क्या RTI ACT 2005 फेल हो रहा है?
हम यह
इसलिए पूछ रहे हैं क्योंकि ऑल इंडिया इन्सानियत पार्टी की
सुभाषचंद्र बोस से संबंधित २१ सितंबर २०१५ की निम्न
प्रदर्शित याचिका का अभी तक The Central Information
Commissioner ने कोई भी उत्तर नहीं दिया है !
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Email: allindiainsaaneyatparty@gmail.com
Sept/CIC-PMO-SUBHASHFILES/1 Date: 21/9/2015
To
The Central
Information Commissioner,
Second
Floor, B Wing, August Kranti Bhawan,
Bhikaji
Cama Place, New Delhi - 110066.
SUBJECT: APPEAL AGAINST Mehar C Jhamb, THE Appellate Authority/Director, PM's Office,
South Block, New Delhi - 110002 (UNDER THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005)
REGARDING THE DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION ON SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE , the founder
of AZAD HIND FAUZ
REFERENCE: Reply No.
RTI/5581/2015-PMR dated 09/09/2015 from Mehar C Jhamb, THE Appellate Authority/Director, PM's Office, South Block, and New Delhi -
110002. (Copy enclosed)
[1] THE FACTS OF THE APPELLANT'S APPLICATIONS AND APPEAL
(I) The
Appellant, the undersigned, had in public interest vide appeal
dated 01/08/2015 (copy enclosed)
appealed to THE Appellate Authority/Director, PM's Office,
South Block, New Delhi - 110002 to
direct the Central Public Information Officer, PM's Office, South Block, New
Delhi - 110002 to Kindly furnish to the Appellant immediately the POINTWISE
DETAILED INFORMATION ON SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE , the founder of AZAD HIND
FAUZ , that was sought by the Appellant under the Right
to Information Act 2005 vide the Appellant's letters dated 15th of April, 2015
and 25th of May 2015 (copies enclosed), along the following points :
[1] Copies of all the pages/notings in
all the classified & declassified files on SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE, founder of
AZAD HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme Legendary Greatest
National Hero, maintained till date by the Government of India.
[2] Copies of all the pages/notings in
all the classified & declassified files on SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE, founder of
AZAD HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme Legendary Greatest
National Hero, maintained till date by various intelligence agencies like the
Intelligence Bureau, etc., of Government of India.
[3]Copy of the dissenting note
submitted by Suresh Bose, member of Shah Nawaz Committee that had inquired into
the mystery surrounding the disappearance/alleged-death of SUBHASH CHANDRA
BOSE, founder of AZAD HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme
Legendary Greatest National Hero, in an alleged plane crash in Taiwan in 1945.
[4] Copies of all the correspondence
(both classified & declassified) between Prime Minister Nehru Government
and the British Government pertaining to matters related to SUBHASH CHANDRA
BOSE, founder of AZAD HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme
Legendary Greatest National Hero.
[5] Copies of all the correspondence
(classified & declassified) between Indian intelligence agencies like the
IB, etc., and various foreign intelligence agencies such as that of the British
Government pertaining to matters related to SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE, founder of
AZAD HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme Legendary Greatest
National Hero.
[6] Copy of the findings of all the
committees instituted by the Indian government that had inquired into the
mystery surrounding the disappearance/alleged-death of SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE,
founder of AZAD HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme Legendary
Greatest National Hero, in an alleged plane crash in Taiwan.
[7] Copies of all the pages/notings
which carry detailed reasons for non-disclosure (under national security
interests) of the information sought by us in points numbers [1] to [6] above
in case PMO/Government of India refuses to give us the information sought by
us.
The Appellant had also stated, “It is to be pointed out that some of the above information exempted
under Sub-section (1) of section 8 of RTI ACT 2005 or exempted under the
Officials Secrets Act, 1923 can be disclosed under Sub-section (2) of
section 8 of RTI ACT 2005, since public interest in its disclosure overweighs
the harm if any to the protected interests of the Indian nation-State.
The requested disclosure shall not harm interests
of the present day India or Indian citizens. Rather, it shall only further the
national interests in the international arena by reinforcing India
nation-State's perception as the Mother of all modern democracies that respects
the democratic rights of its citizens in terms of transparency in its all public
governance/transactions.
Moreover,
the disclosure of the requested information would not prejudicially affect the
sovereignty and integrity, the security, strategic, scientific or economic
interest of the Indian nation-State, relation with foreign state or lead to
incitement of an offence. Also, it would not cause a breach of privilege of
Parliament or State Legislature.
