Orissa Matters

With Dr. Anup Kumar Patnaik, the Disturbing Trend Continues at OPSC

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Post-superannuation appointment of Dr. Anup Kumar Patnaik to Orissa Public Service Commission (OPSC) may add an active component to the constitutional body, kept starved of members by the government run by Naveen Patnaik.

As against sanctioned strength of six members including the Chairman, there are now only two in the OPSC: one chairman and a single member.

Both are retired officers. The Chairman is a retired IAS officer and the member is a retired OAS officer in senior administrative grade. Dr. Patnaik shall now be of the same category as he has just retired as Orissa’s Director of Vigilance-cum-DG of Police.

As Director of Vigilance, Dr. Patnaik has reason to claim credit for for use of the Orissa Special Courts Act, 2006, in confiscation of properties of two IAS officers, as their assets were prima-facie disproportionately higher than their legitimate income.

The Act was there, the vigilance apparatus was there, the government was there and the Chief Minister was there. But such steps were never even in contemplation sphere.

Confiscation of properties of IAS officers was beyond imagination till Dr. Patnaik decided to use the power that the Act was equipped with.

During his tenure as Director, Vigilance cases not only increased phenomenally year after year, but also more than a hundred Class-1 officers were subjected to prosecution with around fifty per cent of them charge sheeted.

This achievement was unprecedented in the history of Orissa vigilance, as was the creation of a ‘Prosecution Cell’ addressed to streamlining investigation and efficiency in managing the cases.

To him the credit goes for striking on and stymieing of smuggling of mines and hounding the mining mafia out of their safe havens and their dogs in the mining directorate/department.

His proposal to create a new apparatus such as ‘Economic Offense Wing’of the sate vigilance to spot and to stop tax frauds by big business houses and companies/corporations will, if the government agrees, be a boon to Orissa exchequer.

But, more than everything he did as Director, Vigilance, he will continue to evoke admiration in administration and in the minds of whosoever keeps a watching eye on administration, for the unique team spirit he epitomized and positive approach he stood for in intricate cases.

So, putting such a person to OPSC is perhaps the best thing to happen.

But, his posting also adds to a very unhealthy trend that Naveen Patnaik is infesting administration with.

Since Naveen has taken over as Chief Minister, the OPSC, like the State Election Commission, has been made a hub of retired officers, who, when in service, had been in his close circle.

An incumbency chart of OPSC chairmen shows that the last in-service chairman was Prof.Dr. Hadibandhu Mirdha, appointed by the Congress government preceding Naveen. After Mirdha, the post has gone to retired officers only.

About two years after Naveen took over, as Mirdha retired on 28 December 2002, Vivekananda Pattanayak IAS (Rtd) who was inducted to OPSC as a member on 9 December 2002 by Naveen, was given the Chairman post. He continued till 11 December 2004, when Pradipt Kumar Mohanty, IAS (Rtd) took over from him. On end of Mohanty’s term on 31 August 2006, a retired IPS officer Suchit Das was placed in the post on 1 September 2006. He continued till 8 February 2010. A retired IFS officer Pravat R. Mohanty then got the job on 12 March 2010 with the intervening period handed over to another IAS (Rtd) officer Manoranjan Saran, who was already working as a member of OPSC after superannuating. Mohanty held the post till 10 May 2011. Before the last chairman Chinmay Basu IAS (Rtd) got the berth on 7 July 2011, K.C.Mohapatra, IAS (Rtd) had remained in charge from 24 May to 6 July 2011. Mohapatra continued as a member till February 9 this year, as B. S. Deo, OAS (SAG) continues. All these officers were very close to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik when in Office. So, their post-superannuation rehabilitation is indicating a trend that is as peculiar as questionable.

Is post-superannuation rehabilitation in highly coveted constitutional bodies meant to buy the silence of the rehabilitated officers as it is they that were/are the ones who, when in service, were privy to the most sensitive files wherein Naveen had/has strong involvements? May be, may not be. But it certainly cannot be said, that the phenomenon is not abnormal.

On this premise only, it should have been better if a good trendsetter like Anup Patnaik had not accepted the OPSC assignment.

