RTI Act: It took DRO 8 months to deliver info

[ganpat1956]

Jalandhar, July 27
It took almost eight months for the district revenue officer-cum-state assistant public information officer to deliver information sought by an applicant under the RTI Act. Though the application was received by the office on November 15 last year, they failed to deliver it within prescribed time period, finally delivering it on July 12 this year.
Under the application Sanjay Singh Sehgal, former vice-president of the District Congress Committee, had asked for the details on the duty assigned to government school and college teachers for conducting Vidhan Sabha poll.

Going by the documentation, the revenue officer committed even a bigger blunder as the information compiled and properly presented had reached his office from the deputy commissioner-cum-district election office on December 4 last year, but it was retained and not passed to the applicant for another seven months.

In the reply, it was stated that 24 teachers from Phillaur, 23 from Noormahal, 17 from Jalandhar South, six from Lohian, three teachers each from Adampur and Jalandhar Cantonment, two each from Nakodar and Jalandhar Central and one from Jalandhar North have been assigned the poll duties. According to the reply, science and mathematics teachers from high and senior secondary schools were also not spared from poll duty.

Declaring the information received on July 12 this year as completely irrelevant, Sehgal said that he had sought it earlier for the interest of underprivileged students studying in government schools, who were forced to miss their classes, as their teachers were on poll duty for over a month.

Sehgal stated that on the basis of the information, he had planned to request the deputy commissioner and election authorities to exempt the teachers from poll duty as the annual examination of the students were drawing nearer.

He added that this information was of no use now as Vidhan Sabha elections were over.

The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Jalandhar