FAA of Raj Bhavan takes on PIO for providing ‘vague’ RTI reply
27 Jun, 2013In reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Public Information Officer (PIO) and Deputy Secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Raj Bhavan (Governor’s Secretariat) had declined to provide information through an order dated March 12/2013.
On hearing the appeal, the Principal Secretary to Governor and the first appellate authority slammed the PIO for rejecting the application on the pretext of Section 8 of RTI Act. The order no. 01/2013 dated 13/06/2013 issued by the Principal Secretary set aside the PIO’s order terming it as ‘vague’.
The order stated that while declining information, the PIO should explain how the information sought by the appellant falls within the boundaries of specific exemption provision. It also said that the PIO must consider whether all the information or only a part of the information lies exempted under RTI.
The order directed the PIO to consider the request for information afresh and make available revised consideration within a period of two weeks.