Raipur, October 11, 23: Chhattisgarh State Information Commission Commissioner Shri Dhanvendra Jaiswal has issued a total fine of Rs 85 lakh 37 in 3 thousand 836 cases in the last two and a half years for negligence in providing timely information to the applicants and not proper implementation of the Right to Information Act. A fine of more than Rs. 1,000 has been imposed on the concerned public information officers. The State Information Commissioner’s Court has imposed this fine in the order passed from March 2021 to September this year.
These public information officers include Joint Collector, Tehsildar, CEO District Panchayat, Block Education Officer, Mineral Officer, Women and Child Development Officer, Public Information Officer of Medical College and Secretaries of Gram Panchayats and others. Similarly, disciplinary action is also being recommended by the Commission against the first appellate officers.
Arrangement of online hearing in Chhattisgarh State Information Commission
Naya Raipur-based Chhattisgarh State Information Commission has made online arrangements for hearing second appeals and complaints under the Right to Information Act. Appellants can apply online as well as offline. The hearing is conducted from the video conferencing room of NIC located in the collector office of all the districts. Due to this, applicants do not need to come to Raipur. The State Information Commission has also started hearing through mobile in June 2023. Through this, the Appellant and the Public Information Officer are joining the hearing of the second appeal by connecting through their mobiles.
