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| Rs 25,000 to be deducted from Forest Officer's salary | | SIC penalizes DFO in CCF office Jammu | | ET REPORT
Jammu, Aug 10 : In a significant order passed recently by the State Information Commission, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) in the office of Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Jammu has been penalized for willfully denying to provide the Information under State RTI Act to an RTI applicant from Jammu . The said DFO is also the Public Information Officer (PIO) in the office of CCF Jammu . An amount of Rs 25,000 is to be deducted from the salary of the concerned DFO cum PIO .
State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of J&K State Information Commission while invoking proceedings under Section 17 of the J&K State RTI vide State Information Commission's Order No: SIC-J/Comp/01/2011 dated: 26.05.2011 and Khawaja Qamar-u-Din, DFO-cum- PIO Forest Department Jammu was asked to give reasons and explanation, for not passing an order within the time and delaying the information unreasonably, as stipulated under Section 7 of the State RTI Act and thus being liable for imposition of penalty and his reply was sought within 15 days from the pronouncement of the order of the Commission.
As per details available an RTI applicant Vilakshna Singh S/o Late Jagdish Singh Dogra a resident of Sidhra Bye Pass, Jammu filed an RTI application on 07.01.2010 before the PIO in the office of Chief Conservator of Forests Jammu seeking certain information. The RTI application was received by the PIO (DFO CCF Office ) on the same day i.e 07.01.2010. The PIO had to pass an order on as expeditiously as possible but not later than 30 days as per Section 7 of the State RTI Act. But the PIO failed to pass the order within the stipulated time and provided the information to the information seeker on 26.02.2010 which is late by 20 days. Aggrieved by the act of providing incomplete and misleading information RTI applicant filed first appeal before the First Appellate Authority ( FAA) on 19.03.2010 i.e the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) . The FAA forwarded the application of the appellant to DFO Jammu who happened to be the PIO CCF Office Jammu. The appellant was orally informed by the PIO that the RTI application of the complainant was transferred to DFO Jammu Division. The FAA also took his time and passed the order on 3.2.2011 i.e not within 45 days as provided under State RTI Act. FAA caused the delay of 275 days in disposing off the first appeal. FAA had directed the PIO to provide the required relevant information to the appellant within one week's time. But the PIO did not bother and provided the irrelevant and misleading information to theinformation seeker.
The Information Commission vide its order dated: 26.05.2011 had directed the PIO to send the information to the information seeker without any charges as per the provisions of the Act within 5 days.
He was also directed to explain why penalty may not be imposed on him for delaying the information unreasonably. He was also directed to send his reply to this Commission within 15 days from the pronouncement of this order. But the PIO did not respond to the order of the Commission nor did he cared to the notices issued by this Commission from time to time last one being on 27.6.2013 where under he was given last and final opportunity to furnish his reply explaining why penalty may not be imposed upon him. His reply was sought within 7 days failing which action as warranted under Section 17 of the State RTI Act will be taken. |
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