Daily
Excelsior: New Delhi: Monday, 22 February 2016.
A forged RTI
reply furnished seven years ago from his office triggered harassment of a
public information officer of Delhi government who finally found refuge in the
CIC which has ordered the Chief Minister’s Office to inquire into the matter.
The then
Public Information Officer Harjeet Singh, who processed RTI responses at ADM,
North District here, had to use the Act to clear himself of the serious charge
levelled against him.
In 2008, a
response was issued from his office to L D Chopra even when no RTI application
was filed. The response was unsigned saying that certified copies of a will
have been provided without due process of law.
On the basis
of this unsigned response, Anti-Corruption Branch of Delhi government started
proceedings against Singh who had now moved as an administrative officer in
Delhi Pollution Control Committee.
Singh started
filing RTI applications seeking details of the RTI response which triggered
action against him but no reply was furnished to him. Even earlier orders of
the CIC did not help. Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu took stern
view on it.
“The reply
served its purpose to help land grabber and its serious side effect was that
one responsible officer of public authority suffered humiliation and insults as
he faced investigations for no fault of him causing mental depression to entire
family members,” he said.
Acharyulu
said it is not clear till now which public servant has issued the letter dated
SPIO/DC/(N)/RTI/5/ID No.360/928 dated February 14, 2008 which is fabricated.
“It appears
that officer who signed the letter is known to others, but all of them are
shielding him by putting forward the ‘non traceable’ plea. The Government has
responsibility to probe this through an appropriate investigating authority,”
he said.
“The Commission
finds this as a very bad case of non- response to RTI request, where the
appellant is not a common citizen, but an officer of the same government, who
became the victim of a falsely generated RTI response in the absence of any RTI
request,” Acharyulu said.
He noted in
the order that neither the PIOs nor the ADMs of north and central districts,
have cared to take serious note of Commission’s orders in this case, which
reflects misuse of RTI by officers.
“The
appellant had suffered prolonged humiliation, harassment and insults with
different kinds of investigations by police, ACB and others. In spite of many
notices, the PIOs did not attend,” he said.
Issuing
showcause notices, the Information Commissioner asked ADMs of central and north
why a penalty should not be imposed on them and why disciplinary action cannot
be recommended against each of them.
“The
Commission also requires that the Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister of
Delhi to take serious note of this criminal act of falsification of record and
then hiding the crime under the cover of illegal excuse that ‘RTI record not
traceable’,” he said.
The
Commissioner said if for any jurisdictional issue, the GNCTD finds it is not
within their purview to investigate this, they should request the Union Home
Ministry to take up the investigation. (PTI)
.JPG)
.JPG)
