THE PUNJAB and Haryana High Court has directed the Central Information Commission (CIC), Delhi to take action on a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by a UT police personnel, under Section 20 of the Act, 2005, on Friday. Section 20 contains the provision of penalty for not supplying information within a stipulated time period.
Justice HS Madaan directed the CIC to take action on the application filed by Head Constable Jagjeet Singh, expeditiously. Jagjeet had approached the court against the CIC itself, and former Central Public Information Officers (CPIO) Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rajiv Kumar Ambasta, DSP Rashmi Yadav Sharma and former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nilambri Jagadale.
In his petition, Jagjeet said that he was not given a reply to his RTI application on time, nor did the CIC take action against the responsible persons. The petition was filed in September, 2020.
Sources said that though the applicant was provided the information and allowed to inspect the relevant files after the intervention of CIC, there was no penalty imposed against the officers for the delay in furnishing the replies.
Advocate Nitin Sharma, representing the applicant, appealed the court to look into the matter urgently.
