CIC asks PUDA PIO to appear before him for not accepting plea

Jalandhar Punjab chief information commissioner (CIC) Suresh Arora has directed Punjab Urban Development Authority Public Information Officer (PIO) to personally appear before him in connection with a case of refusal to accept an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act on February 7.

Jalandhar Punjab chief information commissioner (CIC) Suresh Arora has directed Punjab Urban Development Authority Public Information Officer (PIO) to personally appear before him in connection with a case of refusal to accept an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act on February 7.

HT Image

In December 2019, a Phagwara resident, Surinder Mittal, had sought details from the PIO about compensatory land alloted in Jalandhar to cricketer Harbhajan Singh under a government scheme a few years back. In his complaint to the CIC, Mittal claimed that the respondent (the PIO) had failed to comply with the condition imposed in Section 7 of the RTI Act. Thus, this complaint was maintainable under Sections 18 and 20 of the RTI Act. He also claimed that the PIO had failed to furnish details of the First Appellant Authority in clear-cut violation of Section 7(8) (iii) of the Act.

In the letter issued to the PIO, CIC Arora has asked him to be present personally in his office and in the case of any emergency, to send his assistant PIO for filing a reply that would be considered as being filed by him (the PIO).