While observing gross violation and misuse of the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act for denial of information to two applicants, the Madhya Pradesh State Information Commission has ordered compensation for the information seekers and also has served a show-cause notice to the Public Information Officer (PIO).
Selection and recruitments made by public money can’t be a personal affair, observed the Information Commission in its order issued on Friday.
One of the Information Commissioners at MPSIC, Rahul Singh, has also ordered the MP Public Service Commission (MPPSC) to make the appointment and selection process more transparent with the tenets of the constitution.
On the instances of RTI applicants seeking details of candidates appointed as medical officers by the MPPSC, the PIO denied the information taking refuge under section 8 (1) (J) of the RTI Act, which prohibits the revelation of certain information to third parties.
After the denial of the information, the applicants had approached the MPSIC with appeals. While disposing of the appeals on Friday, Rahul Singh reversed the decision of the commission calling it illegal.
Referring to provisions, Singh observed when the commission can’t deny revealing this information to Assembly or Parliament, then how come the same could be denied to an info seeker. He further added that section 11 of the act only allows PIO to invite objections on the revelation of the information but it can’t be a basis to not divulge the desired information.
“Process of selection and appointment on a government post can’t be a personal affair,” said Singh, adding every commoner reserves the right to be informed about this process.
Of the two cases in question, academic qualifications and even caste certificates in one of the cases were under a scanner. A selected doctor had secured a caste certificate from Katni in 1990 and the second one from Sagar in 2005. The information commission stated that the public reserves a right to know how much-qualified doctors are offering them treatment.
He cited the example of the info panel itself which had given away certified copies of the educational qualifications and ACRs of the Information Commissioners under RTI in the year 2019. “Then on what basis, the MPPSC can deny information on selection and recruitment under the act,” asked Singh in his order.
“I have served a show-cause notice to NK Chandwada, the PIO of the MPPSC Indore, instructing him to personally appear before the commission on October 1 and explain as to why he should not be punished with a maximum Rs 25,000 penalty for ‘unreasonable and deliberate’ obstruction in providing information,” Singh told News18.com.
The panel has also ordered MPPSC for paying RTI applicants in question,-Katni’s Prakash Verma and Datia’s Dr Pankaj Shrivastava, being paid Rs 5,000 each as compensation.
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