Assam CM Vigilance Team left hanging as RTI activist Dulal Bora skips summon

Guwahati, Sept. 23: The Chief Minister's Vigilance team was left in a lurch after RTI activist Dulal Borah failed to appear for a scheduled meeting on Monday.

Borah, along with the manager and HR personnel from his online news portal, NE Bharat, was summoned for questioning. While the latter two attended, Borah was notably absent.

The Assam State Information Commission has ordered stringent action against Borah, alleging misuse of the Right to Information (RTI) Act for personal gain.

The action had followed a detailed report from the Crime Investigation Department (CID), which indicated that Borah is implicated in 31 criminal cases, including extortion, conspiracy, and cheating.

The report alleged that Borah amassed significant wealth through illegal activities, severely impacting the timely disposal of RTI appeals and complaints from other citizens.

Reports allege that Borah's modus operandi involved filing RTI applications, intimidating public officials, and demanding bribes for the withdrawal of these applications. The Commission has deemed such conduct a blatant misuse of the RTI Act.

Further complicating matters, Borah has recently been linked to the tragic suicide of BJP worker Devojit Hazarika in Assam’s Charaideo district. In a note left behind, Hazarika accused several individuals, including Borah, of causing him immense distress.

The Commission has also ordered all second appeals and complaints filed by Borah be put on hold until further notice. According to the Commission, Borah had filed a staggering 2,173 second appeals, with many pending since December 31, 2019.

Alarmingly, 944 of these appeals were submitted after the prescribed time limit for filing RTI applications had lapsed.

The Commission has also directed First Appellate Authorities to report any instances where Borah’s first appeals were rejected due to delays.

As the scrutiny around Borah intensifies, the implications of these allegations raise serious questions about the integrity of RTI activism in Assam.