Chandigarh Tribune: Chandigarh: Friday,
July 15, 2016.
Three PPS
officers are in the dock for disobeying orders of the Punjab Information
Commission.
The officers
are Harjit Singh Pannu, SSP, Moga; Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar, SSP, Mansa; and
Charanjit Sharma, posted at the Punjab Police headquarters in Chandigarh.
Questioning their conduct, the Commission today shot off a letter to the
Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Principal Secretary, Home Affairs and Justice,
Jagpal Singh Sandhu, to take corrective steps to make these officers respect
law.
Bhullar and
Sharma were also posted as SSP, Moga, during the period when an application
filed by complainant HS Hundal, an advocate, was not dealt with properly. He
had sought information regarding the procedure followed by the police during
investigations. His plea remained pending for 11 months before he filed a
complaint.
Chander
Parkash, Information Commissioner, said: “Despite being issued show-cause
notices, the officers did not bother to reply to the Commission. They failed to
justify their decision to deny the information.”
Pannu instead
of replying to the RTI query, deputed a DSP-level officer (who was not Public
Information Officer) to speak on his behalf despite the fact that the SSP was
bound to give a reply in the capacity of PIO.
On the last
date of hearing on June 14, the Commission had issued show-cause notices to
Bhullar and Sharma under Section 20 (1) of the RTI Act.
Gopal Chand,
DSP (HQ), who appeared on behalf of PIO-cum-SSP, Moga, informed the commission
that the information could not be supplied to the applicant as per provisions
of sub-section 4 of Section 24 and Section 8 (1) of the RTI Act.
Meanwhile,
the Information Commission has also asked DGP Suresh Arora to take necessary
steps to ensure that the officers file their replies with the Commission as the
conduct shown by the officers in this case is likely to harm the image of the
Punjab Police.
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