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Protect Yourself
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| All Officials in All Public Authorities across India
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The Public Information Officer of any Public Authority is the interface between
the public and the Public Authority to which he belongs. Under the Right to
Information Act, he as Public Information Officer is authorized to deal
with public on all matters arising out of proceedings under the Act
-- matters relating to the Public Authority to which he belongs. This
emanates from provisions of Section 5(3) of the Act which reads as follows:
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5.
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(3)
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Every
Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the
case may be, shall deal with requests from persons seeking information and
render reasonable assistance to the persons seeking such information.
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The information that public is going to ask about your Public Authority,
generally, is either not in control of or not in possession of the
Public Information officer. He has to collect and collate this information from
other Officers of the Public Authority for handing over to the person
requesting a particular information. The Right to Information Act specifically
provides for this mechanism in Section 5(4) which reads as follows:
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5.
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(4)
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The
Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the
case may be, may seek the assistance of any other officer as he or she
considers it necessary for the proper discharge of his or her duties.
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When a Public Information Officer writes a letter to any other Officer, asking
for details of information that he has been requested to provide for instance,
he does so under explicit sanction of the Act. And, this other Officer is duty
bound under the Right to Information Act to render all assistance to the Public
Information Officer. This emerges from Section 5(5) of the Act which reads as
follows:
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5.
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(5)
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Any
officer, whose assistance has been sought under sub-section (4), shall render
all assistance to the Central Public Information Officer or State Public
Information Officer, as the case may be, seeking his or her assistance and for
the purposes of any contravention of the provisions of this Act, such other
officer shall be treated as a Central Public Information Officer or State
Public Information Officer, as the case may be.
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Notice such other officer shall become a 'deemed
Public Information Officer' if contravention of the Act occurs. The
implications follow that contravention can lead to penalty proceedings being
initiated against such other officer. And, if found guilty, penalty can be
levied by the Commission. The quantum of penalty is Rs. 250/- (Rupees two
hundred and fifty only) per day of default subject to maximum of Rs. 25,000/-
(Rupees twentyfive thousand only). The penalty has to be borne by the Officer
personally. The Public Authority has nothing to do with it.
The requirement for imposition of penalty are not
stringent. A simple 'opinion' of the Commission is sufficient. For detailed
reading please refer to the section "Protect Yourself -- P.I.O." from the home
page or click here.
Thus, if delay can be attributed to you as an Officer from whom the Public
Information Officer had requested for details, you shall be liable to penalty.
For that matter any other default when attributable to any other officer makes
such other officer liable to penalty under the Right to Information Act.
Penalty provisions have been detailed in the link suggested above. All Officers
of all Public Authorities must therefore know the circumstances in which
penalty can be initiated by the Commission and be cautious in handling any
paper arising out of any proceedings under the Right to Information Act.
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| For any clarifications please contact
InfoRightsIndia. |
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