It is necessary that the trend should end as otherwise many a good officers may corrupt themselves to earn the CM’s favor for fetching post-retirement benefits.

assembly in session // HOUSE RESUMES TO EXCISE POLICY AFTER HOOCH ISSUE ATE AWAY TWO OF ITS DAYS IN SUCCESSION

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Two days in the life of Orissa Legislative Assembly: 27 and 28 February, 2012. They are lost for ever without transacting the scheduled businesses.

They could have been saved had the Speaker saved the right of the House to hear the Government on hooch horror that has, in the first and second week of the month, extinguished at least forty lives, which, Opposition suspect, was to happen, as the ruling party, eager to bag Panchayat berths at any cost, in elections scheduled to begin with February 11, had tried to flood rural Orissa in vote catching liquor.

As the Speaker did not agree to adjourn the scheduled business on 27th on Opposition demand to hear the Government, with observation that the nomenclature of the adjournment notice was pregnant with mischief to affect the environment that the ongoing judicial commission of inquiry should be ensured with to proceed freely, the House had to face such protests that no normal transaction of business was possible. The day had to die.

The similar scenario also bung up the day on February 28, even though the Opposition equipped its notice with a changed nomenclature. Precipitation was so sharp that independent member Pratap Sadangi jumped over to Reporters’ table to say what he wanted to say and he said, the Speaker was acting as per instructions of the Government in disallowing the adjournment notice to discuss the colossal loss of life caused by spurious liquor. The day was lost.

In the life of Orissa Assembly such loss is not any new phenomenon, at least since Opposition got glimpses of how the hooch traders enjoy their nexus with power in the government of Naveen Patnaik.

The nexus exposed by fact finding commissions on 2001 tragedies notwithstanding, people died in 2005 as hooch mafia continued having their honeymoon with ministers. Opposition had to stonewall the Assembly proceedings completely for days together to press for removal of the protectors of the hooch operators from the cabinet.

And, because of Opposition activism, Rabi Narayan Nanda, closest associate of Naveen in the department of Water Resources and Kalandi Behera, then the Excise Minister, had to resign in March and April, 2006 respectively.

Yet the Government has not been able to convince the public that it does not protect the liquor mafia.

Hooch has hit the State in 2012 as it had in 2009.

Rural women, knowing how the male members of their families get ruined by hooch operators, have, in different parts of the State, raised agitations against opening of liquor shops in their respective localities at different times; but, instead of hearing them, the government has suppressed them through the police.

Loss of legislative days due to insistence of Opposition on hearing the government on repeated loss of human lives to spurious liquor, as such, is not new in Naveen Patnaik’s regime.

So, loss of the two days was just a repetition. In this phase, the excise minister in chair at the time when hooch hit its recent blow, has resigned.

Opposition eyes are now on the health minister as the administration has tried to link the deaths to spurious medicine.

In such change of circumstance, the Opposition was eager to hear the government, which the Speaker stymied.

However, on February 29 the Speaker allowed a discussion on excise policy, which the Opposition has exploited to demand resignation of the Chief Minister holding him responsible for all the hundred deaths caused by spurious liquor during his regime.

The government, of course, tried to shift the responsibility to the central government by saying that the tragedy could have been avoided had the central government cleared the State’s excise policy lying before it since 2009.

But how could that have kept the people away from death when ministers of the state are hand-in-glove with hooch operators is a matter that calls for answer the government has not been able to give.

And, as is noted, neither the Government nor the Opposition discussed the excise policy per se. So, in this respect the day is also lost.

People of Orissa Should be Allowed to Know What the High Court has Ordered on Sahitya Award

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Mother tongue and motherland are in Oriya concept equated with the mother. “ମାତୃଭାଷା ମାତୃଭୁମି ଉଭୟ ଜନନୀ”.

Therefore, it is natural on part of every Oriya to know of what exactly the Orissa High Court has said while allowing the presentation of Sahitya Award 2011 by India’s National Academy of Letters to ‘Achihna Basabhumi’ (ଅଚିହ୍ନା ବାସଭୁମି) despite the book being a displayer of nasty words and expression of hatred against lower castes, women and muslims.