In
addition, Sub-section (2) of section 8 of RTI ACT 2005 over rides provision of
Sub-section (1) of Section 8 of RTI ACT 2005 in terms of the the public
interest in disclosure of the instant information being sought overweighing the
harm if any to the protected interests of the Indian nation-State. So, you are
Law-bound as per RTI ACT 2005 to disclose even cabinet papers including
records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and
other Officers, which cease to be exempted after 20 years have lapsed after
occurrence of the incident to which the information relates.
We are seeking this information, as we Indian
citizens are a directly affected party, since SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE, founder of
AZAD HIND FAUZ, the Great Freedom Fighter, our Supreme Legendary Greatest
National Hero is a common treasure of we all Indian citizens."
(ii) The Appellant vide above referred letter dated
09/09/2015 was informed by the Appellate Authority/Director,
PM's Office, South Block, New Delhi - 110002 that the Central Public Information Officer, PM's Office,
South Block, New Delhi - 110002 vide letter dated 7th August, 2015 had
already replied to the Appellant, adding however that the Appellant's Appeal
predates the despatch of The CPIO, PMO's reply (dt. 07.08.2015).
[A] The
following is the reply vide letter dated 7th August, 2015given by the Central
Public Information Officer, PM's Office, South Block, and New Delhi - 110002:
1. In view of the inputs of the office, an
application dated 25.05.2015, received on 8.6.2015 from Shri Sher Singh Parmar,
is transferred under section 6(3) of the RTI Act, 2005 for taking action as
appropriate.
Home Secretary,
Ministry of Home Affairs, North Block, New Delhi - For point no. 2 & 5.
Foreign
Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, South Block, New Delhi - For point no.
3, 4 & 5.
2. Office has intimated in respect of point 1 of
your application that disclosure of the documents contained in these files
would prejudicially affect relations with foreign countries. As such these
files are exempt under Section 8(1) (a) read with 8(2) of the RTI Act, 2005.
Point nos. 2, 3, 4 & 5 are being transferred to the above said public
authorities, under section 6(3) of the Act. You are advised to approach the
above said public authority for further information in the matter. As regards
point 6 of your application whereby you have requested for copy of noting, it
is informed that under RTI Act, 2005 information to be provided relates to
information "held" by a public authority. Your demand for note sheet
of file where your RTI application is dealt for future action as no note sheet
was "held" at the time your application was received.
[b] The
PMO's reply referred to above in point number [a] erroneously mentions "[7] Copies of all the pages/notings which carry
detailed reasons for non-disclosure (under national security interests) of the
information sought by us in points numbers [1] to [6] above in case your
office/Government of India refuses to give us the information sought by
us." as point
number 6 which actually is point number 7. Thus, the PMO hasn't replied to the
point number 6, viz., "[6] Copy of the findings of all
the committees instituted by the Indian government that had inquired into
the mystery surrounding the disappearance/alleged-death of SUBHASH CHANDRA
BOSE, founder of AZAD HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme
Legendary Greatest National Hero, in an alleged plane crash in Taiwan."
(iii) Amita
Bansal, The Section Officer (RTI), Room No. 2021, JNB, Ministry of External
Affairs, New Delhi has vide letter F.NO. RTI/551/1766/2015 dated 19/8/2015
(copy enclosed) informed the Appellant of the Appellant's RTI Application having been transferred/forwarded
to the following Public Authority/CPIO in the Ministry :-
"Shri Bayyapu Sandeep Kumar, US (JK), Room
no. 270-A, South Block, New Delhi"
And requested the Appellant to contact the above
mentioned CPIO/s for further information in the matter.
However, Shri Bayyapu Sandeep Kumar has so far
not supplied any information to the Appellant.
(iv) There
is so far no communication from the Home Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs,
North Block, and New Delhi to the Appellant.
[2] THE APPELLANT'S HUMBLE SUBMISSION:
(I) The PMO has not
ELABORATED ON or EXPLAINED as to
HOW THE DISCLOSURE of the requested
information would 'PREJUDICIALLY' affect
relations with foreign countries...!
The PMO should have elaborated on and explained
fully as to how the disclosure of the requisite information would have resulted
into prejudicial relations with foreign countries. But, it hasn't done so. This
shows that the PMO actually has no valid reason/s to deny the disclosure of the
information. It also shows that the PMO has misapplied the provisions of
Section 8(1) (a) read with 8(2) of the RTI Act, 2005 merely as a lame excuse to
withhold the information from the Applicant...!
