ARUNACHAL PRADESH INFORMATION COMMISSION ITANAGAR ANNUAL REPORT 2020-21 Printed at Directorate of Printing, Naharlagun 279/2021-Dy-Registrar APIC-Itanagar-800-7-2021. ARUNACHAL PRADESH INFORMATION COMMISSION ITANAGAR ANNUAL REPORT 2020-21 The real Swaraj will come not by the acquisition of authority by a few, but by the acquisition of capacity by all to resist authority when abused. -MAHATMA GANDHI “Laws are not masters but servants, and he rules them who obey them”. -HENRY WARD BEECHER “Democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Government and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed” (Preamble, RTI Act 2005) (i) ACKNOWLEDGMENT This15thAnnual Reports of Arunachal Pradesh Information Commission 2020-21has been prepared in one volume. The data for preparation of this report are collected from the state Government Departments. According to Information provided by the departments, the total number of Public Authorities in the State is 78 and the number of Public Information Officers is more than 310. The Right to Information Act, 2005 is a landmark legislation that has transformed the relationship between the citizen and the State. This legislation has been created for every citizen to hold the instrumentalities of Governance accountable on a day-to-day basis. The legislation perceives the common man as an active participant in the process of nation building by conferring on him a right to participate in the process through the implementation of the Right to Information Act. It has been 15 years since the RTI Act has been in operation in the State. The State Public Information Officers and Appellate Authorities are quasi-judicial functionaries under the RTI Act with distinctive powers and duties and they constitute the cutting edge of this “Practical regime of information”, as envisaged in the preamble of the Right to Information Act. Together, they create an effective, mechanism for disposal of increasing numbers of requests for information being received from the citizen of India. The Arunachal Pradesh Information Commission has prepared the Annual Report for the year 2020-21and while preparing the same, many government functionaries have extended help in many ways for bringing out this Annual Report. We also acknowledge the contribution of the Chief Secretary, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, and Development Commissioner Finance and the Staff for their assistance in preparing the report. Our thanks to the Director, Department of Printing, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, and his Staff for their role in bringing out this report in the most presentable form. The Commission wishes to express special thanks to the Secretary cum Registrar, Deputy Registrar, Other Officers and Staff of the Commission, who have contributed in preparing this report. (ii) We sincerely hope that this report will be helpful to the Public Authorities, Civil Societies, NGOs, the RTI activists, and citizens in maintaining transparency, accountability and in checking corruption at all level. Dr. Joram Begi State Chief Information Commissioner Shri Goto Ete Shri Leki Phuntso State Information Commissioner State Information Commissioner (Retired) Shri Genom Tekseng Shri Gumjum Haide State Information Commissioner State Information Commissioner Smti Sonam Yudron State Information Commissioner (iii) CONTENTS CONTENTS Page No. CHAPTER-I 1 – 2 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER-II 3 – 5 A BRIEF ABOUT ARUNACHAL PRADESH INFORMATION COMMISSION CHAPTER-III 6 – 15 NOTIFICATION, REGULATIONS AND ORDERS CHAPTER-IV 16 ANNUAL ACCOUNT OF THE COMMISSION CHAPTER-V 17 – 18 YEAR WISE COMPLAINT/APPEAL RECEIVED AND DISPOSED OF BY THE COMMISSION AGAINST THE PUBLIC AUTHORITIES. CHAPTER-VI RTI COMPLAINT U/S 18(1) & SECOND APPEAL CASE U/S 19(3) WITH STATUS OF 19 – 38 EACH CASE IN THE ARUNACHAL PRADESH INFORMATION COMMISSION DURING THE YEAR-2020 CHAPTER-VII STATUS OF WRIT PETITION FILED AGAINST THE DECISION OF THE COMMISSION 39 – 40 BEFORE GAUHATI HIGH COUT CHAPTER-VIII 41 42 PERIODICAL REPORT REGARDING EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF RTI – ACT, 2005 CHAPTER-IX 43 – 44 RECOMMENDATION OF THE COMMISSION TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT CHAPTER-X 45 – 51 PHOTO GALLERY ANNEXURE 52 - 67 SOME OF THE SIGNIFICANT ORDERS/DECISIONS OF THE COMMISSION NAME AND DESIGNATION OFSTAFFS OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH INFORMATION 68 - 69 COMMISSION. (iv) ANNUAL REPORT, 2020-21 THE ARUNACHAL PRADESH INFORMATION COMMISSION CHAPTER-I INTRODUCTION Freedom of information is a fundamental human right and this was recognized by the United Nations at its very inception in 1946 when the General