The Karnataka Information Commission (KIC) has not only imposed a penalty of Rs 5,000 on Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) Deputy Secretary P N Murthy for not furnishing relevant information under the RTI Act, but has also asked him to pay a similar compensation to the applicant.
Mohan Ram, a retired staffer of Doordarshan Kendra, Bangalore, had sought the BDA to furnish details of land allotted to Doordarshan Kendra chief Mahesh Joshi in Bangalore.
Speaking to Express, Ram said he observed some illegalities in the land allotted to Joshi and hence sought the details from the BDA.
However, the Authority (Murthy) had given incomplete information and had not cited any reasons for denying remaining information, the Commission noted.
This apart, in its signed letter to the applicant, the respondent had failed to acknowledge that he was the State Public Information Officer, it said.
“Noting the delay in providing information, the Commission has awarded a compensation of Rs 5,000 to the applicant for the loss suffered by him, the amount shall be paid out of the office of BDA and a penalty of Rs 5,000 has also been levied under section 20 (1) of the RTI Act,” a KIC order said.
“The penalty imposed is personal and payable by the respondent himself,” the order passed by Information Commissioner D Thangaraj said.
The Commission had earlier served a show-cause notice to Murthy as to why a penalty should not be imposed on him, for which Murthy had not replied. Hence the Commission imposed penalty and awarded compensation accordingly.