Bihar punishes 207 officials under RTI

Patna: The Bihar Information Commission (BIC) has imposed fines on 207 officials last year for failing to provide relevant details or incorrect information to the applicants who had sought information under RTI.

The officials, who were slapped fines, include three district magistrates, five additional district magistrates, one director and secretary each, six police officers, 25 engineers and 11 district education superintendents/officials, BIC Registrar BB Pandey said.

The others penalised by the BIC comprised two sub-division officers, 29 block development officers, 13 medical and health officials, 21 panchayat secretaries and 17 circle officers.

Pandey said that the district magistrates who were fined were posted in Vaishali, Munger and Madhepura districts.

‘The punitive measures against the government officials for their recalcitrant attitude towards proper disposal of RTI applications were taken under the relevant provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the BIC Registrar said.

‘The BIC had launched a facility in 2007 for the public to seek information under RTI on phones by depositing Rs. 10 as telephone bill and the concerned official was required to elicit the details by post within 35 days.

As many as 165598 people had sent their questionnaire to the concerned officials last year and 8838 persons had got their reply in the stipulated time.

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