Validity of Enquiry on Sarvodaya P U College, Tumkur(UU-24)

Respected Madam,

On my complaint the Government of Karnataka was pleased to Direct the Director, PUE, Bangalore to conduct enquiry on the allegations made against the illegal appointments in the said college.

To my surprise I had filed a detailed complaint 0n 23/10/2009 to the Director, PUE Bangalore, till date no action has been taken on that.

For your kind information and surprise the copy of original complaint has been sold to the management! As a result I got threatening calls from the Management of Sarvodaya College.

The officers have failed to observe the principles of Natural Justice while conducting the Enquiry. They have ignored the Statements and the certified documents produced by me. Till date I have no information as to the Enquiry on my complaint by the department. The Superintendent of Tumkur District has tried his level best to stall the Enquiry, since he was pro-management departmental employee.!!!

The Enquiry conducted by the Department of PUE is invalid for two reasons:

Firstly, it is not in accordance with law. The Karnataka Educational Institutions (Inspection, Accounts, Audit and Return) Rules, 2005 clearly indicates that with respect of the Pre-University College/ Junior Colleges are concerned the Officer not below the rank of Deputy Director of Pre-University Education shall not conduct enquiry. Whereas in Sarvodaya Enquiry no deputy director was deputed for enquiry. (I have already supplied a copy of the Rules to Mr.Narasimhanayak, Mr.Motagi and Mr. Mohan in 2009 itself)

Secondly, no opportunity was given to the complainant as against to the Principles of Natural justice since he might have produced the documents in support of his allegations.

Thirdly, reliability of the Officers conducting the Enquiry is objectionable. Hence I'll be posting the relavant certified copies in support of my complaint on the blog and a copy of detailed complaint will be served to the Director.

The enquiry is silent about review, whithout which it does not hold good.

For the all the above reasons I request your goodself to allow me to adduce evidences in the Enquiry in order to prevent misuse of Public money by the illegal management of Sarvodaya Pre University College.

Action taken on this letter is humbly solicited.

Yours Truly

C S Madhu

Advocate,

Chikkakallur

Ph: 99644 83566

If no revenue Reconciliation in the Department of PUE, Why are you collecting the Demand Drafts in the Name of the Director? Misuse of Public Money?

Respected Director, PUE, Bangalore,

I was shocked to see your circular no papushie/pomamauma.a/2011-12 dated 25/07/2011 where in you have stated the Demand Drafts for Revaluation, Photocopies must be drawn in favour of The Director, Pre University Education, Malleshwaram, Bangalore.

Again it is rather shocking to me to inform you that the information given by the office of the Joint Director,(Admin) no papushi/lepa-03/ma.ha.03/2011-12 dated 27/06/2011 clearly reveals that the Department is not adhering to Revenue Re-conciliation.

If that is so, why are you insisting the candidates to draw the Demand Drafts in the Name of the Director, PUE, Bangalore.

On the basis of the above propositions and documents may I get clarifications on the following issues from your goodself?

1) If no revenue reconciliation is done, may I know where the money goes and who is accountable for it?

2) If no revenue reconciliation is done, where is the accountability and what happens to the Public Money?

3) Is there any provision to collect the money through Demand Drafts under the Rules?

4) If the Department is not doing revenue Re conciliation, why are you collecting the money in the Name of the Director?

5) For expenditure, the Department has separate Head of accounts and Expenditure Re conciliation is being done. But why do 'they' hesitate to have Separate Head of Accounts for the Revenue? Is it not unfair on the part of the Department?

Why revenue Re conciliation is necessary: The department's action of not adhering to the Revenue Reconciliation is against to the Rules laid down in the Karnataka Treasury Code, Karnataka Finance Code and Karnataka Auditor's Manual. Probably the Officers in charge of the Audit Department have not brought this to your notice since most of them are mice in the Department.

