Treasury babus to pay for PIO inaction, Move to counter RTI complacency; officers to face salary cuts for non-information.

Bangalore Mirror: Bangalore: Friday, 08 January 2016.

In order to change the public information officers' (PIOs) casual approach in dealing with information petitions, the Karnataka Information Commission (KIC) has, for the first time, decided to penalise Treasury Department officials if PIOs fail to pay the penalties levied on them. The Treasury Department takes care of the PIOs' salaries. The move has been put in place to ensure that the Right to Information (RTI) is taken more seriously and that the KIC court orders are more effective, officials told Bangalore Mirror.

So far, the commission had been penalising PIOs a maximum of Rs 25,000. Recovery of the penalties from the salaries of the PIOs concerned is either deliberately delayed or does not take place thanks to their nexus with the concerned department officials.

The KIC had no option but to send repeated reminders to the departments to warn officials, but to no avail. The commission's new move is likely to check complacency on the part of the PIOs.

"The KIC will soon start penalising the Treasury Department officers for non-payment of penalties by PIOs. When this comes into force, the PIOs will start facing salary cuts, and they will fall in line," a source told Bangalore Mirror.

Till December 2015, the KIC had levied a penalty to the tune of Rs 1,69,45,500 on the BBMP, BDA, Department of Commerce and Industries, Agriculture, BWSSB, Bescom, Finance Department, Food and Civil Supplies, and others. Out of this, a compensation to the tune of Rs 14,35,120 had been awarded. However, much of the penalties levied remain unpaid to the exchequer within the stipulated time, explained a source.

The Treasury Department officer concerned, who is also marked a copy of penalty order, will, henceforth, be penalised up to Rs 25,000 for delays under the RTI Act, the source explained.

"The decision comes in wake of a High Court order in CCC No 525, interpreting Section 20 of the RTI Act on penalties. It confers powers on the commission on enforcing its order. The order further states, 'It is cardinal principle of interpretation of statute, decisions of the apex court, that courts or tribunals, must be held to possess power to execute its own order'. It has also stated that the RTI Act, too, must be deemed to have been conferred the power to make its order effective, by having recourse to Section 20. Under this, we will hold the Treasury Department official concerned responsible for not complying with the commission's orders," L Krishna Murthy, state information commissioner, told Bangalore Mirror.

While Treasury Department officials were apprehensive about the move, stating that it would make them scapegoats for the PIOs' and their departments' lapses, the commission maintained that the new move would make the penalty recovery process more effective, and in turn, boost the RTI Act.