First fine in West Bengal RTI

First fine in RTI

SOUMEN BHATTACHARJEE



The state information commission awarded the first ‘penalty’, under the Right to Information Act, 2005, to the cooperation department for failing to gather a piece of information for a petitioner, within the stipulated time.

Chief information commissioner Arun Bhattacharya asked the cooperation department to pay a token amount as compensation for harassing the petitioner.

“We have instructed the cooperation department to pay Rs 1,000 as compensation for harassing Saroj Khettry, the petitioner, as the department could not provide him with the information in the stipulated time,” stated Arun Bhattacharya, chief information commissioner of the state.

Khettry, 74, had sought a copy of the legal opinion that the department of co-operation had taken concerning the allotment of his flat on Jhowtala Road.

His quest dates back to the late 1970s, when he decided to leave his flat by resigning from the cooperative society, near Purna cinema in Bhowanipore.

He had paid Rs 4.47 lakh for the 850-sq-ft flat. Khettry vacated the flat as he was told that the booking amount would be returned.

“The promoter and the society did not return the money and even handed over the flat to someone else. Since then, I have been trying in vain to know the name of the owner of the flat,” said Khettry.

After running from pillar to post for years, Khettry’s plea was first heard in October last year, when he was assured that the owner’s name would be revealed to him.

“Initially, the principal information officer told me in a letter that his department has the legal document. But later, his department officials said the document had gone missing,” said Khettry.

On April 3, Khettry’s appeal was heard by the commission, where the chief information commissioner ruled out that “misplacing the document cannot be an excuse for not furnishing a piece of information”.

The commissioner ruled that “the penalty was for the entire department, including principal information officer H.P. Roy”.

He added that only the principal information officer should not be blamed for the matter as the entire department had ignored Khettry’s plea and harassed him.

Published in The Telegraph, 28 April 2007

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First penalty for RTI Act violation

CIC slaps fine on Cooperative dept SPIO for failing to furnish information



Subhendu Ray
Kolkata, April 27: The Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) has penalised the State Public Information Officer (SPIO) of the Cooperative department for allegedly violating the Right to Information (RTI) Act. This is the first case in West Bengal wherein such an action has been taken under the RTI Act. According to the order issued by the CIC, the SPIO has to submit within 30 days a fine of Rs 1,000 before the one-man commission.

Acting on a complaint filed by one Saroj Kumar Khetri that he was not provided with the piece of information he had sought eight months ago, CIC Arun Kumar Bhattacharya penalised the department under Section 20 of the RTI Act 2005.

The complainant said he had purchased a flat at Jhowtala Road in 1973 but the same was later issued to someone else. “My membership in the society was not disclosed in the society audit. I appealed to our cooperative society’s registrar to take action against the board members of the society, but he did not pay any heed,” Khetri said.

He filed a writ petition in the High Court, which ordered the authorities to dispose of his representation in accordance with law.

The secretary of the Cooperative department had sought legal advice from the department’s legal adviser in connection with the writ petition filed by Khetri.

“On June 16 last year, I sent an application to the department requesting for a copy of the legal advice. During the hearing before the Information Commission, the SPIO, HP Roy, had promised to give me the copy within 10 days,” Khetri said.

He was, however, given a copy of the legal opinion in a separate case instead.

“I then moved the Information Commission to get the response of the SPIO,” Khetri said. The commission then seized the file, examined it and penalised the department.

Roy, the SPIO who is also the joint secretary of the department, admitted that it was a gross mistake on their part. “A wrong legal advice document was given to him (Khetri) by mistake. The actual document was not in the file,” he said.

Sabir Ahmed, programme coordinator of The Calcutta Samaritans, a city-based NGO that has been working towards proper implementation of the RTI Act in the state, said applicants in West Bengal hardly ever got a response from the agencies concerned.

“By imposing a penalty this time, the commission has set an example and we appreciate this gesture,” said Ahmed.

Published in Kolkata Newsline, Indian Express, 28 April 2007

Finally, the RTI cell begins to function in KMC

Debarati Chakraborty

Kolkata, April 19: FINALLY the Right to Information (RTI) cell in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) started to function as the cash collection centre came into existence. Because of its absence previously, the cell was completely inactive and had only been able to forward 18 replies out of 92 applications received.

An officer of the cell said, “The cash collection centre has finally developed. From now onwards, the treasury department will handle the monetary aspect of the RTI cell.”

Although the RTI cell in KMC was inaugurated with great fanfare in January this year, the cash collection centre came into being some five days ago. “The applicants have to pay a certain amount to the KMC in order to procure information through the RTI cell. But unfortunately, there was no such mechanism here. This was stopping us from replying to about 90 applications received so far,” said Pashupati Barik, the State Public Information Officer of the KMC’s RTI cell and the Deputy Municipal Commissioner Personnel.

Sources within the RTI cell said, “Applicants will have to deposit money in the miscellaneous counter of the Treasury Department. The Act states that Rs 2 has to be taken from the applicant for each page of information provided or the actual cost price of the sample. After the applicant deposits this amount, we will provide him with the necessary information.”

Fees structure
* Rs 2 for each page (in A-4 or A-3 size paper) created or copied
* Actual charge or cost price for a copy in large size of paper
* Actual cost price for sample or model
*n Rs 5 for each 15 minutes or fraction thereof for inspection of records
* Rs 15 per diskette or floppy
* Actual charge for publication or Rs 2 per page of photocopy for extracts for information provided


Published in Kolkata Newsline, Indian Express, April 20 2007

Calcutta University Chancellor Mr. Gopal Krishna Gandhi, takes up students’ cause on implementing the Right to Information Act

Even as state universities sat on the decision on implementing the
Right to Information Act the chancellor, Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi, has
taken upon himself to see that the universities reach a decision
about showing answer papers to students under the Act. Under his
instruction the vice-chancellors and information officers of all
state universities will meet tomorrow for a round table conference to
decide whether universities will show evaluated papers to examinees
under RTI.

The first case under RTI occurred in a state university when Calcutta
University had to show answer papers to a B Com student after a
directive from the state information commissioner. Although the
universities have been sufficiently alarmed by the incident, there
have been no further progress on the issue.

However, during a recent discussion held by the chancellor with vice-
chancellors of state universities the issue cropped us once again.
The chancellor then asked the universities to take a uniform decision
on whether to show answer papers if any student took recourse to RTI
Act. "The chancellor told us to convene a round table about the
implications of the RTI Act after vice-chancellors told them about
the impending problem. Accordingly, we will try to reach a unanimous
decision in this regard. The meeting will be attended by information
officers of the universities as well as the respective vice-
chancellors, " said pro-vice chancellor (academic) of CU, Prof.
Suranjan Das. The meeting will be held at Netaji Subhas Open
University tomorrow.

The universities, however, have been differing over whether to show
the evaluated papers to students. While Calcutta University is
unwilling to show answer papers to students, some of the universities
say they are ready to implement RTI in this regard. The state
universities were confronted with their first RTI case when a B.Com
Part II examinee of CU, Utsav Dutta approached Calcutta High Court
last year as he lacked the requisite marks for reviewing his papers
under university regulations. The court had directed the petitioner
to approach the university under RTI Act. However, the university had
not responded to his appeal within 30 days, thereby rejecting his
appeal. Following a directive from state information commissioner, CU
had to finally give way.

Published in The Statesman, April 10 2007