Dear Citizens.
RTI applicants, are doing a wonderful Job unearthing what the CSIC keeps and
ministers keep in hiding.
Kudos to Simpreet and Agarwal
Information officers appointed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act who do
a shoddy job appear to be getting away with it. The seven
state information commissioners penalised 21 public information officers in
various departments in Maharashtra a total of Rs 2.21 lakh in the past year for
providing misleading or incomplete information to RTI applicants. Shockingly,
only around 1% of this amount has actually been deposited with the state
treasury.
Data provided by the State Information Commission (SIC) shows that only Rs
2,500 of the total penalties of Rs 2,21,600 has reached the state treasury in
the past year. According to the RTI Act, the department concerned is supposed
to deduct the penalty from the monthly salary of the erring public information
officer.
"It's shocking that the heads of various departments are sitting on the orders
in spite of our directions to impose the penalties,'' state information
commissioner Suresh Joshi told TOI. Joshi said he'd take up the matter with the
chief secretary and direct the officials concerned to deduct the penalties
soon.
Simpreet Singh, an activist with the National Alliance of People's Movements,
said delays are among the main reasons why public information officers (PIOs)
flout the RTI Act they know their department will not act on the orders. "We've
been stonewalled by the PIOs of the urban development department and the BMC on
our queries on slum rehabilitation, '' said Singh.
He said until March this year, 15,438 second appeals had been filed with the
SIC. "We already have a huge backlog, and appeals come up for hearing after a
year or so. And even after that, if the departments don't comply with orders of
the SIC, the RTI Act may become ineffective in the long run,'' Singh said.
Simpreet Singh, an activist with the National Alliance of People's Movements,
said delays are among the main reasons why public information officers (PIOs)
flout the RTI Act they know their department will not act on the orders. "We've
been stonewalled by the PIOs of the urban development department and the BMC on
our queries on slum rehabilitation, '' said Singh.
The CIC has asked the office of the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha to
explain the reasons for denying information about correspondence among L K
Advani, the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister on the issue of"black
money"stashed in Swiss banks
Agrawal had filed an RTI application in the Office of Leader of Opposition L K
Advani seeking detailed information on the letter written by the former Home
Minister to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister&aposs reply to
it.
He demanded copy of the letter, its reply, file notings and other relevant
documents on the issue of"black money"in the Swiss banks under the RTI Act.
Rgds :Leslie Almeida
