RTI: 2 education officials fined for delaying info

Tribune News Service

Rewari, May 13

The State information Commission has slapped a penalty on two officials of the Secondary Education Department, Haryana, for delay in furnishing information sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Sources said fines of Rs 21,250 and Rs 3,750 had been imposed on Naveen Aggarwal, State Public Information Officer (SPIO)-cum-Superintendent, and SS Negi, the then SPIO-cum-Assistant Director at the office of Director, Secondary Education (DSE), Haryana, respectively.

Information Commissioner Bhupender Dharmani said in his order the penalty amount would be recovered from the officials’ salary and deposited in the commission’s office by June 15.

The complainant, Hari Singh, is a lecturer of political science at Government Senior Secondary School in Mastapur village here. He had joined the service in December 1999. “I was astonished to find my seniority much lower than that of my batchmates in a list issued by the Department of Secondary Education in 2011. I sent several letters to the head office seeking re-fixation of my seniority but to no avail,” said Hari Singh, adding that he then sent a notice to the office under Section 80 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), which too failed to draw a response.

“I sought the status of the CPC notice by moving an RTI application with the office on September 19, 2014, but did not get any information. Thereafter, appeals were made to the first and second appellate authorities but in vain. Finally, I approached the commission on September 7, 2015, and got the sought information on August 26, 2016, on its directive,” he said.

The complainant maintained that the commissioner issued show-cause notices to the present SPIO Naveen Aggarwal and the then SPIO SS Negi for inordinate delay in furnishing the information sought. Later, the commissioner imposed penalty on them after they failed to give satisfactory reply about the delay.