Srinagar, Sep 23: While the J&K Government has dealt a blow to the State Information Commission (SIC) by clipping its wings, official details bring to fore that only two defaulting Public Information Officers (PIOs) have deposited the penalty amount levied by the Commission since its establishment.
 According to observers, the details reveal how for granted the public authorities are taking the SIC rulings.
 In response to a RTI application filed by Munish Sharma,  the SIC—which has been rendered toothless by  the General Administration Department by bringing in sweeping changes  in its Rules—has revealed  that only two PIOs have deposited the amount penalized by the SIC. Pertinently, the Commission has penalized nine PIOs for not complying with the RTI Act in letter and spirit after its constitution in June 2011.
  According to details, the penalties of Rs 25000 and Rs 5000  have  been deposited by the  PIOs in cases of Syed Nasrullah V/S SKUAST Srinagar and Vilakshana Singh V/S Chief Engineer EM & RE wing Jammu. In other seven cases, the Commission is not in possession of any information whether the defaulting government departments have deposited the penalty amount or not. “The report over penalty amount is awaited in six cases,” it says.
 These include Assistant Commissioner Revenue (ACR) Jammu , Tehsildar Ramban, PIO Public Service Commission, Assistant Commission Development Jammu, Tehsildar Jammu and PIO Deputy Commissioner Office Samba.
 Meanwhile, the stakeholders said that the disclosure has put question mark on wisdom of government over reducing the powers of SIC.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 23 Sep 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
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