Hindustan
Times: Haryana: Saturday, 23 May 2015.
The Haryana
information commission has expressed “severe displeasure” on the functioning of
the public works department (PWD) and directed top officials to fix
responsibility and streamline the functioning of the department’s public
information officers so the appellants were not harassed.
The case
pertains to an application filed by a Faridabad resident, Dr Brahm Dutt, a
recipient of Padma Shri for social work in 2014, who had sought information on
July 28, 2014, about Dalbir Singh Dhanda, then working as an executive
engineer, provincial division PWD, Faridabad. The appellant was informed that
such a person did not exist in the department.
Since the
appellant was not present on Thursday, information commissioner Hemant Atri
sought to hear the case through video-conferencing with the appellant. However,
it could not take place due to a technical glitch and the information
commissioner heard it via audio-conferencing.
Perusing the
replies of the department given to Dutt, the commission found that the then
public information officer had replied “without any application of mind” that
the information sought was personal and hence could not be furnished. The
supplementary reply on November 10, 2014, was furnished after the orders of the
first appellate authority (FAA) wherein information related to some Dilbag
Singh Dhanda was furnished.
“This is sorry state of affairs in the
department…. not only the public information officer but the FAA also does not
apply its mind on the Right to Information (RTI) application pertaining to the
department,” Atri held in his decision.
The
commission also observed that such a careless and arrogant attitude of the
department official should not be tolerated at any cost if the rights of the
appellant were to be protected under the RTI Act.
The
commission thus advised Rakesh Manocha, engineer-in-chief, PWD, to personally
look into the matter and inquire into the facts which led to such a situation
and fix the responsibility in a time-bound framework and streamline the
functioning of the public information officers. If need be, arrange for their
training, so the appellant’s were not harassed anymore. A copy of this order
was also sent to the additional chief secretary of the department for
information and necessary action, if any.
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