FIR against 2 former GPOs for ‘ignoring’ RTI plea

Times of India: Bareilly: Friday, 31 October 2014.

Two gram panchayat officers, who evaded the powerful RTI Act for nine years, are finally being brought to book. However, the twist is that one of them has passed away while the other has retired.

The district panchayat raj officer (DPRO) has lodged an FIR against two former gram panchayat officers (GPO), Sudhir Sharma and Ashok Singh, for not providing information sought by a local resident under the RTI Act in 2005.

Sudhir Sharma completed his term in 2004, while Ashok Singh passed away in 2006 after completing his term in 2005.

According to reports, Tauseef, a local from Ghuanssi village under Aonla police station, had filed an RTI in 2005, seeking income and expenditure details of the gram sabha after his house was demolished in 2001. Tauseef suspected that the then gram pradhan, Wali Ahmed, was behind the move. Ahmed had reportedly lodged a complaint against Tauseef with the SDM, who had ordered the demolition.

Now, nine years later, the department has still not furnished the records as desired by the applicant. Frustrated after pursuing the matter for so long, Tauseef appealed to the district magistrate who ordered the present gram pradhan officer (GPO), Rajeev Saxena, to get the required information.

Saxena, however, denied having any such record stating that then GPO Sudhir Sharma (30 January 2001 to 18 September 2004) and Ashok Singh (18 September 2004 to 15 April 2005) did not hand over the records of specific period when he took charge.

The DPRO, T C Pandey, said, "It is a serious offence to not hand over the complete records to a new appointee. The record desired by the applicant is missing and the fact came to light after the present GPO denied the presence of the specific records as they were not handed over to him." He added that they are trying to get their hands on the details desired by the applicant.

Inspector, Aonla police station, Shakti Singh said, "A case had been registered against two people Sudhir Sharma and Ashok Singh after we received a written complaint from the officials concerned under section 409 of the IPC. Things, however, will have to be verified by the department before lodging an FIR against a dead man."