Himanshi Dhawan, TNN, Oct 24, 2010
NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has slapped the maximum penalty ever on any agency at one time by directing six MCD officials to cough up Rs 25,000 each for withholding information related to transfer of staff. These errant MCD officers will have to pay Rs 1.5 lakh for a 100-day delay in providing information under the RTI Act.
Noting the delay in disclosure of information, information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said, "Since the delay in providing the information has been over 100 days, the Commission is passing an order penalising all six officers Rs 25,000 which is the maximum penalty in the Act."
The applicant Ravi Bhushan Bali had in February 2010 asked for information related to direct recruitment, ad-hoc promotion and regular promotion of 13 officers. Bali has also asked details of how many officials had been transferred from DDA to MCD and under what terms and conditions. He also sought information on the status of his own promotion that has been pending before a higher authority.
In his reply in April 2010, MCD PIO had argued that the department was still in the process of collecting the information but could not provide the relevant facts. In fact, it was only after a rap on the knuckles by the CIC in September that the municipal corporation provided Bali with service books of all the sanitary superintendents and allowed the applicant inspection of the relevant files.
Arguing that the Commission was obliged to levy a penalty if it found that information had not been furnished without reasonable cause, Gandhi in his order said no reasonable cause for delay had been cited in this particular case.
He has asked the MCD commissioner to recover Rs 25,000 each from the salary of sanitary superintendents Nand Lal (south zone), Rajendra Prasad (south zone), Raj Pal Singh (SP zone), Om Prakash (Najafgarh zone), Ravinder Rai (west zone) and Naresh Kumar (central zone). An amount of Rs 5,000 will be deducted from their monthly salary.
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