I&B official in a spot for ‘harassing’ info seeker

Deccan Herald: New Delhi: Monday, July 02, 2012.

CIC warns of imposing penalty on errant official. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has pulled up the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for treating an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act “casually” and directed the Information Officer to pay compensation for “unneces- sarily harassing” the information seeker.

Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi directed the Public Information Officer (PIO) to furnish the relevant details by July 15 and also to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed on him.

Thiruvanantpuram-based C Balu, who was associated with the National Film Development Corporation Ltd, sought an array of information from the ministry including copies of confidential annual reports from 1995 to 2010-11.

The ministry’s PIO replied back to Balu saying, “The requisite information is under process and the same will be sent to you in due course of time. Till then, please bear with us.”

When the information seeker challenged the PIO’s decision in an appeal filed before Chief

Public Information Officer (CPIO), he was again told, “information sought will be sent but not now”.

As Balu approached the CIC, the transparency panel took a grim view of the callousness shown by the ministry’s official and held him responsible for ill-treating the information seeker.

The Commission asked the PIO to pay Rs 2,000 as compensation to Balu. “It is clear that the RTI application has been treated very casually and carelessly by the PIO. The PIO states that the information is now ready and it appears that the PIO was waiting for the Information Commission to act as reminder service to provide the information.”

“The appellant has been unnecessary harassed and public resources have been unnecessarily wasted because of the carelessness of the PIO. The Commission is awarding a compensation of Rs 2000 to the appellant for the harassment faced by the appellant and the loss and detriment suffered by him in getting the information. The compensation is being awarded by the Commission in exercise of its powers under Section 19(8)(b) of the RTI Act,” Gandhi said in the order.