Kalaburagi Officials Penalised for Failing to Provide RTI Information, Skipping Hearings
State Information Commissioner B Venkata Singh said the penalties were imposed during hearings held in April after several officials failed to furnish information on time, ignored notices issued by the Commission and did not appear for proceedings
Raichur: The Kalaburagi Bench of the State Information Commission has imposed fines totalling Rs 1.5 lakh on several government officials, including Kalaburagi Zilla Panchayat Deputy Secretary, Gangavathi PWD Assistant Executive Engineer and Raichur Grade-2 Tahsildar, for failing to provide information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and remaining absent during hearings.
State Information Commissioner B Venkat Singh said the penalties were imposed during hearings held in April after several officials failed to furnish information on time, ignored notices issued by the Commission and did not appear for proceedings.
Among the officials fined, Gangavathi PWD Assistant Executive Engineer Devanna Katti was fined Rs 15,000, while Kalaburagi Zilla Panchayat Deputy Secretary Lakshman Shringeri was fined Rs 10,000 and Raichur Grade-2 Tahsildar Parashuram Rs 5,000. Penalties ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 were also imposed on several PDOs and gram panchayat secretaries from Raichur, Yadgir, Koppal, Kalaburagi and Ballari districts.
The officials penalised include Mallikarjun, secretary of Hullur gram panchayat in Jewargi taluk, Raghunath, PDO of Aaroli gram panchayat in Manvi taluk, Yankanagouda, secretary of Tadibidi gram panchayat in Vadagera taluk, Vedang, secretary of Hagaraga gram panchayat in Kalaburagi taluk, and Galibasab, secretary of Rama Samudra gram panchayat in Yadgir taluk, who were fined Rs 5,000 each.
Rajkumar Subedar, secretary of Aldal gram panchayat in Surpur taluk, Bhimrao, PDO of Munnalli gram panchayat, Madivalappa, secretary of Naganur gram panchayat in Surpur taluk, Sidram, PDO of Gogi K gram panchayat in Shahpur taluk, Kallappa, secretary of Hosadaroji gram panchayat in Sandur taluk, Mudukanna, PDO of Saidapur gram panchayat in Yadgir taluk, Jyoti Redder, secretary of Siddapur gram panchayat in Karatagi taluk, and Bhimanna, secretary of Paidoddi gram panchayat in Lingsugur taluk were fined Rs 10,000 each, while Jagadish, PDO of Yalasangi gram panchayat in Aland taluk, was fined Rs 15,000.
The Commissioner said the Commission had taken up 564 cases for hearing in April and disposed of 229 of them. Since he assumed office, the Commission had handled 3,084 cases and disposed of 1,308 cases during 88 days of hearings.
To create awareness among officials and speed up disposal of RTI-related cases, workshops on the RTI Act have already been conducted in Ballari, Bidar, Kalaburagi and Koppal. Another workshop has been scheduled in Vijayanagar district on May 30, he added.
