests there. When TOI contacted DDA for a response on the observations in the memo, director (PR) Nemo Dhar maintained: An audit memo is for being answered to the auditor not to the media.

DDA sources however concede that the matter had indeed been raised time and again and nothing much done about them. The state of the buildings now is such that retrofitting them is the only option and that is going to cost another half to one-third of the money already spent on these flats, said a senior DDA official on condition of anonymity. It was observed that CBRI pointed out (report number 3) that many columns in the basement floors of towers 3,4,5 were out of plumb and some of them are tapered (the width reduced from 300 to 230 mm).

This situation pose serious problem in the event of severe earthquake as the construction site is located in seismic zone IV that too on alluvial soil. The above matter has been reported by CBRI to the EmaarMGF, ACIL and DDA and also has been requested to see that no cosmetic treatment (plastering) was to be made as it would be difficult to identify these columns at a later stage, when the decision was taken to repair and retrofit these columns. Nevertheless these columns had been plastered to cover up the deficiencies, the CAG letter reads.

The memo also talks about how the reinforcement of beams and columns was improperly done even though the matter figured prominently in the first three CBRI reports. In their tenth report, CBRI is quoted in the memo as saying: Though we are insisting for the cover blocks and the bending of hooks for the last one and half years, the same is being neglected very deliberately. Unfortunately, many times no civil engineer is seen at the site. The construction site is left to the mercy of bar benders and foremen. 
Courtesy:  TOI

Notional promotions not bereft of monetary benefits: CAT

New Delhi, Jan 4 (PTI) Even a notional promotion accorded to a government servant cannot be bereft of its consequential monetary benefits, including pension and arrears, the Central Administrative Tribunal has ruled.
"If a wrong is done, consequential benefits must be given on notional promotion," said the CAT's Delhi-based principal bench, while asking Delhi Police to accord all pecuniary benefits to one of its officials, who had been earlier given notional promotion by it after his retirement.
The CAT's principal bench gave this ruling on an appeal by Assistant Sub-Inspector Ishwar Singh of Delhi Police, who had lost his job following his conviction by a trial court in a criminal case, but was eventually acquitted by the Supreme Court, albeit after August 2005, when he had already crossed his age of retirement.
Following his acquittal, the Delhi Police, in April 2008 notionally restored his services for the purpose of grant of pensions etc

50 Paise Coins to be Minimum Denomination Coin Acceptable for Transaction from June 30, 2011 Government Calls in from Circulation Coins of Denomination of 25 Paise and below

The Central Government, Ministry of Finance has notified on December 20, 2010 to call in from circulation the coins of denomination of 25 paise and below, issued from time to time, with effect from June 30, 2011. From this date, these coins shall cease to be a legal tender for payment as well as on account. The procedure for call in shall be notified separately by the Reserve Bank of India.
Consequently, from June 30, 2011 onwards these coins will not be accepted in transactions. The minimum denomination coin acceptable for transaction will be 50 paise from that date. Also, in accounting, i.e. the entries in books of accounts, pricing of products/services/taxes shall also be rounded off to 50 paise or whole rupee from that date. 

The notification was issued in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section 15A of the Coinage Act, 1906 (3 of 1906).