Hence I request the Director to take suitable action to prevent misuse of Public Money. I'll be writing a detailed letter to your good self in a couple of days as to how the money is being misused in the department so far and a copy of the letter will be sent to the Accountant General, Finance Secretary and Principal Secretary, Education Department for suitable action.

I hope this Public Interest letter will be obliged by the Director in the interest of General Public. The information given by the Joint director (Admin), PUE is given here for the Kind perusal of the blog viewers.

Click on the image to see it in full size.

Yours Truly

C S Madhu

Advocate,

Chikkakallur,

Ph: 99644 83566

What did I do for Record Room and File Maintenance in PU Department? For the Perusal of the Director, PUE

Here I am posting few letters I wrote to the Director, PUE and JD(Admin) on the Maintenance of Record Room and other records (including missing records). The comments ha

ve been written on the image letter itself. I request the Director, PUE to take suitable action.

Circular on Maintenance of Records in an Office

The file is in JPEG format. please click on the image to see full view.

Upload RTI related data/information on the portal regarding receipts and disposal of RTI applications-Direction from DoPT

DoPT has issued a new circular for strengthening the implementation of RTI Act.

Some of the suggestions given are:

1. Annual reports submitted by departments should contain a chapter on RTI including information like number of applications received, number in which information denied, novel efforts made for RTI implementation, etc.

2. Each Ministry/Department/subordinate offices/PSUs/etc. to organise at least one half day training session for PIOs/FAAs - every year

3. All PAs who have a website to upload RTI related data/information on the portal regarding receipts and disposal of RTI applications within 10 days of the close of the month. This is to start from 10th July 2011 - for the Month of June 2011.

I request the Director to include point no 3 in the Proposed website of PUE Department.

Outdated Website and Recommendations

Respected Madam,

I have been observing the PUE website from day one. The web page does not look good and the contents of the webpage are obsolete. After your good self resuming the charges of PU Board some of the improvements are being seen by the viewers of pue website. but the website lacks the following basic things and I strongly demand to redesign website along with the Qualitative contents. I have culled out the basic contents of a government department's website. For your reference I have given them here. Please go through them and try to implement them while redesigning the website.

The PUE website suppose to contain the following:

Government of Karnataka Emblem, if any, with National Emblem of India

_ Ownership Information either in Header or Footer

(e.g. This Website belongs to Department of Pre University Education, Government of Karnataka, India)

_ All Government Websites must provide a prominent link to the National Portal of India (http://www.india.gov.in and other important pages of citizen interest

Content on all Government Websites could be classified under the following categories:

_ Primary Content

_ Secondary Content

_ Tertiary Content

Primary Content

_ About Us: may describe the owner Department with the

following information

- Profile

- Mission/Vision Statement

- History/Background

- Department/Divisions/Wing/Cell

- Role/Functions/Responsibilities/Activities

- Agencies under the Administrative Control

- Organizational Structure

- Who’s Who

Documents/Reports: The following list gives an ideas of the

variety of Government documents that can be covered under

this section:

- Public Documents

- Annual Reports

- Budget Documents

- New Policies

- Guidelines by Government

- Citizen Charters

- Acts/Rules and Notifications

- Survey Outcomes / Reports

- Statistical Reports, etc.

Tenders: All the tender notifications should be uploaded on the single entry Tender Portal for the Government (http://www.tenders.gov.in ), which is a one-stop source for tenders of various Government Departments.

(Refer CVC Guidelines for tender information at the website http://www.cvc.gov.in)

Again in Primary content one must distinguish the following:

Long Term Value Short Term Value

About the Department News

Acts & Rule Tenders

Programmes & Schemes Announcements

Documents Recruitments

Forms

Services

Directories

Circulars & Notification

Sectoral Profile

Regional Profile(DD Offices, etc)

Secondary Content

Audience Specific Views Announcements

Special Interest Group Events

Spotlight Advertisements & Banners

Greetings Related Links

Media Gallery

Tertiary Content

About The Portal Registration

Help Terms of Reference, Privacy Policy

General Feedback

Content Contributor, Source &

Validity

Content Specific Feedback

Quality of Content

_ Content Packaging with Citizen Orientation

_ Content Authenticity, Accuracy and Currency

_ Content Contribution, Moderation & Approval Policy (CMAP)

