Officials fined for passing wrong info
Two officials have been penalised for not releasing information under the Right to Information Act.
By Mathang Seshagiri, TNN |
BANGALORE: If you are worried that officials coming between you and your right to information will go scot-free, don’t. Two officials have been slapped with fines — one Rs 500 for not giving information and the other Rs 5,000 for giving misleading information — under the Right to Information Act (RTI). The penalty amount will be deducted from their salaries.
| RIGHT TO KNOW • Karnataka Information Commission imposed a penalty of Rs 500 on Eashwarappa, then public information officer in Tumkur City Municipal Council, for denying information to one B R Panduranga Rao • Rao had sought certified copies of building plans and building licence, but Eashwarappa turned him away, saying records were not available • KIC also slapped Byatarayanapura CMC commissioner C K Dashwanth with a penalty of Rs 5,000 for providing wrong information to B H Veeresh of Bhrastachara Nirmulana Vedike |
In the first-ever instance, the Karnataka Information Commission (KIC) has imposed a penalty of Rs 500 on Eashwarappa, the then public information officer in the Tumkur City Municipal Council, for denying information to B R Panduranga Rao.
Rao had sought certified copies of building plans and building licence, but Eashwarappa turned him away, saying records were not available. He told the commission that the file was taken away by a joint engineer, who was transferred to Sira and hence the file was missing.
‘‘The commission was not satisfied with the response because he should have tried to trace the records and provide the information. It, therefore, decided to impose a penalty of Rs 500 on Eashwarappa for denying mala fide the information to the complainant,’’ the KIC has ruled.
In another case, the commission has rapped Byatarayanapura CMC commissioner for furnishing misleading information. Commissioner C K Dashwanth has been slapped with a penalty of Rs 5,000. B H Veeresh of Bhrastachara Nirmulana Vedike had filed an application on November 16, 2005 with the CMC, but the information was not only delayed but wrong information was supplied.
When the application sought ‘‘particulars of houses constructed in the civic amenity sites and action taken to protect the CA sites’’, the CMC replied: ‘‘Since the ownership of the CA sites does not vest with us, the same information may be obtained from the Bangalore Development Authority.’’
The commission, during the appeal, observed: ‘‘The information provided initially was misleading if not false, since it advised the appellant (Veeresh) to approach the BDA while knowing full well that CA sites had not been surrendered to the BDA and as such this information was not likely to be available with them.’’
The KIC ruled: ‘‘While deciding on the penalty to be levied, the extenuating factor is that Dashwant was not a party to the underlying irregularities, although it does appear that there was clear reluctance to provide correct information with a view to conceal the irregularities committed by the CMC.’’
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