Satish uses RTI pleas to take on Ramesh

Belagavi: The Right To Information (

RTI

) Act which was introduced to bring in transparency in administration is being used as a political tool, especially ahead of the byelection for

Gokak

assembly constituency.

Gokak has emerged as a battleground for the Jarkiholi brothers. Ramesh Jarkiholi, the elder among the brothers who was disqualified as MLA and Yamakanamardi MLA Satish Jarkiholi have locked horns. Satish is supporting his younger brother and Congress candidate

Lakhan

Jarkiholi.

Satish has been making allegations of huge corruption against Ramesh.

To substantiate his allegations, Satish has asked 23 gram panchayats to provide information under RTI Act about details of gram sabha meetings held in the past five years. He has also sought CDs of video recordings of those meetings. Based on his letter, the local taluk panchayat executive engineer has instructed project development officers (PDOs) to provide the information within seven days.

Satish has also sought details about some development works from gram panchayats separately where he has alleged about large scale fraud. Amid this on-going battle between the high profile brothers, PDOs and other officials in the taluk have come under immense pressure. According to the sources, Ramesh is warning some PDOs not to provide the information sought by Satish while the latter is also exerting pressure on the officials to get the information. It is learnt that some PDOs are following government norms to respond to the RTO pleas while some are using delaying tactics.

When asked to comment on the developments, RTI activist and advocate Surendra Ugare said, “It is unfortunate that a powerful tool like the RTI Act is being misused by politicians for petty politics. If senior politicians use RTI at higher government levels than at panchayat level, they could disclose many scams through which crores of public money is being looted.”

Winning the Gokak assembly seat has become a prestige issue for both the Jarkiholi brothers. Ramesh and Sathish have been in loggerheads since the day the former was dropped from the cabinet and replaced by the former. Sathish has been propping up his younger brother Lakhan’s name as the Congress candidate form Gokas since several months.

A couple of days ago, Satish met state election commission chief Sanjeev Kumar and sought the transfer of some officials.