(ii) The
following are the solidly reasoned reasons that prove the point that the
disclosure of the information sought by the Applicant isn't PREJUDICIAL to
Indian foreign relations:
[1] The disclosure of the information shall not
adversely affect the present India's current friendly relations with the then
victors of the World War II, i.e., UK, USA, France, Russia or China and for
that matter any other nation-State in the world simply because in this era of
integrated globalisation neither the contemporary Indians are going to snap
ties with these countries nor these countries are going to break relations with
India in the event of possibility of the information showing these other
countries to be anti-India or anti-Subhash Chandra Bose.
This is so because today generally all countries
have become interdependent economically whereby the past acrimonies are
generally buried for good in the larger interests of the present welfare of the
citizens.
For example, the Great Berlin Wall was brought
down and the two Germany nation-States united again. This reunification of
Germany certainly didn't impact prejudicially the new united Germany's
relations with the rest of the world War II Foes such as the UK or the USA,
etc. In fact, both the UK and Germany which had fought against each other
during the World War II are now closely embraced as members in a friendly
integrated European Union...!
Once upon a time, the UK had ruled on the USA
which changed after the Boston Tea Party resistance that led to independence of
the USA on the 4th of July, 1776. Yet, today, both the UK and the USA are great
friendly nation-States.
[2] Today's India is an economically and militarily
powerful independent sovereign nation-State which does not fear to speak out
its mind or protect its own enlightened self-interests also called the National
Interests.
Each nation-State has a birth right to protect
its own national interests and this basic political axiom is well respected by
all other countries in the world.
The act of protecting the national interests
doesn't mean and doesn't necessarily result into an act of spoiling our
friendly relations with other countries.
It is in our national interests to learn from the
information on Subhash Chandra Bose and Azad Hind Fauz as to what were the
great strengths and weaknesses of our great freedom fighters and the freedom
movement. This information shall help us know the actual process through which
our exemplary freedom fighters had tried to break the foreign British yoke.
Further, it shall help us learn as to how the
colonising power such as the UK had tried its best to keep our country Bharat
in perpetual bondage.
All this undoubtedly shall in the ultimate
analysis help our current Indians and the posterity to thwart any foreign
attempts to subdue our nation-State in any manner whatsoever, by helping us
understand thoroughly the nefarious evil mechanisms employed by the then
colonising power the Britain to subdue other countries and the effectiveness of
the methods, tactics and strategies used deftly by our inspiring freedom
fighters to liberate us from the foreign yoke...!
Therefore, to claim that the disclosure of the
information sought would prejudicially affect relations with foreign countries
is a travesty of the Indian national interests and displays a poor intellectual
comprehension of the nitty-gritty of the International Relations by the PMO and
the Indian Government.
(iii) The handful of the Indian bureaucrats and the
ruling dispensation can't claim to be and indeed aren't the SOLE PROPRIETOR and
REPOSITORY of all the political wisdom in the world to the utter neglect and
exclusion of the COLLECTIVE WISDOM embodied in and represented by the
COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS of 1.2 billion other non-governmental Indians in a
true democratic set-up.
The umpteen number of articles in the Indian mass
media over the years since independence in 1947 have only reiterated and
reinforced the POLITICAL WISDOM of making public the information now being
sought by the Applicant...!
But, the Indian Ruling class has till now chosen
to wilfully ignore the COLLECTIVE POLITICAL WISDOM of 1.2 billion strong
Indians. This COLLECTIVE POLITICAL WISDOM of 1.2 billion strong Indians is
certainly in the instant case far superior to the LIMITED POLITICAL WISDOM
represented by the PMO officials and their current political bosses.
(iv) The concept of the Friendly Foreign Relations
can't take precedence over or over-ride the politically sacred concept of the
Freedom or Free Will of an independent sovereign nation-State.
The notion of the Friendly Foreign Relations is
meaningless if a nation-State doesn't know how to protect itself against the
existing or potent exploitation or subversion by the other powerful colonising
nation-State with whom it seeks to maintain Friendly Foreign Relations...!
The disclosure of the information sought would go
a long way in helping India understand the pat evil designs and mindsets of the
former exploiting nation-State/s. This in turn shall help India safeguard
itself from any possibility of such exploitative attempts in future, near or
distant.
In short, India shall be able to create or
sustain Friendly Foreign Relations with such former exploitative nation-States
on an equal or much stronger footing than ever before by making public the information
being sought by the Applicant.
