Panipat civil surgeon to cough up ₹10,000 for delaying RTI info

CHANDIGARH:THE Haryana information commission on Monday directed the Panipat civil surgeon to pay ₹10,000 compensation to an RTI applicant for causing harassment due to 14-month delay in furnishing information.

Hearing the appeal of Panipat resident Ved Parkash Arora, information commissioner Hemant Atri said the first appellant authority-cum-civil surgeon did not bother to act upon the commission’s orders dated July 4, 2016 wherein the appeal was made to him for disposal.

“It is a sad state of affairs where neither the respondent deemed state public information officers (SPIOS) nor the civil surgeon cared for effective implementation of the RTI Act and flouted all norms,’’ he observed.

Atri also recommended an inquiry under the RTI Act, 2005, to the director general (health services) to look into the matter and fix responsibility of the erring officials for a delay of 14 months in furnishing the final information.

The matter had come up before the commission following its three earlier orders since February 9.

The appellant informed that his RTI application dated December 14, 2015, containing 18 points was replied to his satisfaction on March 6 after the intervention but the delay caused harassment.

Both the deemed SPIOS claimed that they tried to furnish whatever information was available in their records without any intentional delay.