Zee News: New Delhi: Friday, January 16, 2015.
Central
Information Commission has come down heavily on Registrar General of National
Green Tribunal for issuing "illegal" orders "without application
of mind" on RTI pleas, saying such actions will obstruct furnishing of
information and scare away applicants.
While issuing
a show-cause notice to Registrar General Sanjay Kumar, Information Commissioner
Sridhar Acharyulu also recommended that he be replaced from the post of First
Appellate Authority (FAA) under RTI matters at the Tribunal.
Kumar, the
senior most officer in NGT, was directed to explain why he passed "such
illegal orders, why he spent so much of time without hearing the appeal within
the time prescribed by the Right to Information Act and insisted on personal
presence and presentation of affidavits."
Acharyulu
said as the NGT is suffering from absence of coordination within the office,
the Environment Secretary should look into administrative problems of the
Tribunal.
The case
relates to activist Subhash Agrawal who had sought to know, through multiple
RTI applications, the details of vehicles purchased and sold by NGT, rules and
procedures etc on sanctioning of leave, LTC etc of the Chairman and members
besides statistics about RTI applications and first appeals.
National
Green Tribunal is the legal body for adjudication of environmental issues.
Not getting
response in time, Agrawal approached the Commission alleging Kumar caused him
serious harassment by insisting on his presence to prove originality of his RTI
application, to explain about his RTI applications and prove number of
envelops, postal orders and their genuineness.
Kumar also
wanted him to file affidavit duly verified and attested by the competent authority
mentioning all the facts.
"The
Commission finds that there is substance in the complaints made by the
complainant. Some of the aspects of the interim orders of the FAA are funny and
strange. They will definitely impose obstructions in the process of furnishing
information according to the RTI Act. It will scare away the information
seekers," Acharyulu said. He said Kumar has not "applied his
mind" to the facts, law and the circumstances of the case and made the
hearing of the first appeal a very elaborate and unnecessary exercise on
trivial matters because of which furnishing of information was totally
obstructed.
"The
Commission also observes that the FAA orders reflect lack of understanding of
law in furnishing the information which is harmful to the public authority
(NGT)," he said.
The Central
Public Information Officer of NGT, sub-ordinate of FAA, who was present during
the hearing said he does not want to continue to handle RTI responses as he was
over burdened with work as he is also Accounts Officer of the Tribunal looking
after Accounts Division.
He said he
has to personally go to another section to use the computer for typing the RTI
responses.
Acharyulu
said, "Having heard the submissions, the Commission comes to conclusion
that it is not proper to burden an Accounts Officer with RTI related work.
"The
Commission recommends the Public Authority to replace the CPIO with another
officer by providing necessary infrastructure including the computer operator,
so that he could attend the RTI matters in a careful manner, which is desirable
for an esteemed organisation like the NGT which is dealing with important
matters like environment/pollution."
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