These documents are a sample of how the money received from the Central Government for telling the public and government officers about right to information Act has been misused by RCVP Noronha Academy of Administration & Management. The responsible officers traveled around the country and ate fancy on the money meant to be used for educating people about their right to information. To cover this up, the documents have also tampered with. RCVP Noronha Academy of Administration & Management (the academy), was chosen by the Central Government as the nodal agency for raising awareness on Right to Information Act, 2005, among the public and government employees. In 2009, 13 lakh rupees was sanctioned to it by the Central Government for this purpose. However, it seems that training has only occurred on papers; the people so trained were not even asked for their feedback on the training.
The training camps organised by the academy were restricted only to colleges. The primary reason for this is that the officer designated as nodal officer responsible for training, is closely associated with the department of higher education. That’s the reason why this scheme could not get implemented beyond colleges. In the year 2009, the academy held around 12 RTI workshops in government colleges. Due to the connivance of both the nodal officer and the college authorities, the academy stayed silent on the issue of RTI workshops being shown just in papers. They never cared to check as to what was being shown in the utility assessment letters of the college and whether the workshops were actually taking place or not. The nodal officer and the academy without even asking kept disbursing money to the colleges.
Dhar: study material for dissemination distributed amongst illiterates
In the government P.G. college of Dhar, study material for dissemination/training was distributed to a group of illiterates. At the same time, the names and addresses of BPL cardholders who were shown as present for the workshop in papers, have not been made any note of. It has been shown in papers that the workshop was attended by 160 participants whereas the list only has names of 112 participants. The college was given Rs 35,000 for a one-day workshop, which on paper, has been spent.
Mandala and Khargon: pilot project also crushed
From 2006 to 2008, Mandala and Khargon districts were made a part of the pilot project by the academy. Hence, they were allotted a sum of twelve lakh each, but no efforts were made for training in any of these districts. As a consequence, the Madhya Pradesh state information commission had to deal strongly with both the districts. Upon refusal to give information regards work done in Mandala under the pilot project, the MP information commission sent penalty notices to three officers. Show cause notices were also sent to the collector and Jabalpur commissioner.
Bhopal: made students compensate for the money spent
A training workshop was organised in the capital at Sarojini Naidu (Nootan) Government Girls Post Graduate College, Bhopal. Here too, more expenses were incurred on account of food and drinks as opposed to actual training. According to documents present with Dainik Bhaskar, Rs 14,500 was spent here on just food and drinks and only Rs 16,500 used for distributing study material. Nootan college also received Rs 35,000, along with which the college management made the professors pay Rs 300 each and the students pay Rs 10 each. The sociology department of the college was also made to give Rs 20,000 even though there is no provision for demanding any money from the college or the UGC fund nor from the professors or the students. This money was collected in the form of donations and spent off!
Muraina: number of participants not known
On November 1st, 2009, a workshop was held under the leadership of Dr. Sandeep Khanna, Director of Government P.G. college, Muraina. It was attended by ten IAS officers who had come to the college for training. However, their names and addresses are not known. Muraina college spent Rs 4,275 in excess of Rs 35,000 that it received for this purpose thus taking its total expenditure to Rs 39,295. There is also discrepancy in the utility assessment letter sent by it to the academy. The letter says that the workshop was attended by 275 participants, of which 75 were from the college, 75 general public (from outside the college) and 75 belonged to the BPL card holders. In a separate document, it is stated that the workshop was attended by 10 IAS officers of the academy, 100 BPL card holders, 10 distinguished citizens, 15 students, 40 professors and journalists (in all 175 participants). Mentioning 275 participants in one document and 175 participants in another raises doubts about the veracity of the documents.
“How would I know about what the college did or did not do on RTI training…? I cannot give any statement on this. I will need the directors approval to talk on this issue.” - Dr. Rajiv Kumar Shukla, Nodal officer and Incharge of training, Academy.
“Dr. Rajiv Kumar Shukla has been designated as the Nodal officer, and the responsible person to speak to in this regard. I cannot comment on this, he should be able to give you the complete details.” Dr. Sandeep Khanna, Director, Academy.
