The
Hindu: VIZIANAGARAM: Saturday, 24 January 2015.
L. Tantiya
Kumari,RTI Commissioner Right to Information (RTI) Act Commissioner Lam Tantia
Kumari has warned Public Information Officers (PIO) of serious action,
including slapping of penalty, if the information sought under the Act was not
provided to the appellants within 30 days of filling of the applications.
41 appeals;
The
Commissioner, who received as many as 41 appeals from the three North Andhra
coastal districts at the Zilla Parishad Guest House here on Friday, said that
the Public Information Officers would be penalised and the transport charges of
the appellants would be collected from the officials if they made people visit
the office for a second appeal.
Moreover, she
said that she would not tolerate if people were denied information or provided
partially on the pretext of “file missing.”
“If a file is
found missing, the Public Information Officers must lodge a complaint with
police and submit the FIR copy to the complainant,” she said at a media
conference here.
Ms. Tantia
Kumari also issued notices to 18 Public Information Officers seeking
explanation from them on various issues.
In response
to two appeals pertaining to the appointment of two contract lecturers in
violation of procedure, the Commissioner asked the Joint Director to probe the
matter and submit a comprehensive report to her at the earliest.
She said that
the two appointments were made on the instructions over phone from the Joint
Director.
Owing to
increasing awareness among people about the Act, pendency of appeals could be
minimised, if Public Information Officers disposed them of at their level, she
felt and added so far, 1,400 appeals, a majority of them marked “file missing”
from Rayalaseema region, were pending.
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