On the plea that selection of this book as the best book in Oriya language for the national award was obtained through manipulation, a man of letters – Sricharan Pratap ‘Kaniska’ – had preferred a writ case before the High Court of Orissa, which was registered as W.P.(C) 1871 OF 2012 with a Misc Case numbering 1876/2012 that had resulted in a stay on the award. But subsequently on 14 February 2012, the Court lifted the stay and dismissed the case as not maintainable as a PIL, on the basis of which, the Academy has already presented the award to the writer of this book.

As the people of Orissa – including the NROs – are also anxious to know what the High Court has really said, currently in a foreign tour, I tried to get it for my readers through the judgment site in the internet; but it was not available. I contacted the petitioner and from him I got the information that though he has applied for an urgent copy of the order, he has not yet got it, because the members of the bench – Chief Justice V. Gpal Gowda and Justice B.N.Mohapatra – have not yet signed the verdict.

This position worsens the predicament.

Presentation of the award by the Academy of Letters on 15 February following the rejection of the petition in the High Court, when the petitioner has not even got a copy of the order because the same is not signed by the judges, has given birth to a phenomenon that makes one see how eager was the Academy to give away the award, exposed in public platforms as manufactured through manipulations.

To us, presentation of the national award to this book as the best one amongst Oriya books published in a given period of three years from 2007 to 2009 is an affront to the dignity of our language. We do not know, whether the judges have read this book or not; but we know the book is vitiated with so much obnoxious words and expression against the women, lower caste people and muslims that no sane society can vouch for it.

A few samples of filth from the book are viewable in saubhasya.com. We are not producing the same here as that should be requiring translation thereof into English and if done, that may be very embarrassing to any Oriya who prides over majestic beauty of his mother tongue.

This book in normal circumstances could never have earned national award as the most outstanding book in Oriya. But what for the High Court has cleared the book for the national award is not known to any in details as yet. Therefore the sooner the order is published or made available to the public, is better.

Yet, Hazare Made Misrulers Fidget

Anna Hazare, no doubt, hijacked mass awakening against plutocratic misrule to a peripheral syndrome that we have discussed earlier.

To the right-wingers’ delight, this has succeeded in stymieing for the time being the revolutionary uprising against creation of an India of the rich within the India of the Indians.

Yet, the way Manmohan Singh government has responded to his fast for creation of Jan Lokpal is indicative of how the misrulers are in fidgets when faced with forcing circumstances to act against grafts. Developments that we have marked, make me sure of this.

One:

The Prime Minister, nervous of public wrath against misrule on watching public response to Anna’s April fast, as a way-out, elevated him to an extra-constitutional partner in law making by deputing his ministers to co-author with him a draft Bill for his conceived Lokpal. But when the ministers failed to hoodwink him and his team, they were recalled as clumsily as they were engaged and the government rushed into placing a rash draft before the Loksabha claiming official prerogative in that regard, with Dr. Singh asserting that it is the Parliament’s prerogative to pass the Bill with whatever amendment it thinks necessary to form a powerful Lokpal which the civil society wants.

Two:

As Anna went on threatening with fast from August 16, 2011 against this betrayal, the police was used to frustrate that by denying him the location he wanted to carry out his program.

Even as senior ministers were engaged to convince the public that there was no political pressure on the police to deny him permission for fasting at his preferred site, Dr. Singh tried to play his misleading best from the customary Independence Day podium where crux of his speech was devoted to the issue of corruption, while, shrewdly, he was stressing that eradication of corruption would not be possible through hunger-strikes. If Lokpal is needed to end corruption, and a specific law is required for that, his government has already placed a Bill for the purpose before the Parliament, he said.

Three:

The police with a motive to suppress his proposed agitation and to browbeat his team, arrested Anna.

Even though the union home minister was claiming that there was no political interference in police work, and in arresting Anna, the police has acted as per its own wisdom and shall continue to act free of pressure, it was political dictation alone that set him free sans any charge or condition.

Shenanigans were such that he was, on his own accord, allowed to stay in the jail till the Ramlila Maidan in the very heart of the Capital city was prepared to host his fast, the preceding police stance completely discarded.

