Times of India: Chandigarh: Wednesday, November
14, 2018.
In a strong observation against the
Punjab state transport commissioner, who has not provided information related
to government vehicles attached with former minister Bikram Majithia between
2008 and 2014, the Punjab State Information Commission (PSIC) has said it
appears to be an attempt to "willfully" stonewall flow of information
on one pretext or the other.
Zirakpur resident Karan Singh had sought
information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act on January 23, 2018, from
the public information officer (PIO), Punjab state transport commissioner, on
vehicles with Majithia from April 2008 to April 2014 and the name of
official/officials under whom the car number PB-31-E-0203 (Toyota Camry) was
attached from December 2011 to December 2012. The petitioner had asked for
information including month-wise expense incurred on each vehicle, per-month
distance covered by each vehicle, and details of drivers of each attached
vehicle. The petitioner was denied information following which he filed first
appeal before the first appellant authority on March 6 which took no decision.
Then, he approached the PSIC on May 10.
The respondent - state transport
commissioner claimed that the record pertaining to the information sought was
missing and urged the commission for more time to the department to trace the
record. Accepting the plea of the department, the commission adjourned the case
with the instructions that the department should make a diligent effort to
trace the file.
However, during the resumed hearing, PIO
Gurpal Singh changed the earlier stand of the missing file to deny information.
He said even though the file was traced, the office of the state transport
commissioner cannot part with the information.
The PIO said the cars and drivers are
allocated to the chief minister, cabinet minister, MLA/MPs by the ministers'
car branch as per the norms prescribed by the Motor Vehicle Board.
The PIO further contended that it is the
chief minister's security wing that deploys vehicles/drivers with the chief
minister and due to these reasons, the RTI Act is not applicable to the chief
minister's security and vehicles.
The bench of state information
commissioner Khushwant Singh observed: "On close scrutiny of the reply
submitted by the PIO, it is observed that the PIO's reply is not in accordance
with the RTI sought.
The information sought is about usage of
official vehicles attached with a former minister, and hence has nothing to do
with the chief minister's security. The reasoning provided to seek exemption is
bereft of any logic and no section of the RTI Act has been invoked to seek exemption."
The case will be heard on December 14.
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