Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench admitted the Public Interest
Litigation No 3640/2012 filed by RTI activist Nutan Thakur
and ordered the State Government to file Counter Affidavit before the
next date of listing. This order was given by the bench of
Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice V K Dixit. High Court fixed Mat 17,
2012 as the next date of hearing when it shall be heard along
with Writ Petition No 5283/2011 filed by Sacchidanand Gupta.

Nutan had filed this PIL about the large scale scam in the sale of 10
sugar mills belonging to the Uttar Pradesh State Sugar
Corporation Limited and 11 sugar mills of Uttar Pradesh Rajya Chini
evam Ganna Vikas Nigam. These 21 sugar mills were
sold during the previous Mayawati government.  As per the CAG report
on the sale of these sugar mills, large scale irregularities
and corrupt practices were seen. This had resulted in huge loss to the
public exchequer. This Report of the Accountant General
titled “Performance review on sale of sugar Mills of Uttar Pradesh
State Sugar Corporation Limited” was sent by Pawan Kumar
Mittal, Deputy AG, Lucknow  to Brinda Swarup, then Principal
Secretary, Finance, UP Government on November 17, 2011.
This report presented various ways in which the Core Group of
Secretaries, the External Valuers and Advisers went against
the prescribed rules and regulations. These actions resulted in
undervaluation of the Sugar mills, killed competition and
resulted in heavy loss to the public money.

Nutan has prayed that the Uttar Pradesh government shall be directed
to take suitable legal and administrative actions in
accordance with this CAG report within 3 months.

सुरेन्द्र अग्निहोत्री
agnihotri1966@gmail.com
sa@upnewslive.com

In the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) Writ petition No 1574/2012 filed by
Dr Nutan Thakur, Convener National RTI Forum, Lucknow in the Allahabad High
Court, Lucknow bench, the double bench of Justice Umanath Singh and Justice
Rituraj Awasthi has issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) to present its position as regards the safeguards suggested to
protect the reputation of CBI and also to safeguard the Human Rights of the
people.

The PIL has been filed in the background of some of the latest happenings
where persons interrogated by CBI had committed suicide in mysterious
circumstances. The petition said that it was generally assumed by people
that the CBI does not use unfair investigating practices, including
torture, harassment etc. But a few recent incidents seem to be adversely
affecting this reputation.  The petition had cited examples of Sunil Verma,
project engineer in UP Jal Nigam related with NRHM scam and Ranjit Singh,
New Delhi businessman related with Rabindra Tyagi encounter case who
recently committed suicide after CBI interrogation.

Based on these facts, Dr Nutan Thakur prayed that some important measures
shall be taken by the CBI. There shall be a visitor register and CCTV
facility at the entrance gate of every CBI office across the country.
Similarly, the witness and the accused in all CBI offices shall be
interrogated in specifically marked “Interrogation rooms” with CCTV
installed there. The High Court has asked CBI to respond on the prayers
made by the petitioner within 2 weeks.

Dr Nutan Thakur
# 94155-34525
——————————
सुरेन्द्र अग्निहोत्री
मो0 9415508695
upnewslive.com

श्री डी डी मिश्रा, डीआईजी, फायर सर्विस, उत्तर प्रदेश को एंटी करप्शन ओर्गेनाइजेशन में ही तैनात किये जाने सम्बन्धी उत्तर प्रदेश शासन के आदेश का सन्दर्भ ग्रहण करें. मैं आपको बताना चाह रही हूँ कि आपके इस आदेश का जनमानस में बहुत ही गलत सन्देश गया है. पारदर्शिता एवं उत्तदायित्व के क्षेत्र में कार्यरत लखनऊ स्थित सामाजिक संस्था नेशनल आरटीआई फोरम श्री डी डी मिश्रा, डीआईजी, फायर सर्विस, उत्तर प्रदेश को एंटी करप्शन ओर्गेनाइजेशन में ही तैनात किये जाने की इस कार्यवाही की घोर निंदा करती है क्योंकि श्री मिश्रा द्वारा श्री कुंवर फ़तेह बहादुर, प्रमुख सचिव, गृह, उत्तर प्रदेश एवं अन्य वरिष्ठ अधिकारियों पर लगाए गए भ्रष्टाचार विषयक आरोपों की जांच श्री अतुल, पुलिस महानिदेशक, एंटी करप्शन ओर्गेनाइजेशन द्वारा ही किया जा रहा है. इस तरह एक ऐसी विचित्र स्थिति पैदा हो जा रही है जिसमे इतने गंभीर आरोपों की जांच करने वाले अधिकारी और आरोपकर्ता एक ही विभाग में तैनात हो गए हैं जहां श्री अतुल जांचकर्ता के अलावा श्री डी डी मिश्रा के दैनन्दिनी के कार्यों के पर्यवेक्षक अधिकारी भी बन गए हैं. स्वाभाविक है कि ऐसी स्थितियों में श्री डी डी मिश्रा संभवतः अपनी शिकायतें उतना खुल कर और उतनी स्पष्टता के साथ जांच अधिकारी को नहीं कह सकें. यह प्राकृतिक न्याय के उस मूलभूत सिद्धांत के भी विपरीत है जो कहता है कि न्याय ना सिर्फ होना चाहिए बल्कि होते हुए दिखना भी चाहिए.

हम यह नहीं समझ पा रहे हैं कि आखिर श्री डी डी मिश्रा को उसी विभाग में ट्रांसफर करने की क्या जरूरत आ गयी थी जहां उनके आरोपों की जांच हो रही है. हमें तो यह उस जांच को गलत ढंग से प्रभावित करने का ही एक प्रयास दिखता है. अतः नेशनल आरटीआई फोरम की कन्वेनर के रूप में मैं आपसे यह अनुरोध करती हूँ कि कृपया आप इस आदेश पर पुनर्विचार कर इसे उचित ढंग से संशोधित करें ताकि जो गलत सन्देश पूरे राज्य और देश भर में जा रहा है, उसका अंत हो सके.

The National RTI Forum, an organization working in the field of transparency and accountability strongly condemns the posting of D D Mishra, DIG from Fire Services Department to Anti Corruption Organization as the accusations made by him in the Fire Service against Kunwar Fateh Bahdur, Principal Secretary, Home and other senior officers is being enquired into by Atul, who is presently the DG of the same Anti Corruption Organization.

This creates a very unique situation where the complainant and the enquiry officer have got posted in the same organization. The result of this situation will be that the same officer, Atul, will be his enquiry officer in the allegations made against very senior officers and will also be his supervising officer as regards his day to day work. In such a situation, the complaining officer, D D Mishra will not be able to express his grievances to the fullest extent. This also goes against the Principle of Natural Justice which says that justice shall not only be done, it shall also seem to be done.

We fail to understand why a need arose to transfer D D Mishra to the same organization where his enquiry officer was posted. We take this as an attempt to adversely affect the enquiry. I, as the Convener of the National RTI Forum, have written to the Chief Minister to reconsider her decision and post D D Mishra to some other department where he is not posted under his enquiry officer.

Dr Nutan Thakur
# 94155-34525

————-
सुरेन्द्र अग्निहोत्री
मो0 9415508695
upnewslive.com