‘To boost RTI,fill vacancies in charity commissioner offices’

Gore had complained to the SIC that the charity commissioner’s office in Pune had not furnished the required information that he had sought under the RTI Act within the stipulated time. However,relying on a judgment of Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court in the Bhaskar Kulkarni vs State Information Commissioner case,the charity commissioner’s office had argued that the RTI Act was not applicable to it.

Kuvlekar said the charity commissioner’s office argued that it was not in a position to provide timely and proper information owing to inadequate staff,huge workload and increasing number of RTI applications. It conceded that many times it could not provide information because of several adverse circumstances. “I should not be held responsible under RTI as the hurdles in work crop up due to several deficiencies,” stated public information officer and superintendent,assistant charity commissioner’s office,Pune division.

In response to this,the State Information Commissioner has said the charity commissioner’s office in the state do suffer from several shortcomings like inadequate staff and huge workload. “This has become clear through various appeals made before this commissioner. There is truth in whatever the PIOs of the charity commissioner’s office says,” Kuvlekar said,adding that the Pune office looks after nearly 14,000 trusts.

Stressing that Right to Information Act need to be upheld,Kuvelekar,however,said holding the charity commissioner’s office guilty would go against principles of natural justice. “At the same time,it won’t be proper if the information seekers are denied information under the RTI Act. In view of this,I’m directing the state chief charity commissioner to take urgent action in the matter,” the order said.

Kuvlekar said he hoped that the state charity commissioner’s office would immediately act in the matter so as to maintain the sanctity of the RTI Act. “It is clear that the RTI Act was suffering a body blow at the charity commissioner’s office which is vastly under-staffed. Unless and until the staff crunch is taken care,the charity commissioner’s office won’t be able to do justice to the citizens,” he said.

Lonavala officer fined Rs 25,000
In another order,state information commissioner Vijay Kuvlekar imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on M G Tarani,assistant town planner of the Lonavala Municipal Council. In his order,the SIC said the town planner delayed a building plan in the twin hill stationsand and provided incomplete information and even denied information to a citizen. The information was sought by Kuldip Laxman Melkar of Bhangarwadi,Lonavala. The order said the fine should be deducted in equal instalments from the May and June salaries of the town planner.