SIC asks erring official to refund Rs 1,440

AKOLA: The State Information Commissioner Amravati Bench Bhaskar Patil has ordered the then Public Information Officer (PIO) cum Assistant Supply Inspector Akola to refund Rs 1440 to an appellant in an RTI case.
The amount was collected from Vinod Borde for supplying 720 pages of information at the rate of Rs 2 per page. He further directed the district collector Akola to take disciplinary action against the erring official and submit the report to him within six months.
Patil upheld that the erring officer did not provide the information to the appellant within 30 days as required under the Right to Information Act. He further endorsed that the said officer has provided wrong information to the appellant from whom the amount collected is totally illegal.
The appellant had filed the appeal under section 19(1) of Right Information Act 2005 against the order of the then PIO cum assistant supply inspector Akola.
The first appellate authority as well as district supply officer Akola, in its order dated June 4, 2008, held that the concerned PIO had given wrong information and the information had not been supplied within stipulated time of 30 days as per provision of RTI Act.
However, the said appellate authority did not speak anything over the amount collected from the appellant so far in its order.
The brief history of the case is that Borde had demanded information about private godowns and the names of their owners for storing food grains during Jan 1, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2007. The applicant had asked how was grain was lifted from these godowns by fair price shopkeepers during such period.
The then public information officer as well as assistant supply inspector had asked Borde to deposit Rs 1,440 for supplying 720 pages of information. The applicant received partial information on Feb 22, 2008, and March 17, 2008, which was not correct.
Therefore, the appellant went into first appeal and later final appeal before the state information commissioner Amravati Bench.