| PIO asks applicant to deposit Rs 55,000, SIC says provide record free of cost | | Information under RTI Act | | Early Times Report
BHADERWAH, July 6: Believe it or not , an applicant who sought information under Right to Information Act (RTI) from Block Development Office (BDO), Bhaderwah, was asked to deposit Rs 55,000 by the concerned BDO who also is PIO. Details available with Early Times reveal that one Khurshid Ahmed, son of Abdul Hamid Wani of Behote Marmat, Doda, moved an application on January 31, 2015, before the PIO/BDO, Bhaderwah under the Jammu & Kashmir Right to Information Act, 2009 wherein he sought information relating to certain schemes like MGNREGA, BRGF, MPLAD, CDF, MLA, MLC and CDN. The applicant sought details of all the panchyats in Block Bhaderwah. Feeling aggrieved of the inaction on the part of the PIO, Khurshid filed first appeal on March 18, 2015 before the First Appellate Authority (FAA), ie Director of Rural Development Department, Jammu, which was disposed of vide office No DRDJ/RTI- 315/ 2015/ 1887-91 dated April 21, 2015 with a direction to the PIO to provide the requisite information to the appellant within 10 days free of cost under proper receipt with a warning to be careful in future. The appellant, feeling aggrieved of the non-compliance of the FAA's order, filed 2nd appeal before State Information Commission (SIC) on June 22, 2015, wherein he alleged that he visited the PIO's office at Bhaderwah several times but no information was provided to him. During the course of proceedings at SIC on June 30, 2015, the PIO apprised the commission that the appellant was requested to deposit an amount of Rs 55,000 vide registered letter No BDOB/RTI/2014-15/41-42 on February 12, 2015, which the appellant did not comply with and as such the information sought by him could not be provided to him. The appellant denied to have received any such letter. The PIO submitted that the information sought by the information seeker is voluminous and the compilation/consolidation of such information involves manpower and he is having shortage of staff in the office and it is not manually possible to prepare the information sought by him. He requested SIC that the appellant be directed to inspect the record on a working day and he would be provided necessary facility for inspection of record. While issuing the order, SIC directed the PIO to provide information free of cost to RTI applicant after he inspects the documents and records .
The SIC order reads as:
"In view of the aforesaid facts and observations, the PIO/Block Development Officer, Bhaderwah is hereby directed to allow the appellant an opportunity to inspect the record in his office on a working day during office hours and provide him certified copies of the relevant documents, if any requested by the information seeker after inspection of record, free of cost under an intimation to the Commission. The parties are at liberty to settle the date and time for inspection of record which may convenient to them. The appeal is accordingly disposed of." |
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