Penalty imposed on officer for failing to furnish information under RTI
13 Jan, 2014An application was filed with the Town Development Officer (TDO) of Kalupur, Ahmedabad under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get information regarding the permission granted by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to an under-construction building so as to ascertain its legality. The application also sought information on almost all buildings that were permitted to construct extra floors.
Despite filing several pleas with the TDO, no information was provided to the applicant following which, the applicant approached the Gujarat State Information Commission (SIC). After hearing the case the state chief information commissioner of SIC imposed a penalty of Rs. 25,000 on the officer and issued a show cause notice as to why departmental action be not initiated against him. Further, the SIC issued a show cause notice to deputy estate officer as to why Rs. 2,000 be not deducted from the officer’s salary to be paid as compensation to the applicant for inconvenience caused as mentioned in Section 20(2) Where the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be, at the time of deciding any complaint or appeal is of the opinion that the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, has, without any reasonable cause and persistently, failed to receive an application for information or has not furnished information within the time specified under sub-section (1) of section 7 or malafidely denied the request for information or knowingly given incorrect, incomplete or misleading information or destroyed information which was the subject of the request or obstructed in any manner in furnishing the information, it shall recommend for disciplinary action against the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, under the service rules applicable to him. of the RTI Act.