SHILLONG, FEB 22: RTI activist Desparsing Rani submitted a petition to the Meghalaya governor against state’s Chief Information commissioner (CIC) alleging that he had violated the Right To Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
“I have submitted a petition to the Governor seeking his intervention into the alleged violation of the RTI Act, 2005 by the state’s CIC,” RTI activist Desparsing Rani said during press conference on Monday.
He alleged that the CIC CD Kynjing ( a retired IAS officer) had rejected his complaint filed before the latter’s office on January 29, this year, against the three blocks in East Khasi hills district.
According to Rani, the three blocks – Mawryngkneng, Shella-Bholaganj and Mawsynram- had failed to furnish information sought by him since June 30, last year under the RTI Act, on the issue of implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Informing that out of the eight blocks in the district, five have already replied to his RTI queries, he added, “As per RTI filed with the Deputy Commissioner’s office, the RTI applications to all the blocks were received on July 14, 2015.”
However, he informed, “Based on this, I had filed a complaint with the office of the CIC against the three blocks. Instead the CIC had rejected my complaint without conducting any hearing.”
“The reason for rejecting the complaint as given by the CIC is that I was late by 150 days to bring the issue to his notice,” Rani complaint.
Stating that the CIC’s decision to reject his complaint was in violation of the RTI act, the activist said, “Because as per Section 18 (3) of the Act, it has clearly stated that there is no limit for RTI applicant to lodge a complaint with the CIC. Moreover the Act also stated that complaints can be lodged even after 18 months.”
When asked, Rani alleged that the CIC had failed to refer to any section of the Act while rejecting his complaint.
“This is contempt by the CIC against his own Act, which is not acceptable,” he said while informing that he had also filed an RTI with the office of CIC on the matter.- By Our Reporter
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