GURGAON OFFICIAL FINED `25,000 FOR DELAY IN INFO

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana information commission has slapped a fine of `25,000 on a deemed state public information officer (SPIO)-cuminspector of the cooperative societies department, Gurgaon, for delay in replying to a Right to Information (RTI) application. Deciding on an appeal of Gurgaon resident Shiv Kumar Upadhyay, information commissioner Hemant Atri fined the official, Arvind Kumar Sharma.

Upadhyay, who had filed an application on February 1, 2016, seeking information pertaining to records of elections in a cooperative housing society, moved the commission when he did not get any reply. The commission on July 29, 2016, issued a showcause notice to Sharma, giving him two weeks to reply and allow the applicant inspection of the records.During the last hearing on August 24, Upadhyay told the commission that he was not shown complete records despite the directions. The commission also found Sharma’s reply to its notice “completely irrelevant, devoid of facts and contemptuous in nature’’.

Giving Upadhyay another opportunity to inspect the relevant records on September 1, 2016, the commission ordered a penalty of `25,000 on Sharma and recommended to the cooperative societies registrar to look into the matter and fix responsibility.

INFO COMMISSION FINDS ARVIND KUMAR SHARMA’S REPLY TO ITS NOTICE ‘COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT, DEVOID OF FACTS AND CONTEMPTUOUS’