Penalty amounting to Rs. 25,000 imposed by SIC for violating RTI Act
6 Sep, 2013
An application was filed with the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (LMC) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the details about the work undertaken by the corporation regarding laying interlocking tiles of octagonal design and construction of footpaths on sides of Gill Road from Campa Cola Chowk to Sidhwan Canal. As the information provided by the public information officer (PIO) of the municipal corporation was incomplete, the applicant filed an appeal with the first appellate authority. The FAA and the commissioner, LMC directed the PIO in his order to furnish the complete information to the appellant free of cost and within 10 days.
However, as the PIO failed to comply with the order passed by the appellate authority, the appellant then approached the State Information Commission, Punjab. The SIC has now ordered that the information be provided to the appellant and that a penalty of Rs. 25,000 be imposed on the concerned PIO. The penalty is to be deducted from the official's salary and deposited with the government within six weeks. The SIC also directed the Commissioner, Ludhiana Municipal Corporation to take action against all PIOs and other officials who don't comply with the RTI Act.