Dated 14-05-2007

Name of the Complainant:
Pandit Sanjib Narayan Dass,
General Secretary, All India Small & Medium Newspapers
Federation, Assam, NE Region, State office, Lutuma, 4th AP. Bn., Road
Kahilipara, House No.5, P.O. Binovanagar, Guwahati-18

Name of the Public Authority:
Commissioner & Secretary, Home & Political Deptt., Assam, Dispur.

The following were present:
1. Shri Madan Ch. Deka,
Deputy Secretary, Home Deptt., Dispur.

The petitioner absent without intimation. The SPIO appeared but the Commissioner & Secretary, Home & Political Deptt to whom the notice was issued was absent.

Brief of the case

The petitioner wanted information on:

(a) Number of Police Stations and Out Posts in the State.
(b) Number of population district-wise
(c) List of IPS and IAS in Assam cadre.

The petition seeking the information was received at the Commission's office on 8.11.2006. On 16.11. 06, it was
transferred to the Home & Political Deptt. under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act, 2005 for furnishing information to the petitioner.

The petitioner approached the Commission again through his letter dtd. 3.4.2007 stating that the information sought for by him had not been furnished to him. The Commission took cognizance of the complaint under Section 18(2) of the RTI Act, 2005 and issued notice to the Commissioner and Secretary, Home & Political Department for hearing on 14.5.2007. The petitioner was also asked to be present in the hearing.

Submission by the PIO

The PIO of the department is a new person having been designated as such only on 11.5.07. The earlier PIO had been transferred and she left her post in the Home Department on 30.4.2007. The new PIO submitted that the Home & Political Deptt. received the transferred petition on 18.11.06. On 27.11.06 , they had written to DGP/Home (C) Department for information on the number of Out Posts and Police Stations and to the Personnel Department for the list of IAS officers in Assam cadre. Home (C) Department gave the list of Out Posts on 06.12.06 and the Personnel Department gave the list of IAS officers on 5.1.2007. Thereafter, there was no action taken whatsoever by the Department to furnish the information to the petitioner.

Observations by the Commission

It is a sad state of affairs that the Department failed to furnish the information even after collecting the same. It was expected of the then SPIO or the Commissioner & Secretary, Home & Political Deptt. himself to bestow more importance to this matter and furnish the information to the petitioner.
The information sought was available readily with the Home Department itself including the district-wise population which was published by the government in the official diary. A little painstaking effort would have made it possible to furnish the information within the minimum period. The information was furnished to the petitioner by the new SPIO on 11.5.2007 only after the receipt of the notice issued by the Commission on 23.4.2007. There is no excuse for such delay. Strangely, the new SPIO addressed a letter to the Commission furnishing a copy of the letter issued to the petitioner on 11.5.2007 requesting for exemption to the Commissioner & Secretary and SPIO from appearing at the hearing on the ground that the information had
been furnished.

Decision of the Commission

The Commission noted that the Home & Political Deptt. had shown no seriousness in the implementation of the RTI Act as was evident in this case where the information collected had not been passed on to the petitioner in time. Senior functionaries in the departments are expected to bestow greater attention in establishing the culture of transparent governance through implementation of RTI Act for the benefit of public.

In this particular case, as the petitioner was absent the presumption was that he did not want to press for imposition of penalty for the delay. Besides, the Commission also would like to made a reference to the functioning of the previous PIO. She had done a good job as the PIO and the Commission had commended on her performance during her appearances before the Commission on a number of occasions. In this case though she failed in her responsibility for providing information, in the absence of the petitioner, the Commission would not like to take a decision to penalize her for this omission. Nevertheless the Commission would like to make it clear that in this particular case she had not done a good job. This may be communicated to the former PIO by the Commissioner & Secretary, Home & Political Deptt.

The department was also advised that there would be no exemption from appearance before the Commission in all matters when the public authority had failed to comply with the provisions of RTI Act in furnishing information to the petitioner.

Sd/- (R.S. Mooshahary)
Chief Information Commissioner, Assam
Janata Bhawan, Dispur.



Authenticated true copy

(Jiauddin Ahmed)
Secretary, State Information Commission, Assam
Janata Bhawan, Dispur.

CC:
1. Commissioner & Secy., Home & Political Deptts, Assam, Dispur, Guwahati-6
2. Shri Madan Ch. Deka, Deputy Secretary, Home Deptt & SPIO, Assam, Dispur.
3. Pandit Sanjib Narayan Dass, General Secretary, All India Small & Medium Newspapers Federation, Assam, NE Region, State Office, Lutuma, 4th AP. Bn. Road, Kahilipara, House No.5, P.O. Binovanagar, Ghy-18
4. MD, AMTRON, Bamunimaidan for website uploading
5. Office file.


Secretary
State Information Commission, Assam