“Malik, Veeresh” wrote:

—– Original Message —–

From: Malik, Veeresh

To: shailesh Gandhi

Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 6:56 AM

Subject: National Convention on RTI/Oct’05

Dear Shailesh,

Greetings.

I would be keen to know how you can justify to yourself about being part of the steering committee of an RTI Convention in Delhi, to be addressed by the President and PM, when all the non-Government organisations, including yours, are themselves not adhering to the RTI Act’05?

I will understand if you and your colleagues on the steering committee do not provide me with this information. I have learnt over the last few months that those who profess to provide good governance and transparency or ask for transparency the loudest, are always the ones who have the biggest objections to doing so themselves.

The reality is that the “common citizen” is still simply unable to even submit an RTI Application without going through hoops. It is as simple as that. And to some extent, I am beginning to understand that many of the “activists” actively support such a situation, for whatever reasons.

Please let me know how and when I can submit an RTI Application to those on the steering committee, and then the convention starts having some credibility, at least to me. And also to some others, who have asked me about this very issue, and will be assisting the “leading luminaries” as well as the person presenting the “valedictory address” in their presentations and speeches.

Fair notice in advance.

Sincerely,

Veeresh Malik