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| Penalty proceedings against Tehsildar dropped? | | Encroachment of Kah Charai in Shalteng | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Nov 21: State Information Commission (SIC) has dropped penalty proceedings against Tehsildar Shalteng Srinagar inspite of the fact that the officer was found involved in concealing information which is said to be of great public importance. Sources say that till date complete information is yet to be provided Details available with Early Times reveal that one Dr Ghulam Rasool has been following a case vis a vis encroachment of state land / kah charai. He sought details from Tehsildar Shalteng Srinagar about the land encroached in his area of jurisdiction. When the information was denied , he filed 1st appeal before the concerned First Appellate Authority (FAA). Finally the case landed in State Information Commission (SIC).
The State Information Commission (SIC) vide its decision dated 28.05.2018 disposed of the 2nd appeal filed by Dr Ghulam Rasool with a direction to the PIO/Tehsildar Shalteng Srinagar to show cause as to why penalty proceedings under Section-17 of the J&K RTI Act, 2009 may not be initiated against him for not responding the RTI application of the applicant within the prescribed time period as laid down under the provisions of the J&K RTI Act, 2009.
In compliance to the notice of SIC dated 21.06.2018, Tehsildar Shalteng, Srinagar attended the proceedings. Tehsildar who is also the designated Public Information Officer (PIO) drew attention of the Commission to the written statement filed by him before the Commission on 04.06.2017 wherein the PIO submitted that the RTI application claimed to have been sent by post by the appellant was not received by the PIO. The PIO came to know about the RTI application only when the appellant filed the First Appeal before the SDM concerned who is also the First Appellate Authority ( FAA).
On getting to know about the RTI request, the PIO perused the same and found that the information sought by the appellant was not readily available with the PIO and the said information had to be collected from field staff and thereafter consolidated for being furnished to the appellant. The information was finally collected, collated and furnished to the appellant on 12.03.2018. The PIO further submitted that the delay in furnishing the information to the appellant was neither deliberate nor intentional.
The penalty proceedings again came up for hearing before SIC on 11.09.2018. Ghulam Ahmad Khan, Tehsildar Shalteng (PIO) attended the penalty proceedings. The PIO submitted a Xerox copy of whole Receipt Register for the year 2017. The PIO reiterated his earlier stand that basic RTI application claimed by the RTI applicant to have been sent to his office through Registered Post has not been received by his office at all. The SIC heard Tehsildar / PIO and perused the receipt register of his office for the year 2017. "After such perusal, it transpired that the basic RTI request of the appellant was not actually received by the PIO, which the appellant claimed to have sent to him through Registered Post.
Therefore, the PIO cannot be held responsible for the delay till he actually came to know about it at the First Appeal stage, " reads SIC order.
The order further reads.
"Since the delay in furnishing information to the appellant in the instant case was not a result of an intentional and deliberate attempt on the part of PIO but instead has happened partly due to non-receipt of basic RTI request by the PIO and partly because the information sought by the appellant was not readily available with the PIO and had to be searched and collated from filed agencies, the PIO cannot be penalized for something which was beyond his control. The penalty proceedings initiated against PIO/Tehsildar Shalteng are accordingly dropped. However, the PIO is warned to remain cautious in future and attend to the RTI requests promptly by providing information as expeditiously as possible but not later than 30 days of filing of the request ." |
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