_ Content Review Policy (CRP)

_ Content Archival Policy (CAP)

_ Standard / Terminology and Placement of Terms

_ Simple Language…Free from Errors

_ Multilingual Versions

Website Design

_ Visual Identity

_ Page Layout

_ Graphics & Images

_ Typography, Fonts

_ Colors

_ Audio / Video / Animations

_ Navigation Schema

_ Consistent Navigation

_ Site Map

_ Site Search

Website Development

_ Developed Website using Content Management

Software (CMS)

_ Markup Language

_ HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0, XML 1.0

_ Visit the website of W3C at http://www.w3c.org

_ Cascading Style Sheets

_ Visit http://www.w3.org/style/CSS/.

_ Scripting Languages

_ Windows Platform or Linux Platform

_ Server side scripting language – PHP, JSP, PERL & ASP whereas

Client site scripting language – JavaScript, Jscript

_ Database under windows – MS SQL & Oracle Whereas Database

under Linux - MySQL and Postgre SQL

_ File Formats

_ Graphics & Multimedia Files

- JPEG, PNG and GIF

_ Documents

- HTML Format or PDF, RTF

_ Web Accessibility

_ W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) may

be seen at http://www.w3.org/WAI/

_ Web Application Security

_ Visit CERTIn’s website for Web security issues at

http://www.cert-in.org.in

_ Security Audit from empanelled agencies

_ Validation & Testing

_ Websites should be validated and tested with automatic tools

and human review.

_ Test with multiple browsers and different version of browsers

Website Promotion

_ Search Engine Optimization

_ Website should rank in first five

_ URL should become integral part of address of the

Department

_ All Press Release/Advertisement/Notification from the

Departments should include URL

_ Email Signature

_ Banner / Link Exchange

Website Management

_ Nominate Web Information Manager

_ Overall responsibility/ ownership of website

_ Constitution a Team if needed

_ Role of Web Information Manager (Team)

_ Formulate & Maintain Policies

_ Ensure Compliance with Policies

_ Ensure Compliance with Guidelines

_ Website Monitoring Plan

_ Website Maintenance Tools

_ Periodic Review & Enhancement

It is hoped that these guidelines shall facilitate improvement in existing websites and form the foundation for new Indian Government websites to

Become Usable ,User-Centric, Up-to-Date.

Importance of Record Management in a Department Under RTI

"Smooth and prompt flow of information from the Public Authorities depends basically on a good system of record management. In this regard, RTI Act lays down an ambitious mandate for fulfilment by all Public Authorities in the country. This envisages nothing less then total administrative reform in so far as record management is concerned, especially the utilization of Information Technology."- Report of the National Sub Committee of Central Information Commission.

The maintenance and retrieval systems for official records are primitive the reason being the office records are the assets of the Government. Whenever any demand for information is received, the offices concerned in the office spend their energies in freshly locating and retrieving record for serving every individual request for information. The record itself does not generally lend itself to convenience in retrieval, since the arrangement for maintenance is poor.

The Nation Sub Committee of Central Information Commission felt strongly that effective implementation of RTI Act could only be assured if all Public Authorities up-grade their systems of record management. It was noted that progress has been made in this regard in most of the States has been negligible. The obligation for Administrative Reform and adoption of Information Technology is that of the Governments concerned. The Commissions can at best advise the respective authorities to speed up the process of up-grading record management. The Committee felt it necessary to reiterate that the obligations for record management under various Sections of the Act that have not been fulfilled in most states.

The Committee lists some of the important measures for better maintenance of Record Room in the government office.

