Complainants protest at SIC office</ARTTITLE>
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh State Information Commission was witness to protests by two Magasaysay Award winners on Tuesday.
Arvind Kejriwal and Sandeep Pandey along with their supporters raised their voice against the pathetic state of affairs at the
SIC. They found ready supporters among the many complainants who had lined up in the corridors of the commission to seek redressal.
Kejriwal and Pandey had announced a few days earlier that they would organise a protest against the
SIC for its failure in satisfying the demands of the complainants.
The number of disappointed complainants has been increasing with each passing day. And the issues are of a similar nature- not getting all the information, having to appear umpteen number of times for a hearing and yet not getting the information, the failure of the information commissioners to impose a penalty on the public information officers who did not furnish information and so on.
The protesters visited the chambers of the Information Commissioners and watched the proceedings. However, some of the polite suggestions given by them were turned down by the officers.
When Kejriwal suggested one of the ICs that a penalty should preferably be imposed on the erring
PIO for failing to furnish information even after so many hearings, the latter observed, ‘Your suggestion is well taken but you cannot dictate to the chair.’
This led Kejriwal to quip, “Yes, but nothing will come out of it as no action is being taken.” A miffed IC retorted, “Why don’t you sit on my chair?”
Section 18 of the
RTI Act-2005, states that a penalty of up to Rs 25,000 can be imposed on PIOs who do not furnish information. They can also be arrested in extreme cases.
However, this provision has not been used by the UP
SIC till now. If at all, minor penalties and threat of penalties have been issued.
The complainants raised slogans like, ‘ICs are Mulayam Singh’s men,’ and ‘Sack the Chief Information Commissioner.’ Pandey said that the plan was to protest in a democratic manner.
“The complainants have to pay for their visit to Lucknow for a hearing. Some of them are poor and cannot bear the burden,”said Kejriwal. “As such, it is a myth that under
RTI information is furnished for just Rs 10,” he added.
Kejriwal himself sought some information from the Ghaziabad police and Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation. However, he gave up after nothing came off it after several hearings. One can well understand the plight of the common man.
Complainants protest at SIC office-Lucknow-Cities-The Times of India
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