Official refuses RTI information 24 times, fined Rs 2.29 lakh

Deccan Herald‎‎: Bengaluru: Wednesday, September 21, 2016.

An official has been fined a staggering Rs 2.29 lakh for failing to give information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act in 24 separate instances. He paid Rs 1.45 lakh of the fine but still refused to furnish information.

Taking strong exception to the official’s continued misdemeanour, the Karnataka Information Commission (KIC) has ordered disciplinary action against him under Section 22 of the RTI Act.

The official in question is D Hemanth. He has been repeatedly trying to outwit the commission, which has been hearing cases against him from 2009 onwards. In all these years, he did not appear before the commission even once.

Trouble started when Hemanth was posted on a deputation to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) as Assistant Executive Engineer (Cottonpet). Despite being the Public Information Officer (PIO), he repeatedly failed to furnish information sought by several applicants.

On March 22 this year, when yet another case against Hemanth came up for hearing, State Information Commissioner L Krishnamurthy decided to take stringent action against him.

In this case, Hemanth had denied T K Renukappa, a resident of Laggere, information he had first sought in May 2012. When it came to light that the PIO was none other than Hemanth, the commission dug into previous instances of similar violations. The commission wrote to the Urban Development Department and learnt that Hemanth had been repatriated to his parent department (PWD) back in 2014 itself. He is currently working as AEE in the department in Chitradurga.

During the enquiry, the commission also learnt that Hemanth had been fined Rs 2.29 lakh in 24 cases but had cared to pay only Rs 1.45 lakh. Taking serious note of the matter, the commission has asked M Lakshminarayana, Principal Secretary, PWD, to immediately take disciplinary action against Hemanth. It also asked Lakshminarayana to furnish the action taken report at the earliest.

‘PWD must take action’

Krishnamurthy said that the ball was now in the PWD’s court as the next hearing was on October 19. Officials in the PWD said that the department had asked the BBMP to list the violations and frame charges against Hemanth. But the Palike is yet to oblige it.

Once the Palike reverts to the PWD, an enquiry officer will be appointed to probe the matter and furnish the action taken report to the commission, officials said.