Times of India: Ludhiana: Wednesday,
August 17, 2016.
The State
Information Commission has slapped a penalty of Rs 25,000 each on four public
information officers for causing inordinate delay in providing information to
the applicant under the RTI Act, 2005.
Official
spokesperson of the State Information Commission said the penalty was imposed
by the single bench of S S Channy, chief information commissioner, Punjab.
The
spokesperson said Rohit Sabharwal, president, Kundan Bhawan, 126, Model Gram,
Ludhiana, has sought information from PIO, municipal corporation, Ludhiana on
December 24, 2015 under the RTI Act.
The
information sought was to be provided by the respondent PIOs Bhupinder
Singh, PIO, municipal corporation; Danesh, PIO, municipal corporation; Ankit
Midha, PIO, municipal corporation; and Navneet Khokhar, building
inspector-cum-APIO (deemed PIO), municipal corporation.
Failing to
get any information within 30 days as mandated under Section 7(1) of the RTI
Act, the appellant had filed first appeal with the first appellate authority
and then approached the state commission in second appeal under Section 19(3)
of the RTI Act.
The
commission noticed that although the First Appellate Authority Ghanshyam Thori,
additional commissioner-cum-FAA had passed the formal speaking order and
directed the respondent PIOs to furnish the information free of cost within
seven days, none of the respondent PIOs supplied the information to the
applicant or furnished any kind of response.
The chief
information commissioner in his order stated, "Such kind of failure on the
part of the respondents is intolerable." The amount of penalty would be
deducted from their salaries for the month of August and September and would be
deposited in the treasury under the relevant head.
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