Times
of India: New Delhi: Friday, 05 December 2014.
The state
information commissioner (SIC) has sought an explanation from an assistant
executive engineer (NH wing) of the PWD for providing wrong and incomplete
information to an RTI query.
The
explanation was sought as part of taking action against the official, P N
Sudharma, under Section 20(1) of the RTI Act.
The section
imposes a fine of Rs 250 a day on the official concerned "till application
is received or information is furnished" for "knowingly" giving
"incorrect, incomplete or misleading information." The penalty
amount, however, should not exceed Rs 25,000.
It was
alleged that the official provided inaccurate answers to queries from
Neeramankara-resident Mani Dharmarajan, whose land was "forcefully"
acquired on February 17 for widening the Karamana-Kaliyikkavila stretch of NH.
In the RTI
application filed on June 5, he had raised five questions regarding the
acquisition: items taken away from his premises, details of people involved,
names and designations of the alignment scrutinizing committee, whether there
was any change in alignment and the name of the contractor involved in the
demolition process.
On receiving
an "incomplete" reply from the PWD assistant executive engineer
(AXE), Dharmarajan appealed to the appellate authority, the executive engineer.
He approached the SIC, C S Sasikumar, for accurate information after finding
two of the answers by the executive engineer contradicted his colleague.
The SIC,
after holding a hearing with all officials concerned, found the AXE's reply
inaccurate and incomplete, and sought the explanation.
The SIC also
asked Sudharma to provide accurate information within 15 days of receiving his
note. Dharmarajan said he would submit the SIC's order to the high court, since
he had already filed a case against the acquisition.
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