MC's website outdated on RTI
Ludhiana municipal corporation has failed to update information on its website regarding the RTI Act in spite of the orders of the State Information Commission in 2008, making it compulsory for civic bodies to regularly update such information. Website mentions MS Jaggi, who was suspended last month, as a public information officer.
Ludhiana municipal corporation has failed to update information on its website regarding the RTI Act in spite of the orders of the State Information Commission in 2008, making it compulsory for civic bodies to regularly update such information.
This has led to confusion among people requiring information from the website. On entering the official website of the Ludhiana MC and clicking on the RTI disclosures section, and thereafter on the house tax section, it is found that names of the officials concerned have not been updated since long.
The website has mentioned former MC commissioner AK Sinha as the appellate authority, though he was holding the post more than seven months ago and took over as the director of civic bodies thereafter. The website has also mentioned MS Jaggi, who was suspended from the MC commissioner's post last month, as the public information officer (PIO) in the house tax zone-B section.
Rakesh Kumar Verma, who is an IAS officer, joined as the MC commissioner last month. There is one more bloomer on the website. In the section of house tax zone-C, AS Shekon has been mentioned as the assistant commissioner, though he is the joint commissioner now.
It was following a complaint that the Punjab State Information Commission had in 2008 directed the civic body to regularly update information relating to RTI on its website.
The RTI Act makes it compulsory for the public authority to publish information about itself as outlined in section 4(1)(b)(1) to section 4(1)(b)(17) and also update such information every year. It obligates the public authority to disseminate all information through various means of communication, including and not limiting to the Internet, so as to be easily accessible to the public.
The president of the Council or RTI Activists, Rohit Sabharwal, termed the outdated information on the website as a "failure of the MC". "A person sitting out of Ludhiana can never come to know the names of officers related to the RTI because wrong information has been provided on the official website of the MC," he said.
SP Singh, who is the superintending engineer (street lights), and responsible for updating the official website said that the website was a few months ago, but perhaps "we had not updated the RTI section. I will direct the officials concerned to update the RTI section immediately," Singh said.
MC bloomers
The website has mentioned former MC commissioner AK Sinha as the appellate authority, though he was holding the post more than seven months ago and took over as the director of civic bodies thereafter.
AS Shekon has been mentioned as the assistant commissioner, though he is the joint commissioner now.
The website has also mentioned MS Jaggi, who was suspended from the MC commissioner's post last month, as the public information officer (PIO) in the house tax zone-B section.
