As reported by Puneet Pal Singh Gill in The Tribune on dated 26 October 2011
For the first time in the history of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (MC), a clerk posted in the health branch of the civic body has been suspended for failing to provide information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. This action was taken by MC Commissioner AK Sinha during a hearing related to RTI cases.
The suspended official has been identified as Naveen Kumar. He was responsible for compiling information sought under the RTI Act, but failed to do so.A resident, Rohit Sabharwal, had sought information regarding the tippers running within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation for handling municipal solid waste. He had asked for the latest copies of the fitness certificate issued to all tippers, but the concerned APIO did not forward the certificate.
“I was not satisfied with the reply filed by the MC and made a written submission before Sinha. The APIO provided old fitness certificates instead of the latest certificates which are prepared in compliance to the statutory provision under Clause-56 of the Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988,” Sabharwal said.
He had demanded names along with designation of those who were operating the tippers and copies of the driver’s licence of those operating the tippers.
The APIO replied that the sought information was to be provided by the health branch. On September 26, the applicant appeared for the first appeal and due to some administrative reasons, the same could not be heard. The representative of the health branch appeared before the RTI superintendent and stated that the information demanded by the applicant pertained to the workshop branch of the MC.
“The workshop branch is stating in its reply that the information is related to the health branch. Both branches, instead of providing the information, are trying to exhaust the application. I would like to draw your attention towards the fact that the officials are prohibited from doing such a thing and are obliged to forward/transfer my application to the public authority which is holding the sought information. These provisions exist in the Act. It seems that the PIO and the APIO have not taken the application seriously and did not bother to forward/transfer it to the appropriate public authority. By doing so, they have violated the provisions of the Act,” he said. ‘Take applications seriously’
All MC officials should take the applications filed under the RTI Act seriously, else I will be forced to take strict action against them. — AK Sinha, MC Commissioner
For the first time in the history of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (MC), a clerk posted in the health branch of the civic body has been suspended for failing to provide information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. This action was taken by MC Commissioner AK Sinha during a hearing related to RTI cases.
The suspended official has been identified as Naveen Kumar. He was responsible for compiling information sought under the RTI Act, but failed to do so.A resident, Rohit Sabharwal, had sought information regarding the tippers running within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation for handling municipal solid waste. He had asked for the latest copies of the fitness certificate issued to all tippers, but the concerned APIO did not forward the certificate.
“I was not satisfied with the reply filed by the MC and made a written submission before Sinha. The APIO provided old fitness certificates instead of the latest certificates which are prepared in compliance to the statutory provision under Clause-56 of the Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988,” Sabharwal said.
He had demanded names along with designation of those who were operating the tippers and copies of the driver’s licence of those operating the tippers.
The APIO replied that the sought information was to be provided by the health branch. On September 26, the applicant appeared for the first appeal and due to some administrative reasons, the same could not be heard. The representative of the health branch appeared before the RTI superintendent and stated that the information demanded by the applicant pertained to the workshop branch of the MC.
“The workshop branch is stating in its reply that the information is related to the health branch. Both branches, instead of providing the information, are trying to exhaust the application. I would like to draw your attention towards the fact that the officials are prohibited from doing such a thing and are obliged to forward/transfer my application to the public authority which is holding the sought information. These provisions exist in the Act. It seems that the PIO and the APIO have not taken the application seriously and did not bother to forward/transfer it to the appropriate public authority. By doing so, they have violated the provisions of the Act,” he said. ‘Take applications seriously’
All MC officials should take the applications filed under the RTI Act seriously, else I will be forced to take strict action against them. — AK Sinha, MC Commissioner
