The SIC order to BMC to take action against its officials is yet another instance of the RTI Act being clubbed with the Maharashtra Public Records Act, 2005.
The State Information Commissioner (SIC) has asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to conduct an inquiry against the latter's officers and register a first information report (FIR) for certain missing building records.
The May 19 order by Ratnakar Gaikwad pertains to a Right To Information (RTI) application by 70-year-old Parel resident Rajmauli Gujjar. Gujjar had sought details and plans of the building where he lives in. While some information was provided by the public information officer (PIO), most were not.
Gujjar, who is now unwell, had pursued his RTI application through his son Sanjay. "At our building, we felt that we were not getting what was promised to us. There were other illegalities as well, and, hence, we decided to file an RTI application," said Sanjay.
After the PIO failed to furnish the information, Sanjay filed a first appeal. The First Appellate Authority directed the PIO to provide the information. When the applicant still did not get it, he filed a second appeal. Ajitkumar Jain, information commissioner (Brihanmumbai bench), in August 2014, ordered that the applicant be provided with all information and circulars, apart from the amended plans.
"This, too, did not yield any result. We then filed a complaint of non-compliance. In fact, when I went to see the files, all pages from 255 to 337 were missing. These pages had the amended plans," said Sanjay.
The SIC order to BMC to take action against its officials is yet another instance of the RTI Act being clubbed with the Maharashtra Public Records Act, 2005.
Gaikwad has ordered the deputy chief engineer (Building and Proposal) to conduct an inquiry and fix responsibilities on the officials and file an FIR on the missing documents. A report needs to be given to the commission by June 30.
The other Act that has been clubbed with the RTI Act is the Government Servants Regulation of Transfers and Prevention of Delay in Discharge of Official Duties Act (Act 21 of 2006).
What does the Act say?
Section 9 of the Maharashtra Public Records Act talks about penalty for contravening certain sections on how records need to be destroyed or disposed off. For example, Section 4 states that no record can be taken out without the prior approval of the government. Section 8 states that certain rules have to be followed while destroying or disposing off the records. Under Section 9, a person can be fined Rs 10,000 or imprisoned for five years or both, if he is found to be violating these sections.
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