(v) The word PREJUDICIAL means DETRIMENTAL, HARMFUL
or BIASED.
The disclosure of the information SHALL only HELP
make a REAL, UNBIASED and LOGICAL assessment of the then anti-Subhash Chandra
Bose and anti-India countries.
The files containing the information are
certainly not a work of pure fiction or figment of imagination. They are a
collection of the papers created or maintained by highly educated Indian
bureaucrats.
Do we mean to say that the Indian bureaucrats were
and are biased against the then anti-Subhash Chandra Bose and anti-India
countries?
If yes, there was no logic or sense in creating
or maintaining the Netaji files by investing invaluable time, energy, money and
other resources of the Indian nation-State. (Since they were created and are
being maintained means the Indian Government must have done so by accepting
some inherent intrinsic worth and value of these files!)
Also, if yes, the public have all the more reason
to know these files so as to be able to bring in the Corrective legislative,
judicial or executive steps to rein in such BIASED behaviour if any displayed
by the Indian bureaucracy and the Central Government.
If not, it only goes to prove the point that
there is no BIAS or UNFOUNDED ANTI-ATTITUDE towards foreign countries in these
files. AS SUCH, THE PLEA TAKEN BY THE PMO THAT 'THE disclosure of the documents contained in
these files would prejudicially affect relations with foreign countries' IS RENDERED ILLOGICAL AND TOTALLY WRONG...!
(VI) The disclosure of the information sought shall
help remove the confusion surrounding the mysterious disappearance of Subhash
Chandra Bose besides providing the inspiring material information for the
generations to come...!
(vii) The disclosure recently by the West Bengal
state government of the files containing information on Subhash Chandra Bose
certainly proves that the disclosure of the information sought shall not at all
result into prejudicial foreign relations...!
[3] THE APPELLANT'S HUMBLE APPEAL:
The
Appellant most humbly appeals to the Central Information Commissioner to direct
immediately the PMO, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of External
Affairs to provide immediately to the Applicant the Following Information:
[1] Copies of all the pages/notings in all the
classified & declassified files on SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE, founder of AZAD
HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme Legendary Greatest National
Hero, maintained till date by the Government of India.
[2] Copies of all the pages/notings in all the
classified & declassified files on SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE, founder of AZAD
HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme Legendary Greatest National
Hero, maintained till date by various intelligence agencies like the Intelligence
Bureau, etc., of Government of India.
[3]Copy of the dissenting note submitted by
Suresh Bose, member of Shah Nawaz Committee that had inquired into the mystery
surrounding the disappearance/alleged-death of SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE, founder of
AZAD HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme Legendary Greatest
National Hero, in an alleged plane crash in Taiwan in 1945.
[4] Copies of all the correspondence (both
classified & declassified) between Prime Minister Nehru Government and the
British Government pertaining to matters related to SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE,
founder of AZAD HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme Legendary
Greatest National Hero.
[5] Copies of all the correspondence (both
classified & declassified) between Indian intelligence agencies like the
IB, etc., and various foreign intelligence agencies such as that of the British
Government pertaining to matters related to SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE, founder of
AZAD HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme Legendary Greatest
National Hero.
[6] Copy of the findings of all the committees
instituted by the Indian government that had inquired into the mystery
surrounding the disappearance/alleged-death of SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE, founder of
AZAD HIND FAUZ, the great freedom fighter, our Supreme Legendary Greatest
National Hero, in an alleged plane crash in Taiwan.
[7] Copies of all the pages/notings which carry
detailed reasons for non-disclosure (under national security interests) of the
information sought by us in points numbers [1] to [6] above in case
PMO/Government of India refuses to give us the information sought by us.
In the light of the
Enlightened Enumeration given above, it is most humbly requested with fervent
hope and deep sincere prayer on the lips that the Hon'ble Central Information
Commissioner shall consider this genuine Appeal purely on the Merit Basis in
the Supreme Public and National Interests with Exemplary Rare Courage,
Foresight and Wisdom and thereby leave a dazzling blazing inspiring Golden
trail in the Indian History for other Central Information Commissioners to
follow, by directing immediately the PMO, Ministry of Home Affairs &
Ministry of External Affairs to provide immediately to the Applicant the
Information requested above...!
Warm
Regards,
(S
A J)
For ALL INDIA INSAANEYAT PARTY
Enclosed:
1. As above
2. Two
postal orders worth Rupees 10 each.
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