For easy availability of information from records each organization with specific reference to Right to Information Act, should adopt the following:

1. It should take a view whether a particular record needs to be created at the initial stage itself. When the record is created proper classification of record may be determined.
2. A systematic process of indexing and cataloging may be adopted. The records should be kept in such a way that current records are easily accessible and semi-current records are kept at the place, which does not disturb the work of the official concerned and non-current files may be transferred to the departmental record room for systematic storage.
   
3. Proper steps may be taken to preserve the records in record room. Once the basics which are expected from a record generating organization to follow are in place and records are preserved for easy identification, various records may be bundled in different color cloth etc. Definite efforts may be taken to timely weed out the unwanted records as cluttering of records prevents or makes it difficult to retrieve information.
4. Last but not least, the appropriate governments must ensure that public authorities prepare a road map for digitisation and networking for effective records management and adequate budgetary support is provided to accomplish this.

Surprisingly none of the DD offices at District level has a Record Room..........................!!!!!

but the RTI Act imposes the following obligation on the Public Authorities

OBLIGATION UNDER SECTION 4:

Section 4(1)(a) places obligation on every Public Authority to maintain its records systematically, and, as far as possible, to computerize these records and connect them through a network all over the country on different systems. The Act prescribes no time limit to meet the obligations under Section 4(1)(a), but this Sub Section directs that, subject to the availability of resources the record should be computerized on scientific and modern lines, so that access to such records is facilitated.

Section 4(1) (b) requires every Public Authority to publish complete details of its functioning, its powers, responsibilities, duties, the name of all its employees, their salaries, the documents held by them, the budget available etc. and the facilities for the common public to access information in all these offices.

Section 4(1)(b) prescribes as many as 17 manuals in which complete information regarding the functioning of every Department and Public Authority has to be published on the public domain. Every Public Authority was obligated to publish complete information under section 4 (1) (b) within 120 days from the enactment of the Act, that is, before 12^th October, 2005.

Section 4(1)(c) requires all Public Authorities to publish all relevant facts on policy formulation within their domain. Section 4(1) (d) requires the Authorities to provide reasons for their administrative or quasi-judicial decisions to affected persons.

The remaining portions of section 4, that is sections 4 (2), 4(3) and 4(4), require the Public Authorities to provide suo motu information to the Public from time to time, to disseminate such information widely in such form and manner as is easily accessible to the public, and place it to the extent possible in electronic format.

OBLIGATIONS UNDER SECTION 5 :

Section 5 of the Act requires all Public Authorities to designate Public Information Officers and Assistant Public Information Officers in all administrative units and offices charged with the responsibility of providing information to persons requesting for the information under the Act. The APIOs are required under sub-Section 5(2) to receive all applications for information or appeals under the Act, and to forward these to the PIO concerned. This section also lays down the responsibilities of the Public Information Officers. Compliance with Section 5 of the Act was required to have been completed within 100 days of the enactment, that is, by 25^th September, 2005.

In most of the States, the ambitious target dates set in the various sections of the RTI Act have clearly not been adhered to. Various Public Authorities have expressed helplessness in fulfiling the obligations within the stipulated period of time.

The systemization and modernization of record management requires inputs of funds, material and man-power. The Committee noted that the Central Government as well as the State Governments had repeatedly expressed their commitment to computerization and adoption of information technology. Substantial funds had also been set apart under various projects and schemes of the Central and State Governments for this purpose.

On the above grounds I request your Good self to maintain the Record Room of the Department Properly. Since you are bringing reformation in the System, I am writing this mail with a ray of Hope. I request you to oblige the same.

Action Taken on this mail is humbly solicited.

Yours Truly

Madhu

Advocate and Human Rights' Activist,

Ashasoudha, Chikkakallur,

Gubbi Taluk, Tumkur Dist. 572 220.

Pls see my other blog http://puedepartmentdefects.blogspot.com

Why a record room was made in the PU Education Department?

The Officers did not make the record room by their own interest!!!!!
It is because of the Direction of the Karnataka Information Commission and after may requests to implement the direction, they started to arrange the records. The copy of the direction issued to the PIO, PUE is herein given. Click on the image to see it in full size. The other documents reveal how i struggled to implement the direction of KIC.