Assembly resolved: “Freedom of Information is a fundamental human right and the touchstone for all freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated” Enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the right’s status as a legally binding treaty organization was affirmed in Article-19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states – “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”. This has placed the right to access information firmly within the body of universal human rights law. This right to information was explicitly held to be our fundamental right under Article-19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India for the first time by Justice K.K Mathew in the State of U.P –Vs- Raj Narain. This view was followed by the Supreme Court of India on numbers of decisions and, after public demand; the Right to Information Act, 2005 was enacted and brought into force. The RTI Act is not new for India. Many of its States have already enacted similar Acts in the past. The RTI Laws were first successfully enacted by some State Governments of our Country, like – Tamil Nadu and Goa in 1997, Rajasthan and Karnataka in 2000, Delhi in 2001, Maharashtra and Assam in 2002, Madhya Pradesh in 2003 and Jammu & Kashmir in 2004. And there had already been a Law enacted called as ‘the Freedom of Information Act, 2002’. In order to ensure greater and more effective access to information the Government of India decided to repeal the Freedom of Information Act, 2002 and to enact another law for providing an effective framework for effectuating the right of information recognized under Article-19 of the Constitution of India. To achieve this object, the Right to Information Bill was introduced in the Parliament. The Right to Information Bill, having been passed by both the Houses of Parliament, received the assent of the President on 15th of June, 2005 and finally the same came into being as ‘the Right to Information Act, 2005 (Act 22 of 2005)’. Some provisions of the Act came into force with immediate effect from 15th June, 2005 when the President gave his assent so that the public authorities could make preliminary arrangements for implementation of the Act in the field of: designation of Central/State Public Information Officers; designation of Central/State Assistant Public Information Officers; designation of First Appellate Authorities senior to Public Information Officers; framing of rules for smooth implementation of the Act; setting up of Central/State Information Commission(s); preparation of 17 manuals for dissemination of pro-active 1 information, etc. And the Act later fully came into force in our Country, including in the State of Arunachal Pradesh, on 12th of October, 2005 after 120 days of enactment of the Act. The Right to Information Act, 2005, is the first ever ‘sunshine law’ enacted by the Parliament which extends to the whole of India, in as much as, like most ‘sunshine laws’ it provides a right to all citizens to demand information from any public authority in India while also creating a positive obligation upon these authorities to pro-actively publish information about their functioning. It has been made applicable to all public authorities, viz, all Central and State Government Ministries; Departments; Organizations; Undertakings, Autonomous Bodies, Municipalities, Panchayat, etc, enacted by law and also covers the Union Territories. The Judiciary and the Legislature including Parliament and State Legislature are also covered under its purview. The Right to Information Act, 2005, has been enacted to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens. The basic objectives of this Act are to: empower the citizen to get information from any public authority; to promote transparency and accountability in the workings of the Government and its instrumentalities; to contain corruption and; to make our democracy work for the people in real sense. The Right to Information Act, 2005, is divided into six chapters and contains thirty-one sections in the whole. All these sections of the Act had remained intact for a period of more than 15(fifteen) years from the date of its enactment on 15th of June, 2005. After such a long period of more than 15 (fifteen) years as aforesaid an amendment bill called as ‘the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019’ was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Personal, Public Grievances and Pension, Mr. Jitendra Singh on 19th of July, 2019 and the same which was passed by the both Houses of the Parliament was given assent to by the President of India on the 1st day of August, 2019 called as ‘the Right to Information (Amendment) Act, 2019 (24th Act of 2019)’ and by which