It has been over three years since the citizens of India were given the right to seek information from all public authorities. In Mohali, however, residents are denied this right, with most of the public authorities either denying and delaying information sought under the Right to Information Act of 2005, or providing incomplete and inappropriate information.  

This correspondent filed eight applications on the prescribed form and deposited the requisite fee under Section 6 of the RTI Act to seek certain information from different departments and authorities of the state and the Centre in the last two months. Only one public authority provided the desired information within the stipulated time of 30 days. Two departments not only delayed the supply of information, but also furnished incomplete and inappropriate information. In case of five applications, the public authorities concerned simply failed to respond even after two months.

The denial of information was reported to the Punjab State Information Commission under Sub-Section (c) of Section 18 of the RTI Act three weeks ago, but a response is still awaited.

Public information officers (PIOs) at the offices of the Mohali Deputy Commissioner, District Transport Officer, Airports Authority of India and the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority simply failed to provide the desired information.

The Punjab Infrastructure Development Board and the Punjab Health Systems Corporation provided incomplete and inappropriate information much after the expiry of the stipulated time. The Nayagaon Nagar Panchayat turned out to be the only such authority to provide complete information within the timeframe.

Though the District Revenue Officer (DRO), who is the Assistant Public Information Officer for the DC office in Mohali where two applications were filed, wrote to the sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs), tehsildars and other officials concerned to send him the desired information pertaining to their respective offices within a week, it has not reached him even after two months.

It is learnt that the Kharar SDM had forwarded the DRO’s missive marked as “most urgent and time bound” to the Kharar tehsildar and the Majri naib tehsildar. The SDM even wrote to the officials that they would be penalised under Section 20 of the RTI Act if they failed to provide the information within the stipulated time.

To deny information under the RTI Act, the Kharar tehsildar cited the provisions of the Punjab Registration Manual, 1929, and the Indian Registration Act, 1908. “Deposit an additional fee of Rs 100 with the application fee of Rs 15 to get the copy of a single document,” said the tehsildar. The RTI Act does not prescribe any such fee.

Information provided by the Majri naib tehsildar was incomplete and late.

In response to another application, the DTO, too, provided insufficient information, that too after the expiry of 30 days. He expressed his inability to provide complete information on the pretext of shortage of staff. “Providing information will take much time due to which public work will suffer,” the DTO wrote.

What they say

“The Information Commission views seriously the appeals and complaints against public authorities for denying, delaying and supplying incomplete, inappropriate or misleading information. Such cases are taken up judicially and penalty up to Rs 25,000 is imposed as per the provisions of law. To make public information officers more accountable and responsive, the government imparts them training from time to time while the commission holds courts at district headquarters for delivery of justice at the people’s doorsteps. Anybody aggrieved with public information officer or even the appellate authority’s conduct can approach the commission.”

S S Grewal, Secretary, Punjab State Information Commission

“In case of any lapse on the part of any public authority in providing information under the RTI Act, the applicant can file an appeal before the appellant authority. If the appellant authority, too, fails to take cognisance, the next remedy is to approach the State or Central Information Commission. If information is denied by the assistant public information officer at my office, you can file an appeal before me.”