Top Cidco official fined under RTI act

NO RESPONSE Activist had asked for information on 12.5% scheme plots in Ulwe in 2012, but even a year later did not receive a reply

The state information commissioner has taken Cidco to task over dilly dallying in providing information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to an applicant.

Cidco’s general manager (administration) SB Deshmukh has been charged under the RTI Act and penalised Rs10,000. The significant decision was given by the Konkan bench of the state information commissioner.

RTI activist Vikas Parshuram Patil had, on January 22, 2012, submitted an RTI application to Cidco’s Land and Survey department.

He had then asked for details of the 12.5% scheme plots distributed in Ulwe. The information was not given to him.

Patil said, “I approached the first appellate authority, where, too, I did not get the expected reply. Through the second appeal on May 27, 2013, I directly approached the state information commission.”

He said, “On October 20, the Konkan bench gave a final order in the case. Deshmukh was penalised for not appointing a public information officer. The bench has ordered that the fine be recovered from his salary in two monthly instalments.”

A social worker said, “Cidco has 20 departments to run its affairs. These departments receive a number of applications for information on a daily basis. As there is little information on who is the information officer in which department and who the appellate authority is leads to a lot of hassle for applicants.”

He said, “As per section 4 of the RTI Act, it is mandatory that the names of the public information officer and appellate authority are clearly displayed at a prominent place in the office premises. Cidco has, however, not followed the norm.”

The social worker said, “Simply putting up details on the website is not going to help all the applicants as many are not net savvy.”

Cidco officials refused to comment.