DEO fined again, told to pay Rs 3,000 to appellant Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service Jalandhar, July 6 The State Information Commission has ordered the District Education Officer (Secondary) Neelam Kumari to pay Rs 3,000 fine to an appellant due to inordinate delay by her in providing some information sought by him under the Right to Information Act, 2005. Kanwaljit Singh, lecturer, Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nakodar, had sought the reports of two enquiries and supporting statements and claims regarding these on May 23, 2012, from the DEO’s office but it wasn’t until June 2013 and the intervention of the commission that the said information was finally made available to him. The said two inquiries were conducted by Prem Kumar, principal, Government Senior Secondary School Phillaur regarding frauds and irregularities alleged against Raj Singh, principal, Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nakodar (now posted at Malsian) and the non-compliance of orders alleged against Kanwaljit Singh himself. While the reports of the inquiries conducted by Prem Kumar had been submitted to the DEO’s office on May 9, 2012, on May 23, 2012, Kanwaljit Singh had demanded the copies of the enquiry reports, copies of statements issued by both parties and the supporting proofs for the claims made in the reports. While the DEO’s office gave the copies of the inquiry reports to the appellant on July 2, 2012, the copies of statements and evidence of inquiry claims were not provided. The appellant made two appeals (on August 6, 2012, and November 24, 2012) to the commission after which it summoned the DEO on January 8, 2013. While the deputy DEO appeared on behalf of the DEO before the commission, the said hearing further saw a show-cause notice being issued to DEO Neelam Kumari. After appearances on February 12, 2013, and May 22, 2013, the remaining documents were finally given by the DEO to the appellant on the orders of the State Information Commission. Due to the provision of information after considerable delay, the commission imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 to be paid by the DEO, owing to the delay in the provision of information to the appellant in orders issued on June 19, 2013. Notably, the orders categorically state that the said amount shall be paid though the public authority and not from an individual official account. The order issued by the commission on June 19, 2013, states, "As the appellant Kanwaljit Singh has suffered a lot, a compensation of Rs 3,000) is awarded to him, which shall be paid by the public authority concerned by way of crossed cheque/demand draft and not from the bank account of any individual official. The respondent PIO is also directed to produce a copy of the same in the Commission on the next date of hearing to establish the fact that order of the Commission has been complied with." The next date of hearing in the case is July 23, 2013.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 04:43:42 +0000