5 Bihar officials fined under RTI

**sidmis** · 02-09-2008, 08:52 PM

As reported in The Times of India

5 Bihar officials fined under RTI

PATNA: As many as five officers of the Bihar government have been fined by the State Information Commission for their failure to provide information to petitioners under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Those fined by the Commission are the Civil Surgeon of Kaimur, Public Information Officer of Human Resources department and Block Development Officers (BDOs) of Baunsi in Banka district, Manihari in Katihar district and of Naubatpur in rural Patna.

A commission press release issued on Friday night said that Kaimur Civil Surgeon Uchit Narain Mandal has been asked by the Commission to pay a fine of Rs 250 per day with upper limit of fine being Rs 25,000. The commission has found Mandal guilty of denying information to one Laxmi Singh under the RTI act and directed Mandal to provide relevant information to the petitioner latest by February 20 and appear in person before the commission on February 26.

The fine amount fixed by the commission in case of HRD PIO was Rs 18,500 and he had been directed to furnish the information to the petitioner Nasir Haidi latest by February 15 and had been asked to appear in Person on February 18, the next date hearing of case fixed by the commission.

The three BDOs have been slapped a fine of Rs 9,750 (Manihari), Rs 6,750 (Baunsi) and Rs 6,000 of Naubatpur block.

5 Bihar officials fined under RTI-Patna-Cities-The Times of India

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**wagh7** · 02-10-2008, 12:11 AM

Sponsorer

Friends,

It is one positive step in wright direction as for as RTI Act is concerned. It will definately motivate RTI Applicants.

rakatkam.

**karira** · 02-16-2008, 11:40 AM

As reported by TNN on timesofindia.com on 16 February 2008:
Three officials charged under RTI-Patna-Cities-The Times of India

Three officials charged under RTI

PATNA: As many as three gazetted officials of state have been fined by the state information commission for their failure to furnish information to applicants under the right to information (RTI) Act.

The block development officer (BDO) of Chirauti block in Sitamarhi district has been asked to cough up a fine of Rs 6.500, according to an official press note released on Friday. The BDO failed to respond to the application of one Sunil Kumar Mishra. The commission directed the erring BDO to furnish relevant information to the petitioner latest by February 29 and fixed March 4 as the next date of hearing of the case.

The BDO of Barauni block in Begusarai district has been fined with the same amount in a similar case. The petitioner is Monika Kumari.

He, too, has been asked to furnish relevant information to the applicant latest by February 29 and the case would again be taken up for hearing on March 4.

The district supply officer of Nalanda has been asked to pay a fine at the rate of Rs 250 per day with the upper limit being Rs 25,000. The officer failed to respond to the application of one Ram Vilas. The case would be taken up for hearing on March 12.

**sidmis** · 08-28-2008, 09:45 PM

Anti-RTI attitude proves bane for Bihar officials
blog by Bruno in "Reflections" - Doctor Bruno's Blog

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Denial of right to information in Bihar is proving a bane for the
government officials with the Bihar State Information Commission
(BSIC) taking punitive action against the erring officials.

According to an official report, a total of 170 government officials
have been fined in the last one year by the BSIC for their failure to
take a serious note of applications filed by the people and provide
information to them.

The commission, entrusted with the task to streamline the Right to
Information (RTI) Act, has so far imposed a fine of Rs 8.50 lakh on
such officials.

"The Commission had to penalise the officials since they were not
quick and prompt in providing information as sought by the
applicants," the BSIC Secretary SK Mishra said.

He further said that majority of the officials penalised by the
commission were middle or junior level officers who delayed
information to the applicants or provided them with incomplete
information. However, majority of them are still to pay up the fine.

Reports said the filing of cases under the RTI Act was slowly picking
up in Bihar. The response, however, has not been enthusing owing to
the apathetic attitude of the officials.

It is underlined from the fact that the number of total RTI cases
filed in Bihar could reach barely 4,890 till June this year.

"Normally the officials heckle the applicants and feel it demeaning to
respond to the applications of the common men. This is sheer mockery
of RTI ion Bihar," an RTI activist Rajnish Kumar said.

Speaking to iGovernment, he said that in some cases, the officials
intentionally delayed information since they were involved in corrupt
deeds or bungling of funds.

He further alleged that the applicants were being threatened with dire
consequences for pursuing the cases.

The BSIC was constituted on August 25, 2006, and on January 29, 2007
Bihar became the first state in the country to launch the call centre
under the RTI.

In the first year, the commission received 1,600 complaints. The first
appeal was made on November 26, 2006 that is exactly three months and
one day after the formation of the commission.

The RTI activist complain that the commission has always been ignoring
the complaints.
They say against the Article 15 (5) of the Act which states that the
commissioners shall be persons of eminence in public life with wide
knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social
service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and
governance, two of the Information Commissioners in Bihar are Indian
Administrative Service (IAS) officers.

"These commissioners having administrative background, they often
defend Public Information Officers and have been soft towards the
erring officials," the RTI activist alleged.

"Reflections" - Doctor Bruno's Blog: Anti-RTI attitude proves bane for Bihar officials