Times
of India: Bhopal: Saturday, 18 July 2015.
After a RTI
query posed to general administration department (GAD) lay idle for more than a
year, state information commission finally passed an order on the pending
petition. Chief information commissioner K D Khan passed an order stating that
public information officer of the department should provide details within 15
days of receiving the order.
The order was
received my TOI correspondent on July 15 after a trial on the RTI query at
state information commission on July 6. No representative from GAD showed up
during the trial and excused themselves on grounds that no PIO can be present
for RTI trials till monsoon session of Vidha sabha concludes.
The order was
passed after more than a year of filing appeals, early hearing and complaints
by the TOI correspondent after failing to receive replies from GAD. The RTI
query sought information on "funds spent by general administration
department of the state in last five years for RTI awareness".
Public
information officer, GAD, neither rejected nor accepted the query nor did the
state commission take immediate action on second appeals and complaints.
Now as per
the panel's order, the PIO has to provide information available to him in any
format and if not then provide a reason for failing to provide information in
writing.
.JPG)
.JPG)
