, , ,FIRST APPEAL UNDER SECTION 19(1)OF RIGHT TOlNFORMATIONACT Joint Secretary (Admn.) & First Appellate Authority Unio~ Ministry .of Home Affairs (MHA) . North Block , New Delhi-I 10001 Sir I vide my RTI petition dated 12.07.2011 addressed at President's Secretariat sought complete and detailed information on under-mentioned aspects together with related, documents/corresporidehce/file-notings etc relating to news-clipping 'Withdraw doc's . .. Padma Awards' (TNN 10.07.2011), copy of thy letter dated 24.01:2011 addressed to Honourable President of India, and my submissions registered as PRSEC/E/20T1/03482, PRSEC/E/201 0116269, PRSEC/E/20 10109063, PRSEC/E/20 10/01'3 76 ' ,and , .. \ PRSEC!E/2009/01744 at helplineof President's website: 1. Is it true that some representation has been made at Rashtrapati Bhakan requesting for withdrawal of 'Padma Shree' and 'Padma Bhushan' from Dr Praful Desai as also referred in the enclosed news-clipping 'Withdraw doc's Padma :Awards'(TJ\JN' 10.07.2011) 2. If yes, please provide complete and detailed information together with related file­ notings/correspondence/documents on action taken On any such representations/s either by Rashtrapati Bhawan or by any other concerned authority, where such representations might have been forwarded. Please also enclose 'also copies of any such representations and replies from Rashtrapati Bhawan on these representations 3.' Complete and detailed information 'together with related 'file­ notings/correspondence/documents on action taken on my letter dated 24.01.2011 addressed to 'llonourablepresident of India by Rashtrapati Bhawan or by any other concerned authority where my letter might have been forwarded 4. Complete and detailed information together with ,related file­ notings/correspondence/documents on action taken on my submissions registered as PRSEC/E/2011/03482, PRSEC/E/2010116269, PRSEC/E/2010/09063 , PRSEC/E12010/01376 and PRSEC/E/2009/01744 at helpline, of President's, , " website by Rashtrapati Bhawan or by any other concerned authority where my letter might have been forwarded I' 5.R~formative,ll1iasures towardsselection of Padma awardees toinducefaimess in selection-process, in last five years 6; Any Other related information 7: File-notings on.movement ofthis RII petition .as well Learned CPIOatNitIt\'vid~response-No. 24/25/2011-Public dated 08.1 (2011 provided on payment of~~~Yil1g',chargesd02umentsrelating to query-number (3) of myRfI , '.1,:\ . ,',.' , "" J petition seeking\cQnlphite and, detailed information together with related' file­ notings/correspondence/dociinients on action taken on my letter dated 24.01.2011 addressed to Honourable PresidentofIndia. '" However careful reading ofthe replyreveals thatMHAhasconsidered suggestion (6) of , mysaici letter dated 24.01.2011 for procedural reforms towards 'Bhar~t Ratna award related t9 PrimeMinister and the President. I appeal that my suggestions as carried in my . -. letter dated, 24.01.2011 addressed to Honourable President of 'India may kindly be referred to Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and President Secretariat 'for consideration there; Itisprayedaccordingly Honourable Mr Justice SRavindra Bhatt of Delhi High Court in the matter "Bhagat Si~gh fls. CIC (W.P. (C) No.3114/2007)" has held that the Right to-Information Act being , . aright ba.~edenaft111entis akin to a welfare measure and as such shouldreceive liberal" , interpretation. .,-/" " ) i I· , Humbly submitted , ' , I 'SI' DAREEBA KALAN ,<iH!~;6) E D33:'::\ 92ei2681N , i rk C;-;i;~;:~oI1:0P-Code:P , ., 1 ! To:DTPL-l~ AA,NuRTHBl~CK f'---/c I SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWALl NEW ]ELHi, PIN1110§01 i Fl'oItISC,~A6SARWAl' (Guinness Record Holder &RTI Activist) 1 I DARl9A. DEiHl, f ! . lH=35gralls, -. " ,. i .. ~ t 1775 Kucha Lattushah AIlt.112.~0 , 1511112IJH ,.13:11· I I j Taus,IRs.1.15 <\irackon WNW. indiap'clst.goV. in» ~ Dariba, ChandniChowk L..::.- -'; DELHI 110006 (India) / Mbbi1e9810033711' Fax· 23254036 E-mail.·[email protected] .,' .> Web www.subhashmadhu.com 15.11.2011 No. 24/25/2011.,Public . Government of India/ Bharat Sarkar '., <~ .Ministry of Home Affairs/ Grih Mantralaya **** North Block, New Delhi. Dated the ~ / 1/ /2011 To, Shri Subhash Chandra Agrawal, 1775, Kucha Lattushah, Dariba, Chandni Chowk Delhi-ll0006. Subject:· Information under Right to Information Act, 2005. Please refer to your application-dated 12/07/2011, forwarded by President's Sec~~t~ria.t-fui>-P~fill -;~~c~ive<lcc6rtc::--:~(rB~t201Y;~tInder;Ct:ne·· --~- N'o.