SIC seeks action against official for non-adherence to RTI

The Indian Express: Pune: Wednesday, July 19, 2017.

STATE Information Commissioner (SIC), Pune, Ravindra Jadhav, has recommended disciplinary action against the erstwhile tehsildar of Indapur for allegedly failing to adhere to the tenets of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Jadhav has written to the principal secretary of the revenue department to take necessary action against the officer, who had allegedly failed to follow the orders of the SIC.

Sanjay Pawar, the tehsildar in question, was posted as the tehshildar of Indapur and was the first appellate authority under the RTI Act in 2016. It was then brought to the SIC’s notice that he was not conducting hearings under Section 19(1) of the RTI Act for first appeals.

First Appeal is the first of the two recourses left for applicants who are not satisfied with the information given to them by the public information officer (PIO). First appellate authorities are generally senior officers who hear the appeals and often correct the information given by the PIO.

In this case, while the tehsildar was the first appellate authority, the naib tehsildar was the PIO. By law, the appellate authority has to hold a hearing and pass an order on the first appeal. Both the state and central government had issued multiple office orders for proper enforcement of the RTI Act, but as recent examples show, much more needs to be done.

The SIC had issued a showcause notice to Pawar about why disciplinary action should not be recommended against him; the notice remained unanswered.

The SIC had also noted the multiple complaints filed against the official. “A showcause notice was sent to the tehsildar’s office through registered post and the letter was received. However, nor did the tehsildar appear for the hearing, neither did he send a written clarification about the matter,” the SIC observed.

Terming this as a wilful neglect of the RTI Act, the SIC concluded that the officer did not have anything to say to the notice and disciplinary action should be initiated against him.  At present, Pawar is posted as tehsildar, Karmala, Solapur  district.