From

K. D. Prathapan 11th November, 2014 Department of Entomology Kerala Agricultural University Vellayani PO, Trivandrum-695522 Kerala

To Dr S. Dam Roy Director & RTI Appellate Authority PB No. 181, Central Agricultural Research Institute Garacharama PO, Port Blair-744 101

Dear Dr Roy,

Sub: Appeal as per the Right to Information Act, 2005

Ref: 1. My request for information dated 30.9.2014 (copy enclosed) 2. Reply of CPIO, CIARI - F. No. RTI/CIARI/117/8826 dated 1. 11. 2014 (copy enclosed)

Kindly refer to the above mentioned request for information and the reply provided by the Central Public Information Officer of your Institute. Please note that as per Question no. 1, I have clearly requested for copies of basic records such as Field Note Books and Laboratory Note Books in possession of CIARI. However, the CPIO has not given me a direct reply. Instead he has obtained reply from the scientists who are no more with your Institute. As the research work under question was undertaken by researchers of a public institution, using public funds, these records fall well within the definition of public documents as per section 2 (f, h, i and other relevant provisions) of the Right to Information Act, hence it is the binding duty of the Institute and its authorities to keep such public documents under their custody and make it available to interested citizens as per the RTI Act, 2005 (please see section 4 of the Right to Information Act).

I kindly request you to clarify the following, already raised in my application dated 30th October:

1. Is CIARI in possession of any basic records such as Field Note Books or Laboratory Note Books, pertaining to the research paper mentioned in my information request dated 30.10.2014?

2. If the answer to question no. 1 is yes, please provide a xerox copy of the same. Copying charges, as prescribed, will be remitted by the undersigned on receipt of your reply.

3. Drs Ajanta Birah and Someswar Bhagat, in their joint reply dated 15.10.2014, have informed me that the field note book is available with them. However, they have denied access to the same citing IPR issues related to the project outcome, despite publishing the results of their study (Ajanta Birah, Someshwar Bhagat, Tripathi, A. K. and Srivastava, R. C. 2011.

Impact of pest management modules against pollu beetle, Longitarus nigripennis Motschulsky in black pepper in Bay Islands. Indian Journal of Entomology, 73(2): 110-112). Evidently they are using IPR issue as a bogey to deny information, even after publishing the results of the study. This misuse of clause 8 (d) of the Act, based on false claims is an offence, liable to invite punitive measures, under clause 20 of the Act. Moreover, a public document which is the product of public funding is being kept under their personal custody for personal gains. This is in complete violation of all rules, regulations and conventions. Hence I request you to kindly take necessary steps immediately to take over the document(s) and make it available as per the RTI Act, 2005.

4. I also request you to kindly clarify the IPR issues mentioned by Drs Ajanta Birah and Someswar Bhagat as their reply was forwarded by your CPIO, the research work was carried out in your Institute and more over the results are already published.

5. Outcome of any public funded research cannot be owned by individual scientists, without the knowledge and consent of their employer as per the ICAR norms. As the Director of the Institute, are you aware of any move by Drs Ajanta Birah or Someswar Bhagat to make any IPR claim based on the outcome of the above mentioned research work carried out at CIARI?

Sincerely

Prathapan

From

K. D. Prathapan 20th

January, 2015

Department of Entomology

Kerala Agricultural University

Vellayani PO, Trivandrum-695 522

Kerala

To

Dr Shrawan Singh

Central Public Information Officer

PB No. 181, Central Island Agricultural Research Institute

Garacharama PO, Port Blair-744 101

Dear Dr Singh,

Sub: Information request as per the Right to Information Act

Ref: Lr 10146 dated 29/11/2014 of the Director, CIARI (copy enclosed)

I request you to kindly share complete copies of the following documents mentioned in the Lr No. 10146 dated 29/11/2014 of the Director, CIARI:

1. Original Project Proposal i.e. RPF-1

2. All Progress Reports of the Project in RPF II and

3. Project Conclusion Report in RPF III

4. Project results evaluated and certified by Dr T. V. R. S. Sharma

(Name of the project: Integrated Pest and disease management of Black pepper Principal Investigator: Dr. Someshwar Bhagat)

Fees, if any, will be remitted by the undersigned as directed by you.

Please find enclosed a postal order worth Rs 10/- (no 76E 251755 dated 15.1.2015 )

towards the fees, as per the RTI Act.

Yours sincerely

From

K. D. Prathapan 11th

March, 2015

Department of Entomology

Kerala Agricultural University

Vellayani PO, Trivandrum-695 522

Kerala

To Dr S. Dam Roy Director & RTI Appellate Authority PB No. 181, Central Agricultural Research Institute Garacharama PO, Port Blair-744 101

Dear Dr Roy,

Sub: Appeal as per the Right to Information Act, 2005

Ref: 1. My request for information dated 20.1.2015 (copy enclosed) 2. Reply of CPIO, CIARI - F. No. RTI/CIARI/129/13468 dated 12. 2. 2015, received on 21.2.2015 (copy enclosed)

Kindly refer to the above mentioned request dated 20.1.2015 for information. I have requested for copies of the following documents:

1. Original Project Proposal i.e. RPF-1

2. All Progress Reports of the Project in RPF II and

3. Project Conclusion Report in RPF III

4. Project results evaluated and verified by Dr T. V. R. S. Sharma

(Name of the project: Integrated Pest and disease management of Black pepper Principal Investigator: Dr. Someshwar Bhagat). However, my request was denied by your CPIO citing copy right issues. Copy right issues are not

applicable in this case. Please see the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 (http://copyright.gov.in/documents/copyrightrules1957.pdf)

Hence I request you to kindly provide copies of all the requested documents.

Fees, if any, will be remitted by the undersigned as directed by you.

Yours Sincerely