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More than thousand babus booked for flouting RTI norms

The state information commission penalised as many as 1,125 government officials last year for failing to adhere to Right to Information (RTI) Act norms.

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The state information commission penalised as many as 1,125 government officials last year for failing to adhere to Right to Information (RTI) Act norms.

Nearly half of them have been fined with sizeable amounts, while departmental inquiries have been initiated against the rest.

In an annual report tabled in the state assembly earlier this week, it has been stated that 523 officials were penalised and fines worth Rs34.39 lakh were recovered from them.

The commission also initiated departmental inquiries against 602 officials. Of the eight divisional commissionerates, the Nagpur division leads in action against errant officers, with 147 officials penalised and inquiries set up against 105 officers.

The quantum of action against the officials also went up noticeably over the previous year as only 347 officers were fined, with collection of Rs26.57 lakh, in 2009.

Chief information commissioner Vilas Patil has stated in his foreword that many state employees were not even aware of their duties and the stipulated time period for disposal of applications and appeals.

The number of the applications the commission received last year has gone up substantially, with 5.48 lakh applications made throughout the state.

In 2009 and 2008, the commission received 4.40 lakh and 4.16 lakh applications respectively. In 2006, the first year of the introduction of the RTI Act, the number of applications was 1.23 lakh, which went up to 3.16 lakh applications the next year.

The commission has claimed that it disposed of 5.42 lakh of the 5.48 lakh applications it received. The amount applicants paid to various departments was Rs1.30 lakh. People below the poverty line are exempted from payment of application fees. Of the 5,30,011 applicants, 14,799 were below the poverty line.

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