RTI helps to inspect recordsat government offices

"Growth means change and change involves risk, stepping from the known to the unknown.”
And yes, we wanted to explore that unknown to bring a change. A change that will ensure the growth of the society.

Have you ever felt the nerve to inspect the Govt records and bring to light the corrupted activities? We did and that very thought made us well prepared for yet another attack on corruption, with our very own weapon RTI.

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EVENT : Inspection of Records in Government Offices.

DATE(S): 20th March 2010 and 13th April 2010

GOVT. OFFICE(S) VISITED:

1. Irrigation & Command Area Develipment Department, AP Secretariat(on 13/04/2010)
2. Sri Parvathi Jadala Ramalingeswara Swami Devasthanam, Cheruvugattu Village, Narkatpalli Mandalam, Nalgonda Dt. (on 20/03/2010)

PURPOSE:

1. To verify whether the purchases/transactions are made from valid TOT or VAT dealers who inturn pays taxes to government.(Total amount of tax evasion every year is between 10,000 - 20,000 crores).
2. To verify whether the authorities are maintaining proper records for every rupee they receive/ every rupee they spend.
3. To ensure that the respective organizations are not escaping from paying the right amount of taxes that they should be paying ( By verifying the bills)

This will help us to understand and control the corruption level in that particular organization.

DETAILS OF SECTIONS USED:

1. RTI Act 2005, section 2(j)(I) gives the power to every individual to inspect any record of the govt. organization.
2. RTI Act 2005, section 2(j)(II) says that every one has the right to take the duplicate copy of the desired receipts.
3. As per VAT Act 2005, sec 17, every shop owner(turn over > 5lakhs) has to be registered as TOT or VAT dealer and must pay tax quarterly.
4. TOT(Turn over Tax) or TIN(Tax identification number) number must be printed on every bill.

For more information on commercial tax department, please refer following site, https://apcommercialtaxes.gov.in/

PROCEDURE:  For anybody who would like to verify the records,

1. File a RTI to the respective department/Organization where we wish to conduct an inspection. Please find attached RTI application's we filed to above offices.
2. We will be allocated a specific timeslot for the same, which is feasible for the respective Department/Organization, to proceed with review of records. Please find attached the response from respective departments.

ACTIVITIES DONE:

1. Verified: Inspection of bills(Money spent) for financial year 2005-06 and 2006-07 in temple.
2. Verified: Inspection of bills(Money spent) between 29/12/2009 and 31/12/2009 for stationary and other purposes.
3. Verified whether bills are from valid TOT or VAT dealer as per VAT Act 2005 (None of the bills had TOT or VAT number on it .i.e.NO TAX was paid for these purchases/transactions which was in lakhs)

We are going file a complaint with Commercial tax department on this.

ADVANTAGES:

• We can catch hold of illegal business owners who are evading lakhs of commercial taxes every year.
• We get to see how exactly the Govt. money is being spent at various organizations.
• If we feel that a particular organization is corrupted in any way, we can file complaint and make sure that the necessary actions are taken to bring the corruption levels to zero.
• Organizations will now be more disciplined and with surprise visits by the responsible people will make every Govt. employee work diligently.

In a simple words "More disciplined, Transparent and Corruption free Society"

OUR TEAM:

1. Srinivas Rao Ganji
2. Abdul Azeez Shaik
3. Subrahmanyam
4. Praveen
5. Kiran

PHOTOS: Please find below the link for photos of the event,

http://picasaweb.google.com/LoksattaSanjeevani/InspectionOfRecordsInGovtOfficesUsingRTI

Please join us in these activities and let us all work for the betterment of society that we all dream of, every minute and every day.

Regards
LOK SATTA PARTY-(Citizen Help Center, Saroornagar