Times of India: Shimla: Tuesday,
March 04, 2014.
Chief
information commissioner Bhim Sen, in his recent order, has issued notices to
26 SDMs of Una, Shimla, Chamba, Sirmaur, Kangra, Mandi and Lahaul-Spiti
districts under section 20 of the RTI Act 2005 for imposition of penalty for
not providing the action taken report to their respective Deputy Commissioners
despite several reminders being issued to them.
The two
deputy commissioners and five representatives of the deputy commissioners gave
the names of the SDMs who did not comply with the directions to provide the
action taken report for determining the eligibility of the PRIs and ex-PRIs in
the BPL lists of their respective areas.
From RTI
information it was revealed that more than 10,000 PRIs and ex-PRIs were
included in the BPL lists of Himachal Pradesh. After obtaining this information
a complaint was filed by RTI Activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya to Chief
Secretary for ordering an inquiry to determine the eligibility of these PRIs
and Ex-PRIs who were included in the BPL lists of Himachal Pradesh.
Special
secretary (RD) issued directions to all the deputy commissioners on December
22, 2012 to review the genuineness of inclusion of these PRIs and Ex-PRIs in
the BPL lists. Bhattacharya filed an RTI application on March 4, 2013 to know
the status of the action taken report by Deputy Commissioners. When no reply
was received by him then a first appeal was filed on June 22, 2013. After this
a second appeal was filed on September 4, 2013 in the state information
commission to get the information.
Seven deputy
commissioners were found defaulting in not providing the action taken report
and were issued penalty notices. They put the blame of default on their
respective SDMs and now those 26 SDMs are summoned for penalty purposes.
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