Bangalore Mirror: Bangalore: Monday, August 03, 2015.
State
Information Commission accused of lenience towards staff for delaying petitions.
The
information commission was set up to ensure transparency in decision-making by
government bodies, but the tables seemed to have turned on the panel itself.
Recently, it has come to light that information was sought from the commission,
but was denied and the commission's own staffer was fined for the lapse.
In a
first-of-its-kind case, a Public Information Officer (PIO) of the commission
was fined Rs. 2,000 for denial of information pertaining to the SIC.
The July 30
decision came after close to four years since an application was filed by RTI
activist and advocate A R S Kumar in September 2011. In his September 14
application to the PIO, Karnataka Information Commission (KIC), Kumar had
sought a list of certified copies of all such cases along with the petitioner's
name, respondent's name, name of information commissioners who heard cases
through video conferencing since inception of the video conferencing facility
during former state chief information commissioner K K Mishra's term till the
date of the application.
This was to
understand the optimal usage of the facility meant to ensure speedy disposal of
complaints (for which it was introduced) and create awareness on the same. He
had also sought information on the latest status of such cases. The information
would have shown the performance of the state information commission in
addressing grievances in districts away from Bengaluru, Kumar explained.
However, the
information was not provided within the stipulated 30 days' time. Kumar, on
October 14, 2011, filed a complaint with the information commission against the
information officer himself for not providing the information under Section 18
of the Act.
Strangely,
the case was taken up after 38 months (in Dec 2014) and summons was issued to
the PIO, KIC, and date was fixed for hearing the case on January 12, 2015. The
KIC's PIO Sreelatha Kotemath appeared before the commission and instead of
information, she pleaded that penalty proceedings may not be initiated against
her as she was not PIO at the time of Kumar's application.
After her
submission, information commissioner L Krishna Murthy issued a showcause notice
to then PIO T Ashok asking him to explain why penalty should not be initiated
against him. However, neither did the officer appear nor was information
provided, after which he was fined Rs 2,000.
SOFT ON
ITS MEN?
The
information commissioner sent out a message that even the information
commission was not above board and won't be spared. However, Kumar cried foul
stating that the meagre Rs.2,000 fine after a delay of over 45 months was a
sign of lenience. "First, it was a mockery of the information commission.
Secondly, the decision shows a lenient attitude towards a PIO of KIC. RTI
(Right to Information) seems to be 'Right To Ignore' as the penalty was
peanuts," Kumar felt.
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