SIC imposes a penalty of Rs. 10,000/- on Mumbai ACP
24 Dec, 2012The Maharashtra State Information Commission (SIC) has imposed a penalty of Rs. 10,000/- on an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) for his "utter" negligence in not providing information sought under the RTI Act.
Hearing a petition filed by a RTI activist Chetan Kothari, the Chief Information Commissioner of Maharashtra SIC Mr. Ratnakar Gaikwad levied a penalty of Rs. 10,000/- on Mr. Rajendra Kotak, (ACP), Dindoshi division for his failure to provide information. The RTI application was filed in 2010 seeking to know whether all the police stations in Mumbai have the display boards that inform about the rights of the arrested persons as per the Supreme Court guidelines. Mr Rajendra Kotak was the Public Information Officer (PIO) who demanded Rs. two per copy from the Kothari. However, Kothari refused to pay the amount demanded citing the relevant provisions of the RTI Act. When Kotak did not provide the information, an appeal was filed before the before the first Appellate Authority (FAA) a deputy police commissioner, who directed that the information should be provided without any charges. Despite the order of the FAA, no information was provided which lead to an appeal to the SIC which issued a show-cause notice asking why a penalty should not be imposed for violating the provisions of the RTI Act. As Kotak could not provide a satisfactory explanation, a penalty of Rs 10,000 was imposed on him to be recovered in three instalments.