Times of India: Ahmedabad: Friday, January 10, 2014.
For three
years, Pankaj Bhatt was running from pillar to post at the Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation (AMC) for information on permissions for construction and repair
works in the Walled City. Despite several appeals before the town development
officer (TDO) of Kalupur, Rai wasn't provided information.
State chief
information commissioner D Rajgopalan recently fined the TDO Rs 25,000 and
issued a show cause notice to the deputy estate officer central zone, asking
why departmental action not be initiated. The commission pointed out that
despite its directive in July last year, AMC officials not only failed to
comply with the order, but also didn't respond.
Bhatt said:
"I wanted to know about the permission granted to a building coming up in
Kalushah ni Pol. The owners were building three floors instead of one. I wanted
information on the building permission given to the building to know whether it
was legal," says Bhatt.
Rajgopalan
further issued a show cause notice to deputy estate officer as to why Rs 2,000
be not deducted from the officers salary to be paid as compensation to the
applicant for incovinience caused. Such a provision is mentioned as section
20(2) of the RTI act. Bhatt adds, "This is not the only information I had
demanded from the officer. I had sought information on almost all buildings
that were permitted to construct extra floors after during the tenure of the
officers," says Bhatt.
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