LIT violates provisions of RTI Act with impunity

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, July 14

Even after several officials of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) have earned the wrath of the State Information Commission for not following various provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005 in the past, the LIT authorities, it seems, have adopted the “devil may care” attitude.

The LIT has once again come in the line of fire for flouting the statutory provisions of the Act for not putting up required information about the Public Information Officer, the Assistant Public Information Officer and the First Appellate Authority at a prominent place in its office.

In a communication to the LIT Executive Officer, who is also the PIO of the Trust, the Council of RTI Activists has pointed out that the body being a public authority as defined in Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005, it was obligatory for the LIT to implement the Act in letter and in spirit.

Arvind Sharma, secretary of the council, said it was obligatory for the LIT to publish/display information about itself as outlined in Sections 4 (1) (b) (i) to 4 (1) (b) (xvii) and also to update such information from time to time.

The communication added, “However, it has been observed that the LIT has not complied with the provisions made under section 4 of the RTI Act as no sign board mentioning names and designations of the PIO, the AIO and the First Appellate Authority has been put up at the office of the Trust which amounts to gross violation of the mandatory provisions of the Act.”

Serving an ultimatum on the LIT authorities, the council said if the required information was not put up at a prominent place at the office of the Trust within a period of 15 days, it would file a complaint with the State Information Commission, Punjab, to ensure the compliance of the RTI Act and action as per provisions of the said Act against the officials concerned for their lapse.

According to the LIT employees, a sign board providing details of the PIO, the APIO and the FFA has been displayed at the office, but nobody had any idea as to when and why it was removed.