Economic
Times: New Delhi: Tuesday, 22 September 2015.
The Central
Information Commission has summoned secretary to lieutenant-governor and issued
a showcause notice of maximum penalty in a Right to Information case.
Taking a
serious view of how an RTI application was handled by the Lieutenant Governor
secretariat, Information Commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu has issued summons to
secretary to LG, C L Das, to appear before the commission on October 15.
Acharyulu has also issued a showcause notice to Das asking him why maximum
penalty should not be imposed on him.
The Commission,
which is the final appellate authority for RTI Act, has taken action in case of
an appeal filed by a Krishna Park resident Karnail Chand who had given a
representation to L-G in 2012 pointing out tax fraud in South Delhi Municipal
Corporation. He had sought details of steps taken by L-G on his representation.
The applicant was told that L-G office had forwarded his representation to South
Delhi Municipal Corporation.
Information
Commissioner Acharyulu has taken a grim view in his order and has said,
"The Commission notices that L-G office has simply forwarded the
representation of the appellant to South Delhi Municipal Corporation without
completing their action... In fact, the request for information was 'what
action has been taken by the LG office regarding the scandals' and the PIO has
simply transferred it to South Delhi Municipal Corporation. It is against the
application of mind."
The applicant
had given a similar representation to deputy chief minister's office. During
the hearing Chand told the Commission that since there is dispute between LG
office and chief minister's office regarding jurisdiction of powers he has been
unable to find out the fate of his representations. His application has been
transferred to different authorities but he has not received any reply. Seeing
the way the application has been handled, Acharyulu summoned secretary to L-G.
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