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| 1-yr on, MC Katra brazenly ignores SIC's order | | Info of works not available in public domain | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 1: It is now almost one year since the State Information Commission (SIC) directed Municipal Committee Katra to make public the details about works executed by it. But the committee is yet to make the details available, violating the State RTI Act.
The Executive Officer of MC Katra had last year failed to provide information about various developmental works executed in Katra town to an information seeker under Right to Information Act (RTI). The SIC then took the matter seriously and issued penalty notice against the officer who is also the Public Information Officer (PIO).
But till date the requisite information is yet to made available in public domain as section 4 (1) (b) of State RTI Act directs all the Public Authorities to do so.
Details available with Early Times reveal that Advocate Pankaj Basotra, a resident of Shiv Nagar, Jammu, had filed second appeal under section 16 of J&K RTI 2009 before the SIC on 05.08.2015, which was admitted after rectifying deficiencies on 17.11.2015. The appellant alleged that he had filed an RTI application before the PIO in MC Katra on 19.03.2015 seeking the following information:
(i) Copy of the funds allotted by the Housing and Urban Development Department under Plan/Non Plan during the period 01.04.2012 to 28.02.2015 along with the purpose of the funds.
(ii). Year wise detail of the amount collected as fee and fine of various natures for the period 01.04.2012 to 28.02.2015.
(iii). List of the head wise expenditure made during the period 01.04.2012 to 28.02.2015 along with the nature and nomenclature of the development works executed including the salary disbursed during the period from 01.04.2012 to 28.02.2015.
(iv). Copies of tender notice of all type of auctions or execution of development works along with the name and date of the newspaper in which the same have been published for the period 01.04.2012 to 28.02.2015 along with the competitive statements of the contractors who had submitted the tender against such tenders and also the name and addresses of the contractors.
(v). List of the officers and officials working at MC Katra for the period from 01.04.2012 to 28.02.2015 with designation.
(vi). Date wise withdrawals made for meeting the expenditure or making the payments to the staff/contractors/suppliers during the period from 01.04.2012 to 28.02.2015.
(vii). List of the material suppliers along with the nature of the items supplied for the period from 01.04.2012 to 28.02.2015.
The PIO under section 7 of the J&K Right to Information Act, 2009 was required to pass an order, as expeditiously as possible, but not later than 30 days i.e. the outer limit for passing an order but he failed to give response to the appellant within time.
The appellant filed first appeal before the First Appellate Authority (FAA), i.e. Director Local Bodies, Jammu on 07.05.2015.
The FAA passed an order on 10.06.2015 directing the Executive Officer-cum-PIO, MC Katra to furnish the requisite information as sought by the applicant within 10 days from the date of receipt of the order under intimation to his office. Being aggrieved with the response of the PIO MC Katra the appellant filed 2nd appeal before the SIC.
After hearing the PIO and examining the order passed vide No. MC/K/2015/440-41 dated: 22.06.2015, the Commission had advised the PIO to go through the provisions of section 5 and 6 of the J&K RTI Act, 2009. As per provisions of the law and order passed by PIO-cum-Executive Officer, MC Katra the part of information pertaining to Executive Engineer, Local Bodies Div-II Jammu should have been transferred to him but the Executive Officer (PIO) failed to do so.
PIO cum Executive Officer, MC Katra was directed by SIC to explain why penalty under section 17 of the Right to Information Act, 2009 may not be imposed on him for failing to act as per the provisions of the law and providing the information within period prescribed. Till date it is not clear whether the officer responded to the notice or not.
The information is also not available in public domain as MC Katra has not even created its own website. |
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