Assam Forest Dept accused of flouting RTI provisions, ignoring SC order

Guwahati, Dec 8: The State Forest Department is deliberately flouting the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, in matters of making public the information on its activities, finances, etc. The silence of the Forest Department in this respect goes against Section 4 of the RTI Act, which has specified the obligations of the public authorities on such matters, said RTI-cum-environment activist Rohit Choudhury in a letter to the Chief Information Commissioner of the State.

He also asserts that there are reasons to believe that something is fishy in the financial transactions of the Kaziranga Tiger Conservation Foundation (KTCF). The belief stems from the stonewalling efforts made by the offices of the Field Director (FD), Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve (KNP&TR), as well as the Bokakhat-based Divisional Forest Officer, Eastern Assam Wildlife Division (DFO-EAWD), to conceal the information on the financial transactions and decisions taken in the meetings of the KTCF over the years.

Choudhury, in his letter to the State's Chief Information Commissioner, has alleged further that such efforts have been made by the above authorities with tacit support from the State's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Head of Forest Force (HoFF), and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden, Assam.

He has pleaded for the Information Commission's actions against Raj Pal Singh, IFS (ex-PCCF & HoFF, Assam), Sandeep Kumar, IFS (present PCCF & HOFF, Assam), Sonali Ghosh, IFS (FD, KNP&TR), and Arun Vignesh, IFS (DFO, EAWD) for their deliberate and wilful noncompliance with the Supreme Court's judgement dated August 17, 2023, in WP (C) No. 990 of 2021 and the State's Information Commission's direction issued through the letters dated August 19, 2024, and October 3, 2024.

The offices of the FD, KNP & TR and the DFO, EAWD have been refusing to honour the August 17, 2023, order passed by the Full Bench of the Supreme Court of India in connection with the implementation of the mandate of Section 4 of the RTI Act 2005. Moreover, they have also been refusing to honour the directive of the State's Information Commission in this respect, Choudhury alleged.

State's Information Commission, in its August 19, 2024 letter to the State's PCCF & HoFF, while referring to the above order of the Supreme Court, had also stated, "...Section 4 of the Act of 2005 clearly reflects that it is the duty cast upon the public authorities by the Legislature in correspondence to the Right to Information as is enumerated in Section 3 of the Act of 2005. Moreover, it is also the duty of the public authorities to have a system of timely updating the disclosed information in the public domain."

In the same letter, it requested the PCCF & HoFF to take necessary action for disclosure of information as per section 4 of the RTI Act, 2005, in compliance with the order of the apex court within 20 days from receipt of the letter.

By-

Ajit Patowary