DNA:
Ahmedabad: Monday, 15 February 2016.
RTI activists
feel that the Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) is proving to be yet another
toothless tiger as only 39% of the fines imposed on public information officers
(PIOs), who have been penalised, have been recovered till date. The
constitutional body has been unable to do anything to get the remaining
government officers pay their fines.
Since the RTI
Act was implemented in October 2005, penalties have been imposed in 392 cases
which amount to Rs42 lakh in fines. However, till date only Rs13.98 lakh has
been paid, which is 39% of the total amount. When asked, the GIC secretary KS
Divan said, “There is nothing that the SIC can do in case someone does not
adhere to the commission’s orders.”
However, the
commission has started writing to the department heads asking them to deduct
the penalty amounts from the salaries of the PIOs and sources said that this
process has yielded results. Many of the department heads are making efforts to
ensure that the PIOs pay up the fines that have been imposed on them for not
giving information or for delaying the process.
Since its
inception, GIC has disposed over 45,000 cases till March 2014. Of these,
penalties have been imposed in only 392 cases, which is less than 1% of the
total cases. RTI activist Pankaj Bhatt feels that this is making GIC
ineffective as hardly any penalties are imposed. He said, “PIOs are not being
punished even if they do not give information under the Act. Also, in other
states the appellate authorities are also penalised but here this is not the
case.” He also said, “The commission can ask for disciplinary action to be
taken against erring PIOs under Section 20 (2) of the RTI Act 2005. Also the
GIC should ensure that the PIO is ordered to furnish information that he is
denying or withholding, whichever the case maybe.”
.JPG)
.JPG)
