Every Punjab police station should have PIO, rules SIC

Feb 28, 2011,

PATIALA: In a major step towards the implementation of the Right to Information Act (RTI) in the Punjab police, the State Information Commission (SIC) has ruled that every police station of Punjab should have its own public information officer (PIO). The commission has made it clear that the SHOs are the PIOs for the purpose of providing information and asked the Director General of Punjab to ensure the implementation of new directions.

The decision, which was taken recently, will not only help the residents of the state in getting information at the earliest as they would be able to file RTI applications with their respective SHOs instead of going to the SSP's office, but it would also reduce the burden on the district headquarters as presently the district police headquarters are overburdened with RTIqueries.

"We have been receiving applications from the entire district. After receiving RTI applications we forward these to the police station concerned, but if the SHOs start working as PIOs then residents will be able to get their information directly from their police station instead of coming to our office," said a senior police officer posted in Patiala. Kuldeep Singh had filed an RTI application with the SHOcum-PIO of police station Salem Tabri, Ludhiana, in November 2010 and sought certain information related to the Salem Tabri police station.