Times of India: Nagpur: Monday, July 16, 2018.
The State
Information Commissioner (SIC), Nagpur bench, has expressed annoyance over
failure of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to provide information under
the Right to Information (RTI) Act to an activist. SIC has also directed the
municipal commissioner to conduct an enquiry against deputy commissioner Sanjay
Kakde for not attending the hearings.
On February
26, 2015, activist Ankita Shah had sought information pertaining to NMC’s
Bhandewadi animal shelter on eight counts. This included year-wise data on
total number of dogs rescued, released after treatment, died at the shelter,
the corporation’s total expenditure on treatment of animals and other
information related to appointment of vet and maintenance of the shelter.
Following
this, NMC on March 13, 2015, asked Shah to deposit Rs4,800 for providing the
information running into 2,400 pages.
The applicant
asked NMC to submit this information in a compact disc but the latter did not.
Shah then filed a first appeal on April 1, 2015 after which she was given a
hearing on April 15. The civic body’s deputy commissioner, who was also the
first appellant officer directed his subordinate to provide the information
within 15 days which did not happen.
Shah filed an
appeal with SIC on September 3, 2015, during the hearing of which Shah alleged
that the civic body did not check proper documents before handing over its
animal shelter land to an organization. However in spite of repeated summons,
the deputy commissioner of NMC remained absent from the hearing. Acting on
this, SIC in its order dated December 15, 2015, directed the municipal commissioner
to reprimand his deputy.
The
commission also directed NMC to pay compensation of Rs1,000 to Shah and provide
her the required information in seven days.
When Shah
still didn’t get information, she filed a second appeal on November 30, 2016,
stating that though she received the compensation, NMC failed in providing the
information. In June this year, SIC slammed NMC stating that even though the
issue was related to animal welfare, the civic body did not take it seriously.
The information
commissioner has now directed the civic chief to conduct an enquiry against
Kakde and take necessary action. Once again, the commissioner has directed NMC
to provide the required information under RTI act.
TOI has been
repeatedly reporting about the pitiful conditions of the shelter. Presently,
the civic body is carrying out Animal Birth Control (ABC) operations in the
premises.
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