I request the Director to computerize all the important records in order to protect them from mischievous activities of some of the Department officials!!!!

What measures have been taken by the Department to Protect the Documents in Records Room?

A report titling -Fire at BBMP office razes khata files:- A massive fire at a BBMP office on Sampige Road on Thursday destroyed as many as 11,000 property-related documents, including khata files made me to write this letter to you.

The DPAR has issued many circulars and the CIC has issued many directions to keep record rooms in proper manner. I have given here two of them which are very important.

Maintenance of records in consonance with Section 4 of the RTI Act

N0.12 192/2009-1R
Government of lndia

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
(Department of Personnel & Training)
North Block, New Delhi

Dated the 20Ih January 2010

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Maintenance of records in consonance with Section 4 of the RTI Act

The Central lnformation Commission in a case has highlighted that the systematic failure in maintenance of records is resulting in supply of incomplete and misleading information and that such failure is due to the fact that the public authorities do not adhere to the mandate of Section 4(l)(a) of the RTI Act, which requires every public authority to maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and form which would facilitate the right to information. The Commission also pointed out that such a default could qualtfy for payment of compensation to the complainant. Section 19(8)(b) of the Act gives power to the Commission to require the concerned public authority to compensate the complainant for any loss or other detriment suffered.

2. Proper maintenance of records is vital for the success of the Right to lnformation Act but many public authorities have not paid due attention to the issue despite instructions issued by this Department. The undersigned is directed to request all the MinistrieslDepartments etc. to ensure that requirements of Section 4 of the Act in general and clause (a) of sub-section (1) thereof in particular are met by all the public authorities under them without any further delay.

(K.G.Verrna)
Director
Tel. No.23092158

1. All the Ministries IDepartments of the Government of lndia
2. Union Public Service Commission1 Lok Sabha Sectt.1 Rajya Sabha'
Secretariat/ Cabinet Secretariat/ Central Vigilance Commission IPresident's
Secretariat/ Vice-President's Secretariat/ Prime Minister's Office/ Planning
Commission IElection Commission
3. Central lnformation CommissionlState lnformation Commission
4. Staff Selection Commission, CGO Complex, New Delhi
5. Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of lndia, 10, Bahadur Shah Zafar
Marg, New Delhi.
6. All officerslDeskslSections, Department of Personnel & Training, Department
of AR & PG and Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare.

Copy to: Chief Secretaries of all the StateslUTs

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GOVERNMENT OF KARNATAKA

No. DPAR 82 RTI 2007 Karnataka Government Secretariat

5th Stage, 2nd Floor,

M.S. Building,

Bangalore, dated 21-8- 2007

Circular

Sub : Maintenance of files/records in Government offices as per the orders of the Karnataka Information Commission.

The Karnataka Information Commission has issued orders that a comprehensive procedure be adopted regarding proper and regular maintenance of files/records, their preservation, duties and responsibilities of the officers/staff and action to be taken in the case of misplacement / non availability of files / records vide their order No. KIC 301 COM 2007, dated 28-6-2007.

In this background, the Government Offices, Corporations, Boards, Government aided institutions/indirectly aided institutions shall maintain files/records in their offices (as follows).

1) Instructions in Chapter 17 of the Secretariat Manual (Revised) 2005 shall be strictly followed and necessary action should be taken on the following:

a) After disposal of files under different classes they shall immediately got stitched and forwarded to the record room. They should not be kept in the office for any reason what so ever.

b) Records classified as ‘D’ shall be destroyed after expiry of the period after making an entry in the register. Such register shall be forwarded to the records section and the same shall be called whenever necessary.

c) The records in the registers maintained in the sections should be sent to the General Record Section when they are no longer required for current use in the sections.

d) After recalling the files disposed under Class A, B, C, D from the record section, after using the same they must be immediately sent back to the record section, they shall not be kept in the section for any reason whatsoever.

e) The State Archives Department should inform the section concerned about the expiry of the period of preservation mentioned on the file under their custody, the sections should respond immediately and take action to destroy the files.

