Sarpanch pays for not understanding English, fined Rs 10K by info panel.

Times of India: Chandigadh: Thursday, July 09, 2015.

Not moved by the plea of a sarpanch in Jind district that he failed to supply information under the RTI Act as he did not understand the application written in English, the Haryana State Information Commission on Wednesday slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on him. State information commissioner Hemant Atri also imposed a penalty of Rs 5,000 on the village secretary Banwari Lal, a government official, who had also taken the same plea that he could not understand the application.

A villager Harke Ram had approached the commission after he failed to get information for months after filing an application under the RTI Act in September 2014 with sarpanch Rattan Singh of Kharal village in Jind district. He told the commission that his application was initially replied with only two pages that also after two months of filing the query. When he approached the appellant authority, subsequent replies were sent to him in March and May.

The commission found that there were only three questions pertaining to the records, which were always supposed to be instantly ready with the village panchayat. It said according to the order, it was clear from the sequence of events that the sarpanch and the village secretary were not serious enough in replying to the RTI application. "Instead of trying to satisfy the appellant at their level, they forced him to run from pillar to post to get the information. The same cannot be allowed," observed Atri in the order.

"The fact remains that if they had some problem in understanding the English, then how they sent the initial reply on November 15, 2014 and that too, a partial one," the commissioner maintained. According to the commissioner, the application which could have been easily replied within one week took almost 7 months which is against all set norms and provisions of RTI Act.