- c 3--&'4, Righfto·' Information Act, 2005._Copies of the documents sought by y?U, comprising 6 pages, are enclosed herewith. Encl: As above. (Sh~ Director & CPIO File No. 1/21/2011-Public Ministry of Home Affairs Public Section ******* SlNo.1/PUC Subject: Revision of Scheme of Padma Awards-Suggestions given by Shri Subhash Chandra Agrawal. PUC is a letter of Shri Subhas Chandra Agrawal rio 1775, Kucha Lattushah, Dariba, Chandni Chowk, Delhi 110006, regarding suggestions to review the scheme of Padma Awards. Process and make it fairer and transparent. The changes suggested by Shri Agrawal are as mention below:­ I . I , .:. Last date of receiving nominations for Padma awards should be some' I earlier date like 30th September or 31st October abolishing all exemptions ·1 even to the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and even Awards Committee to deviate from the deadline. I 0-./ An individual should be restricted to send maximum One recommendation for any Padma Award. However Ministries and Secretariats may have liberty to send any number of recommendations as considered fit. Constitutional authorities like President, Vice president, Prime Minister and Union Ministers and those in state governments (Governors, Chief I Ministers etc) can recommend any, number of persons through their respective secretariats. Presently it is observed that some Parliamentarians send too many recommendations causing unnecessary burden on scrutiny procedure for Padma awardees. Rather such a restriction will ease their burden because at times they have to recommend unwillingly simply for pleasing their political workers and supporters. .:. List of Padma aspirants should be short-listed by first seeking clearance from intelligence and tax authorities before presenting it before Awards­ Committee so that names of finally cleared personalities may only be floated amongst members of Awards Committee for careful study and consideration. Idea should be to send minimum names before the Awards Committee to give a closer look on nominees in a manner that no additional meetings may be required to substitute persons rejected by tax and/or i I '-rr'C.c.;, ,," . :'·,,~~.""intet1:igeIl.ee-auth()rities,=---=-'·,~~~;.=c;~'"7''':.''c.'C"",; ..";~''-'~""," ..:.. .,J.... .~"'·I;" ..~,~~_.~_I It is improper to grade about 120 Padma awardees in three variants in a country of more than a billion thereby degrading real value of Padma Shree in presence of Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan. Merging the three variants of Padma awards will pave way to include even more persons for these honours. Presently about one-third awardees every year are those who get an upgraded version, having been already honoured with Padma award in previous years. A person should be honoured just once in lifetime with Padma award. However Bharat Ratna may be awarded to any person having been already honoured with Padma award. I To effectively check irregularities in selection of Padma Awards, Opposition leader should have appropriate say in the selection-process. I I :I I '! -2­ Members of Awards Committee should be selected by consensus of Prime ( Minister and Opposition leader, and Secretary to Opposition leader should also be a member of Awards Committee. •:. Highest civilian honour of Bharat Ratna should be given with consensus of Prime Minister and Opposition Leader to avoid misuse for political purposes like was said to have been done in some earlier cases . •:. Foreign nationals should not be honoured with Padma awards or Bharat Ratna. India already has some prestigious- global awards like Jawaharlal Nehru Award for the purpose. Only resident Indians should be 'honoured with these civilian honours also because India already has'Paravasi Bhartiya Awards' for NRIs .:. All resident Indians getting Noble Prize should be automatic choice for I i Bharat Ratna, and t~osehonouredwithMagsaysa:y_A\VClrdsh()1!ldbe 1,<:c~~""2C"-"'c~-._~"cc: '_0'0:"=<0':".• 't'-'~~' ,,,"C'"'c"-'''~-'''- ~ ';-""--'-"~h6nouied \viflVPaamaawardsinlotaiready':l1i:)nollr;ds-wIih~udi ;wm:ds~ - c· , Complete selection-process should be made public through website of Union Home Ministry just after the awards are announced on Republic Day eve. Observations of Honourable Central Information Commissioner (now. Chief Information Commissioner) Shri Satyanand Mishra in his verdict dated 21.10.2009' In appeal-number CIC/WBIN2008/00976-SM are noteworthy wherein he observed "From the reply of the CPIO and the order of the first Appellate Authority, it is clear that the process of recommending names for the Padma Awards is. highly discretionary. With the advent of the Right to Information (RTI) and increasing scrutiny of the governmental decisions in its wake, it is likely that the process of deciding these awards will be questioned by the citizens more and more in future. Therefore, the authorities-must strive to lay down, as far as possible, transparent criteria for these nominations and make the selection process more objective". ·3. The file is submitted for necessary direction! guidance. -3­ Reference note pre pages, 2. After the institution of Padma Awards, the scheme of the awards (F/A) were reviewed time by time and necessary changes were made in the scheme of the award. The changes made in the past are as follow: A. Increase number of awards given annually from 60 to 100. FIB .. B. Drawing an Action-Calendar for announcement of Padma Awards. FIe C. Restriction in terms of time gap for consideration an individual for a higher category of Padma Award, consideration of serving Government officers for Padma Awards, increase of ceiling on awards to be given in a year from 100 to .. 120 (excluding foreigners/ posthumous/ NRI/ PIa) and some other issues.