SIC comes down heavily on different civic officials in different cases
31 Jan, 2014An application was filed with the Nagpur Municipal Corporation under the Right to Information seeking to get a copy of the approved house plan and other details of the house built by the applicant’s father.
After the information was denied to the applicant stating that the concerned file was missing, the applicant filed the second appeal before the State Information Commission (SIC). The State information commissioner D B Deshpande of Nagpur bench has asked the municipal commissioner to make the requested information available to the applicant and to set up a two member team to search the missing file. The order also held that if the file could not be located within 2 months, action will be taken against those responsible for the missing file.
In another case, the SIC has asked the Nagpur Municipal Commissioner to provide the information related to the approved map of a house to the applicant within three months and to initiate departmental proceedings against the officials who failed to furnish the requested information within stipulated time.
In yet another appeal, the SIC issued show cause notice to the talathi of Gondia as to why disciplinary action should not be initiated against him for denying information to an applicant who had already paid the requisite fee. The order said that the fee amount be refunded to the applicant and that the information be provided to him within 30 days.
Further in a separate appeal, the SIC has ordered to initiate departmental inquiry by the sub-divisional officer of Saoner against a public information officer and senior clerk for failing to provide the information to an RTI applicant despite the information being available.