Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Info panel fines officials for violation of RTI Act

Times of India: Jaipur: Wednesday, 14 April 2021.
The State Information Commission, while expressing its displeasure over the attitude of Ajmer Municipal Corporation which took a long time to respond to a citizen’s request seeking information under the Right to Information Act, imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the corporation commissioner.In another case, the commission imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the executive officer of Bhawani Mandi Municipality for ignoring the Right to Information Act. This fine will be deducted from his salary.
Hearing the matter, information commissioner Narayan Bareth said the corporation had made inordinate delay in replying to the RTI query. In this case, Nathu Singh of Ajmer had filed an application on May 30, 2018 asking the corporation for information on action taken on his grievance.
According to the applicant, on April 19, 2018, the district collector sent a letter to the corporation asking for a copy of the proceedings, remarks and note-sheet. But the corporation did not pay any heed to Singh's plea.
According to the applicant, when the corporation did not provide any information within the stipulated time, Singh filed an appeal to mayor under the Right to Information Act. After a hearing on September 17, 2018, the mayor ordered the corporation to provide information within 15 days. But the corporation administration also did not give any importance to the order of the mayor.
When the commission sought its response to the corporation on the appeal of Nathu Singh, the corporation kept refraining from answering.
The commission sent notices to the corporation four times but the civic officials did not pay any heed to it.
The commission also imposed a fine of Rs 5000 on the executive officer of Bhawani Mandi municipality in Jhalawar district. Anwar Hussain of Bhawani Mandi had complained that he had filed an application on July 10, 2010, asking the municipality for information about pattas issued under the State Grant Act.
When the commission asked the municipality for an answer, the municipality did not respond. The commission gave an opportunity to the municipality twice. The information commissioner instructed the officer to get Hussain to inspect the records and provide information up to 50 pages free of cost.