Times of
India: Nagpur: Tuesday, January 15, 2019.
The
State Information Commission (SIC), Nagpur Bench has imposed a penalty of
Rs5,000 on public information officer (PIO) of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve
(TATR) buffer zone for misleading and violating RTI Act.
The
SIC has also ordered to deduct the amount from the salary of the PIO and other
officers who mislead the petitioner. It has also sought a reply in 15 days from
the PIO. The order was issued on January 5, 2019.
Deciding
an appeal filed by RTI activist Avinash Prabhune, state information
commissioner Dilip Dharurkar was critical of the PIO of TATR (buffer) who had
sought Rs45,000 from Prabhune saying the information he sought was available in
21,000 pages.
Considering
spurt in conflict around Tadoba, on December 13, 2017, Prabhune had filed
application seeking information on six counts regarding man-animal conflict,
how the animal was identified as man-eater, whether humans were killed in
forest areas and among host of other issues.
As
per the RTI Act, information was supposed to be supplied in 30 days but the PIO
on February 5, 2018 transferred Prabhune’s application to three different
entities. “This is wrong. As per GR issued on September 6, 2008, in such cases
the PIO should have transferred the application to one entity and should have
been asked to move fresh application with other offices,” said the SIC.
“The
PIO of buffer asked applicant to deposit Rs45,000 for 21,000 pages while the
office of the Tadoba core zone supplied information on the issue in 70 pages
free of cost,” said Dharurkar in his order. PIO & office superintendent
Dilip Puramshettiwar and appellate officer & divisional forest officer
(DFO) SS Bhagwat were present during the hearing.
“It
is really surprising how two officers working under TATR can act like this. One
PIO supplies information in 70 pages while other says it is in 21,000 pages. It
is improper to seek Rs45,000 for the information which can be supplied either
on a CD or e-mail. Seeking such exorbitant charges is a deliberate attempt to
deny information,” said the SIC.
The
SIC has also issued a show-cause to TATR (buffer) official as to why a penalty
of Rs250 per day under Section 20 (1) should not be imposed for not supplying
any information.
Earlier,
similar show-cause was issued to Tadoba (core) PIO for not supplying
information on eco-sensitive zone (ESZ).
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