2) Disposal paras 51 anf 52 and paras 68 to 84 of the Manual of office procedure (1976) shall be strictly followed and action must be taken on the following issues also:

a) Certain record files which are actually not required specifically for any sub-section can be kept with the record keeper. The gazettes, periodicals, periodical informations, reports, advertisements etc. come under this category the preservation of these files depend upon the preservation period prescribed and shall be disposed accordingly.

b) Files received at the record section must be classified as A, B, C, D and E (this will not apply to the Secretariat Departments).

c) Year wise bundle shall be prepared and the year of disposal be mentioned on the bundle.

d) Records must be destroyed according to the standing instructions.

Classification of Files:

Files must be classified in accordance with the Secretariat Manual and Manual of Office Procedure. After such classification files shall be invariably be sent to the State Archives (Secretariat), like wise the disposal of files according to their classification be done as mentioned in the manual of office procedure.

Preservation of files :

1) The Record room should be provided with exhaust fan and bright light so as to prevent accumulation of dust and insects.

2) Periodicals fumigation and spraying of insecticides conducted to prevent destroying of files from worms and insects.

3) Fire prevention measures must be taken.

4) To preserve important files action should be taken for microfilming, scanning, digitalization and computerization of files (according to the merit of the files).

Maintenance of files/records

When record files are not required for use specifically for any section, they should be kept with the record keeper. Notwithstanding anything contained in the manual, the destroying of the files pertaining to Accounts should be subject to the provisions of the financial code. (Manual of Office procedure para 53).

Duties/responsibilities of the officers/employees:

1) As required in chapter II of the Karnataka Government Secretariat Manual 2005 and the Manual of Office Procedure, the Officers/employees shall perform their duties with due responsibility of maintaining the files/records.

2) The Public Information Officer appointed under the Right to Information Act should furnish the information after thorough examination of the application seeking the information. While furnishing such information the employee concerned also shall involve and perform his duty.

3) In case the file in respect of which the information is sought in the application made to the information officer is not traceable/missing, a new file if possible may be created and the information is furnished.

Regarding the procedure to be followed in the case of missing files the Karnataka Information Commission till date has issued orders in about 80 cases. One example is as follows:-

a) Case No. KIC 566 CoM c/w KIC 603 COM 2006

“… Commission noted that the records relating to land acquisitions are permanent records and these records cannot be lost. Therefore it is essential to fix responsibility on the concerned for loss of records. Accordingly the commission directs the respondent to the register an FIR with jurisdictional police against loss of connected records and also to hold an internal enquiry to fix responsibility on the concerned for loss of records”.

Action shall be taken in case of missing files as per the above order of the Commission. Further the files are the property of the Government and they should be preserved with due care.

This is the duty of the officer/staff of all departments/corporations/boards and maintenance of the files should be strictly followed.

J.C.R. SUBRAMANIAN

Principal Secretary to Government

Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms

(A.R-Training and Political Pension).

On the above background I would like to know

whether the following measures have been taken by the PU Education Department for the Preservation of files :

1) Whether the Record room has exhaust fan and bright light so as to prevent accumulation of dust and insects.

2)whether the Periodicals fumigation and spraying of insecticides conducted to prevent destroying of files from worms and insects.

3) whether the Fire prevention measures have been ensured.

4) To preserve important files an action of microfilming, scanning, digitalization and computerization of files (according to the merit of the files) have been introduced in the office.

I have written this letter in Public Interest. Action Taken on this letter is humbly solicited.
For your better understanding as to how to maintain record room I have given you the below link. I request you to go through it and please do the needful.

A Model record Room in Hassan

Yours Truly

Madhu C S

Advocate and Human Rights Activist,

Chikkakallur, Gubbi Taluk

Ph: 572 220