| Non payment of salary to JK Cements Plant Engineer | | Seeks reasons under RTI , SIC comes to his rescue | | Jammu, July 20 : The State Information Commission (SIC) has come to the rescue of a plant engineer working in JK Cements Ltd who has not been paid salary for the months together. The engineer has sought reasons under J&K RTI Act 2009 for withholding his salary. When the requisite information was not provided to him, he was forced to file an appeal before the State Information Commission (SIC). The SIC in its judgment dated 14.7.2014 has directed the JK Cements authorities to provide information to the RTI applicant free of cost and warned the MD JK Cements to remain careful while implementing RTI Act. According to the documents available with Early Times, Ankush Langer, a resident of Ram Vihar, Old Janipur here, moved an application dated 15.04.2014 before the PIO,O/O the J&K Cements Ltd under Jammu & Kashmir Right to Information Act, 2009, asking for the latest clear cut status of his appointment as Plant Engineer, Electrical, vide appointment letter No. JKCL:PLA:PF/2013-437 dated 22.10.2013. "If the appointment is valid, alright and having no loophole of any kind, then give reasons of non-payment of my due salary since my joining. Otherwise, give complete reasons thereof," he demanded in the RTI application. Feeling aggrieved of inaction on the part of PIO,O/O the J&K Cements Ltd, the appellant filed first appeal dated 22.05.2014 before the First Appellate Authority/Directorate of Industries & Commerce, Jawahar Lal Nehru Udyog Bhawan, Railhead Complex Jammu. The Assistant Director (APIO), Directorate of Industries & Commerce, Jammu transferred the appeal of the information seeker vide office No. DI&C/RTI/100/31-32 dated 28.05.2014 to the Managing Director, J&K Cements Ltd, Jammu for further necessary action at his end. As per the records available, it shows that RTI application as well as first appeal filed by the information seeker has not been disposed of till date and as such feeling aggrieved, the information seeker knocked the doors of the State Information Commission (SIC) by filing second appeal dated 24.06.2014.
After receiving the second appeal, the matter was listed for hearing by the Commission on 14.07.2014. Atul Sharma, General Manager, J&K Cements Ltd who appeared on behalf of J&K Cements Ltd apprised the Commission that Office of the PIO, J&K Cements Ltd is located at Srinagar and because of that the application of the information seeker could not be disposed of within the statutory period as mandated under J&K Right to Information Act, 2009. He further stated that there is no malafide intention on the part of J&K Cements Ltd to deny the information to the information seeker and the same will be provided subject to its availability in the office record and sought ten days time to do the needful.
While disposing off the second appeal filed by the appellant, the SIC directed the J&K Cements Ltd to provide the information free of cost. The SIC order reads as : "Keeping in view the aforesaid facts and observations, Atul Sharma, General Manager, J&K Cements Ltd is hereby directed to furnish the requisite information to the information seeker free of cost within ten days from the date of pronouncement of this order under an intimation to the commission.
The Managing Director and the PIO, J&K Cements Ltd, Jammu are hereby warned to remain careful in future while disposing of the RTI matters. They are also reminded of their duty to adhere to the statutory deadline, so that citizen's precious and valuable right to information gets enforced and protected through the mechanism prescribed under the Right to Information Act, 2009 without any hassles" |
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