Dated 29-05-2007

Name of the Complainant:
Shri Jabadal Das

Name of the Public Authority:
S.P. Nagaon.

The following were present:
1. Shri Krishna Das, APS,
S.P., Nagaon.

Shri Krishna Das, S.P., Nagaon who is the SPIO of his office is present. The complainant absent.


Brief of the case

The Commission vide its order dtd. 3.5.07 directed the SP, Nagaon to appear before the Commission on 29.5.2007 for hearing and tb. show cause why penalty should not be imposed on him for not furnishing the inforn1ation as required under Section 7(9) of the RTI Act, 2005.. The Commission proposed to impose penalty on him w.e.f., 21.12.06 till complete and correct information was furnished to the complainant. The Commission observed in the said order that the inquiry was fbund to be slipshod and directed the SP, Nagaon to conduct a fresh inquiry within a month. Hence this case.

Submission by the SP, Nagaon

The SP, Nagaon apologized for the delay in furnishing the information to the complainant on point to point basis and informed the Commission that he had furnished a detailed point to point reply to the complainant, a copy of which was already submitted before the Commission. The SP, Nagaon apologized to the Commission for his absence on the last date of hearing stating that he could not come to attend the hearing as he was to attend to some urgent piece of work relating to law and order.

Observations of the Commission

The Commission perused the point to point report and found that surprisingly, the same Inquiry Officer namely Shri Girin Medhi, APS, SDPO, Hojai conducted the fresh inquiry and came to the same findings. It was surprising that no case was registered by the OC, Hojai P.S. on the basis of the complaint lodged by the petitioner on 29.3.2004 and even no G.D. Entries made in this regard. Shri Girin Medhi SDPO, Hojai initiated an inquiry on the strength of Assam Police Headquarter Memo No. G/I/05/33/PG/16 dtd.13.9.2005 and he reiterated the same findings in his fresh inquiry report. The Commission is not inclined to accept the report as the Inquiry Officer did not examine Shri Nihar Kanti Roychoudhury, APS (Retd.) as well as the former Chairman of Hojai Municipality Board. The Inquiry Officer did not even examine OC, Hojai PS, Shri H.K. Narzary, S.l. Shri Golam Mamud and SI, Shri Laba Kalita. It is also not indicated whether Inquiry Officer examined the complainantt and tried to ascertain the facts from him. The Commission was unhappy that no case was registered in the police station on the written complaint of the complainant submitted to the O.C. , Hojai P.S. on 29.3.04 despite the fact that it clearly revealed the Commission of cognizable offence and a case was required to be registered U/S 154 Cr. P.c.

Decision of the Commission

The flaws observed by the Commission in handling this complaint should be rectified by the S.P., Nagaon in public interest and the petitioner should be informed about the final disposal of his complaint.

As the petitioner was absent, it is presumed that he did not wish to press for confirming the penalty as proposed earlier. Besides, the S.P. expressed his sincere apology for his lapses and assured the Commission that in future the RTI petitions would be attended on priority and information furnished as required under the Act. In view of this, the Commission decided to let off the S.P. with the warning that any lapses in future would involve penal action under the RTI Act, 2005.

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

Sd- (Dr. B.K. Gohain)
State Information Commissioner, Assam
Janata Bhawan, Dispur.

Authenticated true copy

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

CC:
1. Superintendent of Police, Nagaon
2. Shri Jabadal Das, C.R. Das Road, Gobindapally, Hojai, Nagaon.
3. MD, AMTRON, Bamunimaidan for website uploading
4. Office file.

Secretary
State Information Commission, Assam