The Tribune: Chandigarh: Thursday, January 11, 2018.
The State
Information Commission has issued bailable warrants against Gurugram City
Magistrate Manisha Sharma for failing to appear before it and furnish a reply
to an RTI activist for more than three months.
State
Information Commissioner Hemant Atri has, however, given her a last opportunity
to appear before the commission on February 23 and submit a compliance report
of its orders for providing information to RTI activist RP Sharma from
Faridabad.
On March 23
last year, RP Sharma had sought information from the Gurugram District
Education Officer on the status of compliance with child safety norms in the
district for which the
district authorities had submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court.
When officials
failed to furnish information for long and even the first appellate authority
failed to help, RP Sharma approached the commission.
In his orders
issued on September 20, October 30 and December 4, Atri directed the State
Public Information Officer (SPIO) in the office of District Education Officer
(DEO) to furnish part of the information within 10 days and ruled that the City
Magistrate, who is also the State Public Information Officer in the DC’s
office, would furnish rest of the information.
Atri also
issued a show-cause notice to the City Magistrate as well as the State Public
Information Officer in the DEO’s office, asking them to be present before the
commission to explain reasons for non-compliance of the order.
Manisha
Sharma neither appeared before the commission nor did she furnish reply to the RTI
activist.
“The commission takes a strong exception to the non-appearance of the City Magistrate. She has neither bothered to send a reply to the appellant as per the commission’s directions nor has she replied to the commission’s show-cause notice. This speaks very low on her functioning. She has not bothered to take up an RTI application which concerns a larger public interest such as measures for children’s safety in schools even after more than three months. This cannot be taken lightly,” the commission said while issuing bailable warrants against her.
“The commission takes a strong exception to the non-appearance of the City Magistrate. She has neither bothered to send a reply to the appellant as per the commission’s directions nor has she replied to the commission’s show-cause notice. This speaks very low on her functioning. She has not bothered to take up an RTI application which concerns a larger public interest such as measures for children’s safety in schools even after more than three months. This cannot be taken lightly,” the commission said while issuing bailable warrants against her.
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