Show cause notice served on tahsildar

[ganpat1956]

<SMALL>THOOTHUKUDI: Under the Right to Information Act 2005, the State Information Commissioner issued a show cause notice to the Srivaikundam tahsildar stating why he should not be fined Rs 25,000 for not furnishing information sought by a complainant for more than six months.

Disciplinary action was also recommended against Thoothukudi District Public Information Officer and Srivaikundam tahsildar for the same.

Thoothukudi district CPM secretary K Kanagaraj, in his complaint, said that he was not furnished the information sought in August 2006 regarding the extension work of Srivaikundam Government Hospital though the Srivaikundam town panchayat gave away 11 cents of land for the work in 1997.

However, as the information on the issue was not provided to the applicant within a month as per the Act, he appealed for the same to the appellate authority, the District Collector, on September, 21, 2006.

As the appeal too did not evoke any response, Kanagaraj lodged a complaint with the State Information Commission on December 16, 2006.

Following the complaint, one of the State Information Commissioners, G Ramakrishnan, held an inquiry under Section 19 of the RTI Act on Thursday at Tirunelveli District Collectorate.

As the Thoothukudi District PIO, in his explanation before the Commissioner, said that though he had forwarded the application seeking information on the hospital extension issue to Srivaikundam tahsildar, he failed to furnish the same and hence he was unable to give the information sought.

Hearing the arguments of both the parties – the applicant and the officers – the State Information Commissioner issued a show cause notice to the Srivaikundam tahsildar.

Further, the Commissioner also recommended Thoothukudi District Collector to initiate disciplinary action against the District Public Information Officer and the Srivaikundam tahsildar.</SMALL>
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