Madhya Pradesh Information Commission has issued a showcause notice to the deputy director of the state mining department in Satna district in connection with four appeals filed under the Right to Information regarding mining activity in the area, threatening penal action amounting to a fine of Rs one lakh.
Normally, a maximum penalty of Rs 25,000 can be levied against a guilty Public Information Officer. However, as the case relates to four different RTI appeals, a penalty of Rs 25,000 in each case added up to Rs one lakh for the officer in question.
Appellant Amit Singh Chouhan had filed four RTI applications seeking information related to mining activity of Prism Johnson Limited, Satna in July 2019. Chouhan was shocked when instead of receiving information, he was quizzed by the PIO and asked to furnish details such as the land record of the company in order to avail the information under RTI.
State Information Commissioner Rahul Singh said in his order that the PIO, Deputy Director in the Mining Department in Satna district, Deepmala Tiwari, with an intention to harass the appellant and to delay the information, quizzed the RTI applicant about known facts held by the department. Singh further questioned how an RTI applicant was supposed to get information which was in possession of the PIO's office.
Besides, the company had large areas under mining operations, which the district mining department was aware of, said the Information Commissioner during the hearing. The PIO then admitted before the Commission that the information related to mining was available and could be provided easily.
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Singh said that Section 5 (3) of the RTI Act clearly states that the PIO would extend support and possible help to the applicant, but in this case it was more of harassment and less of cooperation, and as a result, the information which should be ideally be processed in 30 days, was yet to be provided even after 300 days.
Chouhan, in his RTI application, had also raised questions regarding land schedule, mining plan, production and royalty and excavation details at the mining site.
The Information Commissioner ruled that this case merits disclosure of information as media reports often suggest that most of the companies flout mining norms and cause losses to the exchequer and pose a threat to the environment due to rampant mining beyond the permissible limits.
Asking the PIO to respond to a showcause notice for penalty of Rs one lakh at the next hearing on July 6, the Information Commissioner ordered the official to make the records sought by the applicant available to him free of cost.