MADURAI: The State Chief Information Commissioner has imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 on the Vadipatti Deputy Tahsildar, who is also the Information Officer for Vadipatti, for not furnishing information to a petitioner under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.
Madurai RTI activist NG Mohan petitioned the Information Officer at Madurai Collectorate on November 29, 2019, appealing him to furnish registers maintained by the Village Administrative Officer of Manadimangalam regarding porampoke land. Following this, the Information Officer forwarded his letter to Information Officer/Deputy Tashildar in Vadipatti Tashildar office on December 6, that same year. As he did not receive any response, Mohan sent an appeal petition to the Information Commissioner at Collectorate campus on January 3, 2020.
Following this, the Information Commissioner replied to him that his petition has been forwarded to Information Officer/Vadipatti Deputy Tashildar. As no response followed even this time, Mohan submitted a second appeal petition to the State Information Commissioner on February 7, 2020.
The State Information Commission held an enquiry into the petition on September 15, 2020 and ordered the Vadipatti Deputy Tashildar to furnish the information sought within seven days and sent a status report to him within 15 days. However, the Information Officer at Vadipatti Tashildar office still did not furnish any information to the petitioner. So, again the petitioner send an appeal petition to State Information Commission, and appealed him to take action against the respondents under RTI Act sections 20(1) and 20(2).
The State Information Commissioner again held enquiries at the Vadipatti Tashildar office on October 22, 2021. During then, the Information Officer reportedly told the Commissioner that he had joined the office very recently, and requested some time to furnish the details. The Commissioner ordered him to furnish required information to the petitioner within 30 days, and send the status report to the State Information Commission by November 30.
The Commissioner also asked the Information Officer why he did not recommend his higher officials to take action against the former Vadipatti Deputy Tashildar for not giving the details. A fine of Rs 3,000 was imposed also on the Vadipatti Deputy Tashildar.