Such a farce of putting a person in jail and releasing him under orders not of judiciary but as the government wanted and allowing him to stay in jail till he decides to come out to start his fasting in the public, is unprecedented and indicative only of the nervousness that Manmohan Singh government suffers from, when faced with an agitation against corruption.

Four:

As the fasting went on, Dr. Singh not only frequently deputed his ministers to persuade Anna to give up, but also particular officers of high rank, believed to be having personal rapport with Anna, were summoned from his home state to prevail upon him not to continue with the fast.

And, the Parliament was made to jump over its rules to offer a standing ovation to Anna, as the Prime Minister put his salutes to him on records of the House and the Speaker got off her chair to take a standing position to express the appreciations of the whole House of what contribution he has made to the country by fasting against corruption and to appeal him on behalf of the entire House to end his fast. In this exercise, Dr. Singh had to say on records that the House shall consider the official Bill along with the parallel Bill Anna has been insisting upon and two other documents – not on records as Bills but purported to be so- sans any prejudice, if that helps improvisation of the official Bill, the aim being creation of a “strong” Lokpal.

This unprecedented stance never matches with the stance that gave birth to the official Bill placed before the Loksabha and makes it clear that afraid of what would happen, the political power holders have resorted to this tactics.

Five:

Yet again, through Rahul Gandhi, fresh attempts were made to freeze the Bills sine die under veil of giving the Lokpal a constitutional status and validity.

Halting of the announced agenda to discuss Anna’s Bill on Friday and Rahul’s reading out a written speech stressing upon bestowal of constitutional status to the Lokpal like that of the Election Commission which has amusing similarity with the versions of former CEC T.N.Seshan, is not without any time-consuming idea.

But people’s wrath against the politicians basking under the powers and privileges of Parliament is so very visible that the parliamentarians next day did not put any premium on Rahul’s suggestion and in stead, adopted a resolution to accommodate the three points advanced by Anna in the Lokpal Bill that stress upon the scope of the ombudsman’s area of operation only.

Criminals are happy:

The criminals and politicians in power – there are 180 members in the parliament that reportedly have criminal antecedents – are happy that the mass awakening against plutocratic misrule has been successfully channelized into an Annanized agitation against corruption and finally has fizzled out by adoption of a resolution in the Loksabha to create a Lokpal with jurisdiction comprising the areas Anna has stressed upon.

Anna has ended his fast at the summit of his image building as the new Indian messiah by corporate media as well as political stooges of capitalism, to whom the ever expanding left-revolution against the environment of plutocracy in India is a matter of constant worry.

By agreeing to incorporate Anna’s three suggestions in creation of a “strong” Lokpal and by giving a day to the Loksabha to express its mind thereon, the misrulers have of course evaded the instant pressure and succeeded in stymieing the left upsurge.

Whether or not he has hoodwinked the gullible people or himself has been hoodwinked by plutocrats in power, is a different matter to materialize in course of time; but, for now, it is apparent that, Hazare has made the misrulers fidget.

Orissa Government Forgets to Amend Information Rule: Activists Serve on Chief Secretary A Reminder

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

The Orissa State Government was ultimately convinced that the Rules it had framed and promulgated in 2005 for implementation of the Right to Information Act was deficient and urgent amendment to the said Rules (RTI Rules, 2005) was necessary to make it effective. Accordingly, last year, it had invited suggestions from the general public for amendment of the Rules.

Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan (OSAA), a platform of Civil Society Groups spearheading campaign for effective implementation of RTI Act in the State had submitted a memoranda of suggested amendments to the Rules in response to the government invitation. But, though it was in 2010, the State Government has not taken any further step in the matter. It looks, as if the issue has been forgotten.

A delegation of OSAA comprising Mr. Pradip Pradhan, Mrs. Usharani Behera, Mr. Tapan Mohapatra and Mr. Raj Kishor Singh have submitted last week a reminder to Chief Secretary of Orissa Mr. Bijay Patnaik, demanding to bring in the amendments to Orissa RTI Rules,2005 without any further delay. Mr. Patnaik, a press release by OSAA says, has assured the RTI Activists to take positive steps in this regard .