BDPO told to pay Rs 5,000 to RTI activist

The Tribune: Bhatinda: Sunday, July 15, 2018.

The block development and panchayat office (BDPO), Malout, has paid Rs 5,000 as compensation to a local RTI activist after it failed to provide information sought under the RTI Act in the prescribed time.

Notably, the Punjab State Information Commission had recently directed the BDPO to pay the compensation and provide the information by July 17.

Sandeep Maluja, an RTI activist, said, “I had sought the information about the development works done in Malout villages through an application in March 2017, but the information is not given to me till date. Irate over it, I filed an appeal in the State Information Commission, which sought a reply from the BDPO office and then directed it to pay compensation of Rs 5,000 and provide full information by July 17. Now, if the office failed to provide me the information then some penalty too would be imposed on the officials concerned.”