GU registrar fined for not giving info

[sidmis]

GU registrar fined for not giving info
as reported by Rahul Mangaonkar,TNN, 10 Sep 2008

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) has slapped a penalty of Rs 25,000 on the Public Information Officer (PIO), the registrar of Gujarat University, for not furnishing any information on an application made under Right to Information (RTI) Act within the stipulated time limit.

Pankaj Shrimali had, under RTI, sought information of 21 points pertaining to GU admission processes, working of selection committees, whether admissions were given as special cases and the details of such admissions from GU in April last year. However, when he did not get the information, he filed a complaint at GIC.

Before the GIC responded to the show cause notice issued to him, GU's PIO had contended that information sought by Shrimali covered 21 points and that GU was a big organization having different departments. As the information pertained to various departments, collection of information from various departments was a time consuming process.

Also, as RTI was a totally new Act, GU officers claimed to know little about it and pleaded reasons of "administrative workload" and "some other genuine difficulties". GIC held the PIO's submission as untenable. The PIO's submissions before GIC for the delay of over one year and four months in providing information to Shrimali who had sought it under RTI, were held as unreasonable to justify the delay. GIC observed that the information sought was neither voluminous nor of such nature that it could justify the delay.

The amount of Rs 25,000 towards the penalty will have to be paid by the PIO either from his personal resources failing which it has to be recovered from his salary. GIC has allowed the penalty to be paid in two installments.

GU registrar fined for not giving info -Ahmedabad-Cities-The Times of India