Appeals and Complaints

A pleasant and easy going officer had been appointed as the First Appellate Authority in the PCCF office.It was a pleasure to appear before him. When the proceedings were underway, the people from the section who had denied the information or had given misleading statements were summoned and heard. They readily agreed to provide the desired information and in most cases I did get the information. Those initial years saw a lot of First Appeals being filed which bore fruit in the later years. Since 2009 , the no. of first appeal fell drastically once the delinquent officers realised that they had to give the desired information failing which the applicant could move the higher forums.  The PCCF himself realised that something was wrong in his office . He took a meeting and made it clear that information should be given promptly without excuses . 

However, the matter did not end there. I filed complaints before the State Information Commission with a prayer to levy penalty for the delay. These proceeding dragged on for months together and many an assistant had to sweat dreading the distinct chance of paying a hefty fine for the delay. However, it did not happen. Most got away by assuring the Commission that it would not repeated in the future though there is no  provision in the RTI Act to allow defaulters to get away by a simple assurance.