Public Information Officer fined for ‘misinforming’ complainant

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THE State Information Commission, Punjab, has imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Public Information Officer Paramjit Singh, of the GMADA, Mohali, for not providing information to Bippinjit Singh, a resident of Sector 70, Mohali, within the stipulated time period.

The commission has also recommended appropriate administrative action against the PIO.
While talking to Newsline, Bippinjit Singh said he had filed a petition in the State Information Commission after being denied information first and later misinformed on his queries regarding land allotted to a coloniser.

He had put forward eight questions under the Right to Information Act (RTI), to GMADA, on December 19, regarding the formula used in calculating the distance between the building of adjourning sites under Section 27 of the PUDA (building rules) 2006, the approved height of the boundary wall between two sites under zoning plan for Sector 70 Mohali, and the minimum distance/set back allowed between a building and boundary wall of the adjourning site.

Singh said most of his queries were wrongly answered and no information was provided for the last one. He then moved to the appellate authority (Chief Administrator) on January 30, 2007. Again no information regarding the minimum distance/set back allowed between a building and boundary wall of the adjourning site and under what rule it was calculated, was provided by GMADA. Ultimately, he moved to the State Information Commission, Punjab, in the month of April 2007.

The decision given by State Information Commissioners RK Gupta and PPS Gill stated that the information sought by the complainant was simple and should have been provided by the GMADA within the prescribed period. The commission held the PIO kept avoiding summons to the commission for the past five hearings and was present only in the sixth hearing after the commission shot a letter to the CA, GMADA, Mohali, directing the PIO to appear before them.

“This is a fit case where the PIO is to be imposed a fine of Rs 250 per day from July 20, 2007, till the decision taken (On October 22), subject to a maximum of Rs 25,000 for non-appearance and non-supply of information within the stipulated period. It will be the responsibility of the Chief Administrator, GMADA to recover the amount from the salary of Paramjit Singh (PIO) in three equal installments and deposit the same in the appropriate head under intimation to this commission. In addition, the Chief Administrator may also take appropriate action against the PIO for not complying with the orders of this commission,” the order said.
[SAS Nagar, November 12 ]

Express news service
Tuesday , November 13, 2007