SIC Pune fines two zilla parishad officers

State information commissioner (SIC), Pune, Vijay Kuvalekar has imposed a fine of Rs5,000 on the appellate authority of Solapur zilla parishad (ZP) for not adhering to his order to furnish information to a Right to Information (RTI) applicant, Nagnath Patil.
Patil had filed an application under the RTI Act, 2005, last year to the zilla parishad education board asking for copies of the enquiry made by the then education officer of the Solapur Zilla Parishad, S Maniyar, regarding the irregularities in the teachers’ recruitment in 1977-78.

Patil had been complaining about irregularities on the matter for a long time following which the zilla parishad had constituted an enquiry headed by Maniyar in 2002-03.

After he failed to get any response, Patil filed an appeal with the appellate authority of the zilla parishad, MG Ambedkar, who too failed to respond. Patil filed a second appeal with the
SIC Pune.

While hearing the second appeal, Kuvalekar, in July, had ordered the appellate authority to furnish the information within 8 days. Moreover, as a follow up, the SIC’s office had sent reminders but Ambedkar’s office had failed to either respond or give information to Patil.

Kuvalekar slapped a fine of Rs10,000 on the public information officer of zilla parishad Solapur, SK Sage, for not furnishing the information.

A fine of Rs5,000 was also imposed on Ambedkar for not following the SIC’s orders and failing to give information to the applicant.