Official fined Rs 18,000 under Info Act

In the second incident of penalising an erring officer under the Right to Information Act in Madhya Pradesh, Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) T N Shrivastava fined Morena District Woman and Child Development Officer (DWCDO) Sajan Aluna for failing to provide information sought under the Act within the time limit and not abiding by the appellate officer's order.

The CIC imposed the fine of Rs 18,000 after not being satisfied with the explanation given by Mrs Aluna, who was earlier given show cause notice on the second appeal by Mr Balwant Singh Haihayavanshi, who had sought certain information from the department on December 31 last year. The Act came into force on October 12 last year.

The DWCDO rejected the application on January 8 on the ground that the applicant had been suspended after preliminary inquiry.

On an appeal, the Morena District Collector directed the DWCDO on February 8 to provide copies of the document on payment as the applicant had not sought any confidential document.
After dillydallying on one pretext or the other, the DWCDO allowed the applicant to deposit Rs 1200 on March 14 to provide copies of the documents. The second appeal was made as the required documents were not supplied by April 14.

The Chief Information Commissioner found Mrs Aluna's conduct as ''unfortunate'' and directed to provide the required documents within seven days.

A fortnight ago, Tahsildar R S Chouhan of Gyaraspur in Vidisha district was fined Rs 25,000 for refusing to provide copies of land transfer deed to an applicant under the Right to Information Act.
(Bhopal June 07, 2006 12:40:24 PM IST) UNI SP KD GC1225