Times of India: New Delhi: Wednesday, January 31, 2018.
The central
information commission (CIC) has directed the finance ministry to reply to a
year-old RTI application seeking details of the amount of black money collected
by the government after demonetisation.
The direction
came on an RTI plea filed by Khalid Mundappilly, who had approached the Prime
Minister's Office (PMO) on November 22, 2016, after PM Narendra Modi announced
a ban on currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 on November 8.
Solving the
black money problem was one of the reasons cited by Modi for the demonetisation
move. "Kindly let me know the amount collected as black money,"
Mundappilly had asked. His query did not receive any response within the
mandatory 30-day period after which he filed a complaint against the PMO before
the CIC on January 9, 2017.
Chief
information commissioner R K Mathur, however, spared the PMO from penalty under
the RTI Act after its officials tendered an apology for the delay in responding
to the RTI application. "The respondent is directed to advise the 'deemed
CPIO' viz the in-charge of the section concerned to be careful in future and
adhere to the timelines prescribed in the RTI Act," Mathur said.
Under the RTI
Act, the Commission is bound to levy penalty on the central public information
officer (CPIO) who has not responded to an RTI application within 30 days if it
is satisfied that the delay was without any reasonable cause or because of mala
fide intention.
The
application was transferred to the department of revenue on January 25, 2017,
for providing the response, PMO officials told the commission.
Mundappilly
told the commission that he had received no response from the department of
revenue.
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