Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 14: The State Information Commission (SIC) is mulling to impose penalty on Assistant Director (Planning) Department of Education who is the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the department as he has failed to provide information about the mid-day meal scheme within the stipulated time frame.
Chief Information Commissioner, G. R Sufi said that the PIO of the Education Department has failed to provide details about the mid-day meal scheme as sought by Haji Ahsan Ali Gonkhapa through a Right to Information (RTI) application within 30 days of the date of RTI application.
Sufi said that since information has been delayed to the RTI applicant by the Education department, the PIO of the department is liable for penalty from April 24, 2010. He said the Education Department should not have any hesitation in providing the information as it was a Government Department and relates to very important aspect of the Government expenditure.
On March 25, 2010 Ahsan had moved the RTI application seeking information about the details of mid-day meal scheme provided to the school children in the state with district wise details for the last three years. He also wanted to know the details about the meals provided to the school children and the expenditure incurred on the scheme in the whole state during the last three years.
Ahsan also wanted to know details about the mid-day meal scheme in Kargil district for the three years and how much money was spent in this district from 2007 to the date of application. He further wanted to know the menu of the mid-day meals being provided to the school children of the state.
The RTI applicant had sought information about the school buildings constructed under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in the state since the inception of the scheme. He wanted details about the money spent on the construction purposes under the SSA scheme in the state along with the criteria set out for the allotment of work in this regard.
Under provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act, 2009, the School Education Department was supposed to provide the information within a maximum period of 30 days to the information seeker, but nothing of that sort happened. The information sought by the RTI applicant was provided after one and a half year.
After not receiving the details, Ahsan approached the State Information Commission and filed a complaint on August 29, 2011. As the complaint was un-signed it was returned to Ahsan and following this he submitted a signed copy on September 19, 2011.
In his decision, the Information Commissioner said that as per section 7 of the State RTI Act 2009 order was to be passed as expeditiously as possible but no later than 30 days from the receipt of the RTI application.
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