Times of India: Navi Mumbai: Saturday,
February 11, 2017.
The State
Information Commission (SIC), Konkan region, recently passed an order
reprimanding Cidco for suppressing vital information sought by a dismissed
Cidco engineer, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Former Cidco
executive engineer Nandkumar Salla alleged that his income tax papers were
tampered with by eight Cidco officers to frame him in a disproportionate assets
case. In June 2013, ACB sleuths booked Salla for amassing wealth
disproportionate to his actual income and arrested him. After Salla was
released on bail, he sought details of all records pertaining to his service
with Cidco under RTI. But Cidco rejected his plea citing that it was personal
information and cannot be disclosed.
Salla then
approached the Vashi JMFC court following which the magistrate issued an order
on July 31, 2015, to register an FIR that was registered on August 1, 2015, at
CBD police station. The eight accused officers were booked for falsification of
Salla's official records.
The SIC order
(January 27, 2017) states that an inquiry should be initiated against the
concerned Cidco officials for suppressing the information. The inquiry should
be conducted by an officer of a higher rank and action should be taken against
the officers, the order stated. Cidco's public information officer should
provide all details sought by the applicant and a compliance report should be
submitted to the SIC.
Salla said,
"I had worked as an assistant executive engineer in Cidco from April 1984
till December 2012. As a whistle blower, I had filed many complaints of
corruption by some officers. They implicated me in a false disproportionate
assets case by submitting false details about my income and deliberately
reduced the salary amount. "
Cidco general
manager (admin) J L Rathod said, "The SIC order has been forwarded to the
concerned personnel department for further action."