Monday, February 4, 2013

RTI: Civic engineer to pay 25k fine for withholding info

Mumbai: A junior engineer of the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 for refusing to part with data under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

On August 3, 2011, the complainant, Chandresh Gala, had filed an RTI plea seeking information about a recreational ground at Sheetal Nagar in Mira Road.

Gala filed the plea before MBMC’s junior engineer Umesh Avchar. When Avchar failed to respond within the stipulated period of 30 days, Gala filed a first appeal before the assistant director in the town planning department, Satyavan Dhangave, on September 3, 2011.

When Dhangave failed to respond within the stipulated period of 90 days, Gala went for a second appeal before the state information commission (Konkan region) on October 14, 2011.

Recently, the commission found Avchar guilty of refusing to reveal information sought under the RTI Act.

The penalty for failing to provide information is Rs 250 per day. Civic officials said the fine of Rs 25,000 will be deducted from Avchar’s salary every month. The civic body has also been directed to take “administrative action” against Dhangave. Gala will get the details of his RTI plea free of charge.
Courtesy:
Sandhya Nair & Nitasha Natu TNN
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/01/31&PageLabel=8&EntityId=Ar00807&ViewMode=HTML

No comments:

Post a Comment