The official in question twice visited the house of the appellant, and tried to convince and pressurize the appellant
Avinash Azad
Manipulating clear-cut Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005 block development officer, Ghagwal Block, and the Assistant Commissioner Development (ACD) tried to shield an alleged backdoor appointee by concealing, at a time when the Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta has ‘waged’ war against all wrongdoing of past.
“On the basis of input from reliable sources that a backdoor appointee has been elevated to a senior position and posted in Samba district, I filed an RTI application in the office of ACD Samba, seeking an initial appointment letter of official in question, but unfortunately, ACD did not act as per the Act despite direction issued from the directorate of Rural Development Department Jammu in response to my First Appeal, as the no reply furnished by the PIO within 30”, said Gulshan, the appellant.
“Now I will file a second appeal before the Hon’ble Central Information Commission, New Delhi for justice and a copy of the same will be forwarded to the Chief Secretary J&K, who is showing no tolerance towards such cases”, the appellant added.
“Refer to your RTI application which was forwarded to this office by a worthy Assistant. Commissioner Development Samba Vide No. : – ACDS/2023-24/120/767-70 dated 22-05-2023 with directions to the undersigned to provide the information directly to the information seeker under the J&K RTI Act 2005. In this contact, point-wise Information sought by you at S.No. 1 of your application is Personal Information of the undersigned and it does not come under the preview of RTI Act 2005 as it is exempted from RTI Act 2005, Section 8, Subsection -1(e) and (1). Hence information sought by you at S.No.1 is denied. However, you can seek said information from the competent Authorities who have issued appointment orders/ promotion orders. As far as my educational qualification is concerned, for your convenience, inform you that I have acquired a Graduate Degree from the University of Jammu, a post-graduation from Indira Gandhi National University, New Delhi, and a Ph.D. from Gandhigram Rural University Tamil Nadu and you are at liberty to seek the details regarding my educational qualification from concerned universities. Reply to Point no. 2:- As the information sought by you at S.No. 2 of your application comes under the purview of the RTI Act 2005 and being a responsible Government Officer / Public Servant, I have an obligation to provide the said information which is as under. Details of Postings/ Stay of officials without mentioning his designation in different government offices BDO Office Sunder Bani 20/09/1996 to 30/10/2001 BDO Office Kalakot 01/11/2001 to 20/12/2004 BDO Office Rajouri 21/12/2004 to 10/11/2009 BDO Office Manjakote 11/11/2009 to 18/09/2011BOO Office Rajouri 19/09/2011 to 20/06/2017 BOO Office Dhangri 21/06/2017 to 13/11/2017 BDO Office Bhalwal 14/11/2017 to 23/07/2019 BDO Office Rajouri 24/07/2019 to 25/02/2021 BDO Office Lamberi 26/02/2021 to 24/02/2022 BDO Office Slot 25/02/2022 to 11/04/2023 BDO Office Ghagwal 17/04/2023 to till date”, RTI reply vide no. BDO/G/2022-23/347-48, dated 16/06/2023 reads.
“This office had forwarded the RTI application to the Block Dev. Officer, Ghagwal with the direction to provide the requisite complete information as sought in the RTI application directly to the information seeker within the stipulated time under section 6(3) of the J&K RTI Act, 2005.
Whereas, Block Dev. Officer, Ghagwal vide his office letter No: BDO/G/2022- 23/347-48 dated 16.06.2023 had provided the information directly to the information seeker with a copy to this office”, reply given by ACD Samba vide ACDS/2023-24/120/3051-52, dated 03/07/2023 reads.
“The appellant vide his application dated 23.06.2023 addressed to Director Rural Development, Jammu has submitted that the Block Development Officer, Ghagwal has not provided information to him within the stipulated time and has filed a 1st appeal under the J&K RTI Act., 2005 to the office of Director, Rural Development, Jammu which was forwarded to this office for disposal as per rules; For the hearing of 1′ appeal, the date of 03.07.2023 at 12.00 noon was fixed in the office chamber of the undersigned and Block Dev. Officer Ghagwal was directed to attend the 1st appeal in person along with relevant information. The Appellant was also requested to attend the same on the scheduled date, time, and venue. During the hearing of 1st appeal, the PIO (Block Dev. Officer, Ghagwal/Sumb) attended the 1st appeal on the scheduled date & time. The Appellant did not attend the 1st appeal and furnished to this office through e-mail on the date 3 July 2023 that due to unavoidable circumstances, He would not be able to attend the hearing and requested to provide the information through e-mail.
PIO (Block Dev. Officer, Ghagwal) vide letter No: BDO/G/2022-23/400 dated 03.07.2023 has submitted that the reply of RTI application has already been submitted to the appellant through registered post with proper receipt. The reply of RTI application is hereby sent to the appellant through this office”, the reply further read.
“For the hearing of the appeal, as the appellant was not present today, the date of 07/07/2023 at 12.00 Noon is fixed in the office chamber of the undersigned and Block Dev. Officer Ghagwal is hereby directed to attend the 2nd appeal in person along with relevant information. The Appellant is also requested to attend the same on the scheduled date, time, and venue”, the reply further, but unfortunately, in conclusion, the ACD Sabma, as FAA forgot to pass an order, in a two pages letter mentioned proceedings only, not single word against the erring PIO.
It is pertinent to mention here that the official in question twice visited the house of the appellant, and tried to convince and pressurize the appellant.
