DNA: Mumbai: Saturday, July 12, 2014.
The state
information commission has directed the civic body to conduct an inquiry on its
officers, who did not provide an applicant the information that he had sought
from the building and proposal department.
In its order
dated June 24, the info panel has clubbed the Right to Information Act and the
Government Servants Regulation of Transfers and Prevention of Delay in
Discharge of Official Duties Act (Act 21 of 2006), more commonly known as right
to services act, to press for action against the errant officials.
Investigation
apart, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been asked to
compensate the applicant, Ravindra Chiplunkar, with Rs 10,000 for the
harassment meted out to him while he was seeking the information.
Chiplunkar
had sought details on an erstwhile pond spread over 6,000 sq mtrs – slightly
bigger than a football field – in Eksar Road, Borivili (west) that was filled
up. “The space was encroached upon in 2003. I got to know about it in 2012-13.
There was construction made on it around that time,” alleged Chiplunkar.
In his
application, the applicant had sought details of the circular from urban
development department regarding the place, notification about change the
reservation of the plot, whether the civic chief had the authority to do this
and the procedures that need to be followed for the same along with action
taken on his complaints.
“I was told that the reservation of the plot
was changed by none other than the municipal commissioner. But whether a
commissioner can do so and under what rules is what I wanted to know. A number
of times we see that plots are given away to developers and the government is
robbed of its revenue. My intention is to ensure that the government gets the
revenue that belongs to it,” claimed Chiplunkar, who works as a decorator.
While the
public information officer (PIO) did not give a satisfactory reply, the
applicant did not get any convincing information at the first appeal stage too.
This prompted Chiplunkar to file a second appeal with the state information
commission.
The order,
signed by the info panel chief Ratnakar Gaikwad, states that the PIO seems to
have not given replies and hence flouted the RTI Act. It also holds civic
officials guilty under the right to services act.
The
commission has now ordered the BMC to provide the required information by July
15. If information is not available against certain queries, the civic body
should state the same in as many words, reads the order.
Municipal
Commissioner Sitaram Kunte was unavailable for comment.
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